Yes, the iPhone 8 was $699 and the iPhone XR is $749.
But the iPhone 8 was a 4.7 inch phone and the XR is 6.1 inch - in comparison the 8 plus was a 5.5 inch display at $799. So you could just as easily argue that they are replacing the 8 plus for less money.
The Pixel 2 XL came with a smaller 6 inch screen, and the prior year’s processor (ages behind the iPhone 8) and launched at $849.
So what exactly is there to complain about? Phones these days are expensive (and we use them freaking all the time, for everything).
Apple has a full range of prices down to 0$ on contract for those that want to pay less. The price story just isn’t that big of a story IMO.
Not really. You can’t compare screen sizes that way, because the X series aren’t 16:9. The X/XS has a 5.8" screen, but it’s far smaller in actual use than the 5.5" 8+.
Yeah, having had an X for a year, touting the “larger screen sizes” is BS. I was hoping for a really larger phone, but the XS Max is just the same form factor as the Plus, but with the extra vertical space. And that vertical space is only useful when you’re watching 21:9 movies. (And I don’t watch movies on my phone.) Apple’s fascination with taller is really annoying, because you read right-to-left, not up-and-down, in my native language. I want wider, not taller. It’s cool not to have bezels, but doesn’t add any real functionality.
That said, I’m upgrading my X to an XS Max because I want the wider screen. They tricked me last year into going from a 6 Plus to an X, and I want the big phone again. (Plus, as a photographer, the HDR support sounds nice.) Plus unlike the X, the XS Max supports landscape, which is actually useful when reading web pages without my glasses. :)
It’s telling you can’t find the actual dimensions of the phones (vs. diagonal screen measurement) on Apple’s website.
When you say the X doesn’t support landscape, you just mean on the springboard? Because it definitely supports landscape in safari for reading webpages.
That makes no sense. Yes, you read left to right, but you also read from top to bottom. Think of it this way: If you put this thread on a phone, would it be taller than it is wide? Of course, by a large margin.
Personally I do compare, having gone from a 16:9 Nexus 6 with a 6-inch display to a 18:9 Pixel 2 also at 6 inches. I loved the large screen of my Nexus, but now couldn’t go back - 18:9 is better. The market seems to agree with me too since pretty much everyone is now 18:9 thereabouts.
Which is awesome; same size phone, more screen real estate. I think you’ll actually be happy with the XS Max… at first I was skeptical too but it’s… just better.
How was that transition. I have big hands so I could still do most things on the + with one hand, but it is a little unwieldy at times (using that double home tap thing to reach top far corner stuff). I got it mostly for the portrait mode. I’m going down to the XS now but I’m worried it’s going to feel weird now and that I might have gotten too used to the screen real estate on the +.
I definitely missed the extra screen real estate at the beginning. The smaller form factor, when it comes to jeans and stuff, is admittedly very nice. I’m undecided on whether I’ll back to the big one, on my next upgrade.
I swear that “Size and Weight” section was not there the first time I looked at that page. It went from “Finish” straight to “Display.”
As for width vs. height, sure, you see more lines, but if you run larger-than-default fonts, the smaller phones make your eyes do more back-and-forth work. Wider screens are more comfortable to read.
So, at 3.05" vs 2.79", the extra $100 is buying you 10% more screen width.
With narrower screens, your eyes don’t have to travel as far back and forth each time, so you are less likely to lose your place as you are scanning across the page. It’s one of the reasons why books have margins on the page, instead of just having text run from near the left edge to the right edge.
The store didn’t screw me too bad this year, order complete at 3:05AM! Delivery date 9/21. XS Max 64GB silver. Went with silver as I expect it to be less popular than black.
Oddly, the website came up first, not the app.
I took Apple’s deal of a $525 tradein for my old X 64GB silver. I could probably get $700 on craigslist, but it’s not worth the hassle to me.
On a side note, I upgraded my X, poopad air 2, and 9.7" ipad pro to iOS12 GM. This isn’t a feature-rich update, but it is a substantial and immediately noticeable speed increase on older hardware.
This year it was the app for me. Just got a watch for my mom (fall detection yo). Turns out I like the size of the X, the S+ always just barely fit in my pocket so I am quite content to wait for something more exciting.
The current beta is the gold master, so if you install the beta profile you’ll get the exact same code that comes out next week.
I do a lot of reading on my phone, and the X is just barely usable for that with text set to go to to the very edges of the screen in Marvin. The plus (or I guess now max) width works much better for me.
IOS12 is really a big deal on old hardware. If you have an old ipad kicking around, get the upgrade, you won’t be sorry. Speed difference was not noticeable on my X, but it was on the 9.7" ipad pro, which is… I think 6s-class hardware? And it woke my old air2 the fuck up, yo.
Marvin? Ah ebook reader. Yeah, I never read long form anything on the phone, Plus size or not. Instead I haul around a kindle everywhere I go. I see the appeal of just having one device but I vastly prefer epaper for pure text.
We do have a iPad retina or whatever that first model was called, it’s just limping along these days, will have to try 12 for sure.
