Another year, another iPhone and this time around, the hype is well justified. While other “S” years have seen more timid releases (the iPhone 6 -> 6S, 7 -> 7S coming to mind), this year Apple has decided to change the game by releasing a new, lower priced version of their best selling — and forward thinking — iPhone X handset. We’re talking, of course, about the new iPhone XR, one of their lowest priced ‘new’ iPhone introductions to date.
Unlike the XS series, the XR has an LCD 6.1-inch panel display otherwise which Apple is calling the ‘Liquid Retina Display’ as opposed to the ‘Super Retina Display’ found on the XS series phones. Even though it’s not enough to merit the ‘Super’ designation from Cupertino, it’s still one of the best displays to ever grace an iPhone, featuring high dimension, multi-touch and IPS technology.
The iPhone XR’s display features a 1792 by 828 resolution of 326 pixels per inch (PPI). The true tone type display has a contrast ratio of 1400:1 and a P3 wide color display. The color control and brightness make the phone ideal for video playback and playing games with a 625 cd/m2 max brightness level. The phone has also been configured to adequately support a variety of languages as well as characters all at once — a benefit of the larger screen, undoubtedly.
Another notable novelty is the XR’s slew of features that are all powered by the A12 Bionic chip. The newest generation chip to be included in this device expands on the previous-generation’s already snappy performance and will allow users to notice a quicker transition between applications and unlocking your phone with Face ID.
While all this is well and good, perhaps the best feature of the iPhone XR is the six color choices that you’ll be able to take advantage of when you’re purchasing a new handset. These colors include white, black, blue, yellow, coral, and red. The colors adorn the all-new aerospace aluminum and glass covers which have been rated at IP67 for exceptional protection from dust and liquids.
So how about the camera? Well, let’s just say that the XR series has nothing to envy when it comes to its photo-taking capabilities. This camera shares the same superior qualities as the XS iPhone series. The only real difference is that the rear camera, only has a single lens with a picture quality of 12MP and a reduced aperture of ƒ/1.8. New elaborate Bokeh effects as well as smart HDR features are included, however. When it comes to the front camera, this device has a picture quality of 7 megapixels with an aperture of ƒ/2.2. The digital zoom potential of its camera extends to 5x offering maximum optical stabilization, depth control, wide-angle coverage and portrait lighting including studio, natural and contour effects. The lens made out of crystal sapphire and boasts a fully functional Quad laser electronic display with a true tone flash for slow sync. It’s worth noting that the camera also offers a dynamic range for video coverage and supports slo-mo as well as video optical image stabilization. When it comes to video capabilities, it should be no surprise that the XR records 4k videos all at your choice of 24 fps, 30 fps and 60 fps. When it comes to shooting 1080p content, it’s capable of shooting in either 30 fps or 60 fps and 30 fps for 720p content.
The XR offers you more than sufficient storage capacity of 64 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB, depending on how much you choose to spend. Any of these options should be more than enough to hold all of your media and files — if you’re an average user that is. Pro-users, on the other hand, may want to stay clear of the cheaper models.
If battery life is a concern, you should know that Apple claims that you’ll be able to get an average of 16 hours for video playback, 65 hours when listening to music/podcasts offline, 15 hours with continued internet use and 25 hours when using the phone, you know, as a phone. This handset also boasts “fast charging” which means you get to juice up your phone from 0 to 50 percent in 30 minutes with the aid of a compatible charging device.
As you’d expect, this iPhone comes standard with iOS 12, meaning that you’ll be able to enjoy grouped notifications, Animoji options with tongue and wink detection, a smarter and more responsive Siri, and a group Face Time functionality which can support up to 32 participants continuously.
What do you think about the new iPhone XR? Is this your next handset? Let us know in the comments below.
