I’m a little late, I’m sorry.
I really wanted to make sure I got this right before I wrote it. I’ve had trouble finally hitting publish on this piece. I needed to make sure I’ve come to the most honest and accurate opinion. I love tech, and I’ve loved every iPhone product I’ve owned thus far. Here’s why the iPhone XR is a mediocre phone.
I love my phone, let’s start there. It does everything I need it to do and more. It’s quick and snappy in and out of applications, the screen is fine, and the notch and larger bezels compared to the iPhone X and iPhone XS are fine. It’s fine.
But, shouldn’t I have more to say about a device I take out of my pocket nearly 60 times per day? Spend nearly 24 hours on per week? I think so. Richard Yao wrote a few months ago about the “smartphone plateau,” the idea that society has basically flatlined in its innovation of smartphone technology. I scoffed at that idea. Pish posh, I might have even laughed aloud. Now with a month of the XR under my belt, I think I agree.
I agree in large part because I think I’ve reached that same plateau with my personal electronics. I have a 2017 MacBook Pro, my Xbox One, and my daily driver phone, the iPhone XR, that’s it. They all do very different things for me, and they all do it well. Yet, I can envision improvements to my MacBook and to my Xbox, where the future of those products can take me. With the iPhone, and smartphones in general, I’m sort of stuck, and it seems Apple might be as well.
The Good
First, I’ll take a stab at what makes the XR a great device, the screen. Most of the content I absorb on my phone is Instagram and Netflix, so both high-quality photos and video. For an LCD, it’s very good. It isn’t a Samsung display, and it’s not as good as your TV, but it will certainly do. Blacks aren’t all that dark, and whites aren’t all that bright, but it will do.
This is also one of the “fastest” devices I’ve ever used. Speed is really difficult to define in electronics, most commonly it is defined by its benchmark score, of which the XR scored among the highest performing smartphones on the market. I think of phone speed as how fast it feels.
Did it feel fast switching apps? Do you feel the phone was fast when it recognized your face or your touch input to unlock or navigate a menu? This phone feels fast. It is the Usain Bolt of phones. Other phones are eating the dust of this phone. Sorry, no, I’m exaggerating, but it is quite quick.
The Camera
Ok, let’s talk about phone cameras for a second. In my humble opinion, for the most part, all smartphone cameras are the same. There, I said it, burn me at the stake, here come the pitchforks. At the end of the day, they all do a phenomenal job, and results will always come down to personal preference. Do you prefer brighter, more cosmetic images? Or darker, deeper contrast, more “real” images?
YouTuber MKBHD, aka Marques Brownlee, did a blind smartphone camera test earlier this month where users voted the Huawei Mate 20 Pro as the best smartphone camera. You’ve likely never heard or seen of the Mate 20 Pro as it is currently unavailable in the United States. I’ve also never used the device, but I find it hard to believe that Huawei is outperforming the likes of Samsung and Apple.
There are arguments to be heard from all sides, with the likes of Google Pixel 2 & 3, as well as the iPhone XS, getting much of 2018’s camera praise. I’d argue they are all just about the same compared to the XR. Your Instagram will look fine. Your Snap streak too will stay alive, I promise.
Might I also just quickly add that the XR battery is exceptional?
It’s the best phone battery I’ve ever used. Our personal minimum battery life threshold in our devices has greatly declined since Nokia’s candybar-phone dominance, however, this phone is excellent. My old Pantech flip phone might have had better battery life than the XR but I didn’t use it nearly as much. I don’t think it even had Bluetooth. The XR will easily get you through a full day with moderate to heavy use.
The Bad
Now it is time to get down to brass tax, whatever that means. The body of the phone feels cheap. It is slippery as all hell, and the aluminum sides feel flimsy, weak even. The notch is large, but I honestly forgot it was there within a week. Accessories aren’t as streamlined for the XR as they are for other iPhone models, so something to think about as you leave the Apple store.
Amazon has a bunch of options for cases as I would recommend the clear Elago case, only $10 on Amazon. As well as the Spigen Liquid Air Armor case, a case I’ve used on three different devices over the span of five years, needless to say, I’m a big fan. Both cases help ease the slip factor just a pinch on the XR, and they also support wireless charging for the iPhone XR, of which I have no recommendations because I think wireless charging is slow and I don’t mind plugging in the same cable I’ve been using for the last seven years. Oh yeah, wireless charging on the XR is slow, but a cool party trick for sure.
Fun colors, a $250 cheaper price tag compared to the iPhone XS, and a similar design will help sell the device. Even amongst reports that its sales were quite low. The phone has some ideal features, features that have existed in other devices for years in some cases. For me, there is definitely something left to be desired.
Look, the iPhone XR is a great device, let’s not get it twisted. For $750 it’s among the cheaper high-end phones out there and packs many of the $1000 phone features inside nearly identical packaging. However, a weaker display, little innovation, and decreased accessory support could prevent you from upgrading your old device. Do your research, try a friends device or one in-store and see if you even enjoy it in your hands. An average phone at an average price is rarely a real upgrade.
Please feel free to follow me on social media @BSzabo24 on Twitter. @BenjaminSzabo24 on Instagram. And let me know what you think in the comments down below.
