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  • Apple's released quite a few new phones this year.

  • The iPhone XS and XS Max, which I've already tested on my channel, and then 6 different

  • flavors of this guy: the iPhone XR.

  • It's basically Apple's iPhone with the price of a flagship.

  • I asked on Twitter which color of the iPhone XR I should test today, and it was a close

  • call, but the peachy coral version was chosen as tribute, which is kind of good because

  • our brand new blue friend isn't even turning on this morning.

  • He's got a little bit of performance anxiety.

  • I'll plug him in and we'll start with peachy.

  • (silence)

  • Let's get started.

  • [Intro]

  • Inside the box we have the standard slow charger, along with the lightning headphones that you

  • can't use anywhere else.

  • And the proprietary lightning cord with no dongle for the missing headphone jack.

  • Let's start with the scratch test.

  • The one feature that gets used more than anything else on a smartphone by far is the screen.

  • The biggest downside of the iPhone XR, besides being a flagship priced budget phone, is the

  • screen.

  • There's been a 1080p resolution standard across computer screens, TVs and cell phones for

  • the past 3 years.

  • [Phone voice sayingstaying healthy.”]

  • Even the iPhone 6 Plus released 4 years ago had a super defined 1080p display.

  • But Apple here, sneakily dropped the iPhone XR from a high definition 1080p screen down

  • to just 828.

  • You can always say iPhone users just don't really care about specs, but there's a line

  • that got crossed when Apple takes advantage of that and keeps the high price of $800 after

  • tax, while handing out hardware from 5 years ago.

  • Glass is still glass though, and scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level

  • 7.

  • Apple's never been a leader in screen resolution, but going backwards in technology is a slap

  • in the face to unsuspecting customers.

  • There's one 7 megapixel front facing camera hidden up in the notch, along with a metal

  • earpiece grille, very solidly attached and will never be coming out on it's own.

  • Another difference between the XS and XR is the build material.

  • While the more expensive XS is made from stainless steel, the regular expensive XR is made from

  • softer aluminumanodized aluminum.

  • Anodizing is a pretty amazing process where the metal is dipped and electrically coated

  • in a super hard protective layer of oxide, and could literally be any color we want.

  • So it makes the color matching look pretty sweet.

  • Even the SIM card tray with no expandable memory slot got dipped in the same anodizing

  • bath.

  • The buttons are made from metal, along with the top of the phone, and the new switch slider

  • over here on the side.

  • I still think every phone should have one of these switches.

  • The volume buttons are made from metal.

  • And the bottom of the phone, right next to that missing headphone jack is also metal.

  • The only thing down here is the lightning port and the little metal grilles for the

  • loud speaker and microphone.

  • The back of the iPhone XR is made from glass.

  • It still has that wireless charging.

  • I think the coloring is a great idea and definitely adds a nice splash of uniqueness to the smartphone

  • world.

  • If the Apple logo gently glowed for notifications like it does on the Razer Phone, it would

  • look even cooler.

  • The flash is under the back glass and protected, along with the little wire microphone grille.

  • Which now brings us up to the camera.

  • Apple's cameras are incredibly good.

  • Just remember though, that the screen on this iPhone XR can't show all the pixels your camera

  • captures when you use it - kind of blows my mind.

  • Let's say you take a picture and post it to Instagram.

  • Instagram publishes images in 1080 pixel blocks.

  • The iPhone XR is 252 pixels short of that and literally can't show Instagram pictures

  • at full quality.

  • This is an $800 phone that can't even social media right.

  • Not to mention, Apple is still advertising a sapphire lens cover protecting the camera,

  • which should scratch at a level 8 or 9 on Mohs scale of hardness, yet we are still seeing

  • heavy marks at levels 6, 7, and 8.

  • Other sapphire manufacturers like this Tissot watch face manage pure sapphire just fine.

  • The Tissot sapphire has no scratches below a level 8.

  • It's kind of messed up that with Apple you aren't getting what you pay for on so many

  • levels.

  • The phones are very pretty though.

  • No doubt about that.

  • But if all you want is just beautiful, surface level aesthetics, or just want to cover up

  • the Apple logo, just spend a few dollars and slap a dbrand skin on your current phone.

  • Then use the rest of the money you had saved to literally book a round trip ticket to Hawaii.

  • You can get to Hawaii and back from basically anywhere in the USA for the price of this

  • phone.

  • The inexpensive skins are linked in the description.

  • Huge thanks to dbrand for sponsoring this video and inspiring colorful phones everywhere.

  • Not to mention, if you purchased basically any other phone in the past 3 years, you'll

  • be able to Instagram at full quality on your trip.

  • You might be like, 'but Jerry, what about YouTube?

  • Is the YouTube app still going to work okay with this lower resolution screen?'

  • Yeah, it works.

  • 720P is just fine, it'll even pretend to let you select 1080p.

  • And of course, the XR will use your data to stream that 1080 into phone, but you won't

  • get the high definition displayed on your screen.

  • The pixels just aren't physically there to do it.

  • Of course, if you have seen someone who has or loves this phone, there's no need to make

  • fun of them.

  • Remember, they are just 252 pixel rows short of the full picture, and not quite all the

  • way there hardware-wise...if you catch my drift.

  • The iPhone XR is a 6.1 inch, 828x1792 ips LCD and lasted 10 seconds under the heat from

  • my flame, going completely black and turning off.

  • It's kind of a risk to burn pixels on the XR when it doesn't have any to spare in the

  • first place, but they all did make it back to life with a full recovery.

  • Now it's time for the bend test.

  • Apple is using the stronger 7000 series aluminum on the iPhone XR, so it should be solid.

  • But the only way to find out for sure is with a structural flex.

  • Bending from the front yielded no movement in the phone.

  • No kinks in the frame or bending in the body.

  • Bending from the back got the slightest of flexes, but nothing to get excited about.

  • Our little orange friend is built like a solid, low resolution brick.

  • If Apple charged $500, or maybe even $600 for this hardware, I'd be pretty pumped.

  • But charging $800 after tax for this is like robbing an old folks home.

  • Yeah, it's easy and your targets won't notice, but it's just...wrong.

  • Apple didn't get to be a trillion dollar company by selling stuff at a fair price though.

  • So it is what it is.

  • The XR is structurally sound, even if the sapphire isn't pure and the screen automatically

  • downgrades Instagram and YouTube, it does pass my durability test.

  • I'll probably give away this unharmed blue iPhone XR over on my Twitter or Instagram.

  • So come hang out over there for the giveaway.

  • You can always sell it and buy yourself a real phone.

  • Customize your current phone with the dbrand link in the description.

  • And thanks a ton for watching.

  • I'll see you around.

Apple's released quite a few new phones this year.

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