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  • - Hey guys, this is Austin.

  • The iPhone XR has been controversial to say the least.

  • On one hand this is by far the cheapest of the new iPhones,

  • but on the other you are losing a lot compared to the XS.

  • So to find out if it's really worth it,

  • I switched over to this as my daily driver.

  • Sure, it might look like the iPhone 5c at first glance

  • with the bright flashy colors,

  • but whereas the iPhone 5c was essentially

  • just the last generation iPhone in a plastic shell,

  • the XR is properly a flagship.

  • That means you've got the same excellent

  • Apple A12 Bionic chip, which is hands down the fastest

  • that you'll find in a phone today.

  • Seriously the benchmarks embarrass

  • everything else out there.

  • Say what you will about Apple,

  • but they are absolutely on top of their game

  • as far as SOCs are concerned.

  • As far as photos go, it really is only second

  • to the Google Pixel 3 right now.

  • As far as video is concerned,

  • I would argue that the XS and the XR are the best

  • that you can find on a smartphone.

  • (violin plays)

  • Because I really wanted to give this a try,

  • I used the XR as my only camera at a recent event

  • and it held up surprisingly well.

  • Now, no there is no telephoto option,

  • which is definitely the main thing

  • that you do lose over the XS.

  • I'll get into that a little bit later,

  • but the basic story,

  • the main thing that you're gonna find with the XR

  • is that the camera here for what you're taking

  • 90% of your photos with is exactly the same as on the XS.

  • There's also the same

  • gesture based navigation from the X and the XS

  • and that really does help that A12 feel even faster.

  • There's also the same fast wireless charging,

  • the same Face ID,

  • and the same excellent sounding front firing speakers.

  • There is definitely no doubt

  • that there is a lot of iPhone XS DNA inside the XR.

  • Of course it's not all perfect.

  • There are definitely some things missing compared to the XS.

  • The first one is easy, the XR has IP67 water resistance

  • like the last couple years of iPhones,

  • however the XS does up that to the slightly more robust

  • IP68 water resistance.

  • Something else you might not necessarily notice,

  • but it's still here is that this lacks the same gigabit

  • LTE connection as the iPhone XS.

  • Now as of right now there's actually

  • very little speed difference that I've been able to test,

  • but as LTE networks get faster over the next few years

  • the XS should have a slight advantage there.

  • You've also got a bit less RAM.

  • Three gigabytes on the XR versus four gigs on the XS.

  • Now unless you have them side-by-side

  • or if you use both the XS and the XR

  • the difference is pretty hard to spot,

  • but as someone who has actually used a XS and a XR,

  • I can notice that apps don't last

  • as long in memory on the XR.

  • Now to be fair memory management is pretty solid on iOS,

  • so it's not exactly a big deal,

  • but that is one performance advantage you will find

  • going with the XS.

  • We're also looking at aluminum instead of stainless steel.

  • Now this is something I definitely do prefer on the XS.

  • It not only feels a little bit heavier,

  • but it just gives it a little more

  • of a nicer feel in the hand.

  • Probably the most noticeable cutback is with the camera.

  • So like I said the front camera

  • as well as the rear cameras are identical,

  • but what you don't have here is the telephoto option.

  • Now sure you've got digital zoom

  • and while it does get the job done,

  • even though the telephoto camera on the XS

  • isn't exactly great it is a lot clearer when it comes

  • to actually punching in on a subject.

  • You've also got a pretty seriously cutback portrait mode.

  • Since you don't have that telephoto camera

  • to get that extra depth information,

  • it has to entirely use software to cut out

  • and it only really works

  • when you actually have a face in the shot.

  • It works, it's fine,

  • but it's no where near as good as on the XS

  • or even on the Pixel.

  • Something a little bit more subtle

  • is that the bezels are slightly thicker

  • and that is thick with a pair of C's my friends.

  • - [Matt] No don't do that, don't do that one.

  • Oh God no. - T-H-I-C-C, thick!

  • Now, for real, it's actually not a big difference,

  • I think unless you have them side-by-side,

  • it's really not enough to notice.

  • What you will notice is the display.

  • Not only is the screen a lower resolution,

  • but it also uses the older IPS style from previous iPhones,

  • whereas the iPhone X and XS use OLED.

  • On paper it's not all that impressive,

  • but actually take a look and use the screen

  • and it's really not bad.

  • So for an IPS panel,

  • one of the main downsides is typically contrast,

  • but this actually is a pretty contrasty panel.

  • And Apple has done a lot of work with anti-aliasing

  • the edges to make sure the roundabout, the roundabout?

  • The, what do you call it, the curves?

  • The-- - [Ken] The edges.

  • - The edges, thank you!

  • Edges, I know words.

  • The edges are nicely rounded and on top of that,

  • the black of the actual display up top

  • does match nicely with the notch.

  • They did good job with making the IPS panel

  • look quite bit like an OLED panel.

  • However, specs definitely don't tell the entire story,

  • actually use the iPhone XR display

  • and it's surprisingly good,

  • even though it might be sub-1080p.

  • So joining me today is our resident screen testing expert,

  • Wes, he spent a lot of time with the XR.

  • What do you think?

  • - I think that the display is fantastic.

  • - Even though it's sub-1080p?

  • Isn't that deal breaker?

  • - Even though it's sub-1080p.

  • - [Austin] One of the main things that surprised me

  • was that this is the brightest smartphone

  • that we've ever actually tested.

  • It was what, over 600 nits?

  • - Yeah, it was roughly 650 nits.

  • What we're seeing are ultimately

  • some of the best colors that I've ever seen.

  • - So, you ran it through the full suite of colors tests?

  • - Yes, the entire suite.

  • - [Austin] You also found that this is this is

  • a more color accurate panel than the OLED on the XS, right?

  • - Yeah, not only that, I actually went back to the iPhone 8.

  • - Okay. - To look at an older

  • Apple LCD panel, and this is actually better

  • than the iPhone 8.

  • - One downside is that you do lose 3D Touch

  • which has been on all iPhones dating back to the iPhone 6S.

  • Now this is a little bit more annoying

  • than a lot of the other things here,

  • mostly because I actually do use the shortcut

  • of being able to hold and 3D Touch on the actual

  • keyboard to move my cursor around.

  • Now there are some workarounds for example,

  • on the keyboard, you now hold down the space bar.

  • But still, 3D Touch is a little bit

  • of a weird one to remove.

  • Now it is definitely not all bad news.

  • Some stuff is actually better on the XR.

  • First of all, it has a unique form factor.

  • With a 6.1 inch display, it fits nicely in between

  • the 5.8 inch iPhone XS and the 6.5 inch XS Max.

  • For me, while I loved that huge XS Max screen,

  • it's just too big to use with one hand.

  • Whereas the XR is a little bit better

  • and the XS is basically perfect,

  • but I think this is very much a subjective thing,

  • so it really does just come down to actually

  • trying each one of them to see what's the right size.

  • The XR, I think is a good sweet spot for a lot of people.

  • I think this point will easily get buried,

  • but I really do think that the iPhone XR

  • has the best battery life of any iPhone I've ever tried.

  • It's legit my favorite feature of the phone.

  • Then there are the colors,

  • now sure, if you really do want a yellow phone,

  • dbrand.com is the place to be.

  • But as far as I'm concerned,

  • I really do dig this yellow with the gold color scheme.

  • The real reason most people

  • are going to buy the iPhone XR though,

  • has nothing to do with any of these features,

  • it's the price.

  • At a full $250 less than the base XS

  • and $350 less than the XS Max,

  • this is just straight up a better deal.

  • Surprisingly, Apple even priced

  • the storage upgrades pretty reasonably.

  • To go from 64 gigs which is the base model

  • up to 128 gigs is only $50.

  • To put things in perspective, a 128 gig iPhone XR

  • is a full $100 cheaper than a 128 gig Pixel 3.

  • I can't believe I'm about to say this,

  • but this is an Apple product,

  • which is actually kind of reasonably priced.

  • Ultimately, what you're getting here is a phone

  • that does fall short of the XS in a few areas,

  • but overall especially when you consider the price,

  • this really is the iPhone

  • that most people should pick up in 2018.

  • And well, most of 2019.

  • Not gonna lie, I'm gonna keep rocking it for a while.

- Hey guys, this is Austin.

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