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 saying “staying 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 aluminum – anodized 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.