Jiří Filip This year's apple harvest was rich. In addition to two premium iPhones, we also got a "cheap" iPhone XR, which is a kind of entry model into the Apple ecosystem. So he should be. However, its hardware equipment does not compare in many respects with the premium iPhone XS series, which is roughly a quarter more expensive. One would say that the iPhone XR is the best value for money model that you can buy from Apple this year. But is this the case in reality? We will try to answer exactly this question in the following lines.
Packing
If you were expecting Apple to include new accessories in the boxes for this year's iPhones, we have to disappoint you. Something exactly the opposite happened. You can still find the charger and Lightning/USB-A cable in the box, but the 3,5mm jack/Lightning adapter has disappeared, through which it was convenient to connect classic wired headphones to the new iPhones. So, if you are their followers, you will have to purchase the adapter separately for less than 300 crowns, or get used to EarPods with a Lightning connector.
In addition to the accessories, you will also find a lot of instructions in the box, a needle for ejecting the SIM card slot or two stickers with the Apple logo. But we should also stop at those for a moment. In my opinion, it's a bit of a shame that Apple didn't play with the colors and dye them to the iPhone XR shades. Sure, this is a total detail. On the other hand, the new MacBook Airs got stickers in their color too, so why can't the iPhone XR? Apple's attention to detail simply did not show itself in this regard.
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Design
In terms of looks, the iPhone XR is definitely a great phone that you won't have to be ashamed of. The front panel without a Home Button, the shiny glass back with the logo or the very clean-looking aluminum sides simply suit it. However, if you put it next to the iPhone X or XS, you can't help but feel inferior. Aluminum doesn't look as premium as steel, and it doesn't create the luxurious impression we're used to with iPhone XS when combined with glass.
A thorn in the side for some users can also be the relatively prominent camera lens on the back of the phone, which makes it impossible to place the phone without the cover on the table without annoying wobbling. On the other hand, I believe that the vast majority of owners of this iPhone will still use the cover and therefore will not practically solve problems in the form of wobble.
A very interesting element that you will definitely notice after a few seconds of looking at the iPhone is the shifted SIM card slot. It is not roughly in the middle of the frame, as we have been used to, but rather in the lower part. However, this modification does not spoil the overall impression of the phone.
What, on the other hand, deserves praise is the bottom side with holes for the speakers. The iPhone XR is the only one of the three iPhones presented this year to boast of its symmetry, where you will find the same number of holes on both sides. With the iPhone XS and XS Max, Apple could not afford this luxury due to the implementation of the antenna. Although this is a small detail, it will please the eye of the picky eater.
We shouldn't forget the dimensions of the phone either. Since we have the honor of a 6,1” model, it is quite difficult to operate it with one hand. In other words, you can perform simple operations on it with one hand without any problem, but you cannot do without the other hand for more complex operations. In terms of dimensions, the phone is indeed very pleasant and feels relatively light. It holds very well in the hand despite the aluminum frames, although you can't avoid the bad feeling from the slippery aluminum here and there.
Display
The screen of the new iPhone XR sparked huge discussions among Apple fans, which mainly revolved around its resolution. One camp of apple lovers claimed that 1791 x 828 pixels on a 6,1” screen is very little and 326 pixels per inch will be visible on the display, but the other strongly rejected this claim, saying that there is nothing to worry about. I admit that even I was worried when I started the phone for the first time, how the display would affect me. However, they turned out to be empty. Well, at least partially.
For me, the biggest scare of the new iPhone XR is not its display, but the frames around it. I got my hands on the white variant, on which the relatively wide black frames around the Liquid Retina display look like a punch to the eye. Not only is their width significantly larger than the iPhone XS, but even older iPhones with a classic frame design can boast a narrower frame on their sides. In this respect, the iPhone XR didn't excite me too much, although I have to admit that after a few hours of use you stop noticing the frames and you don't have a problem with them.
What my iPhone XR lost in the frame, it gained in the display itself. In my opinion, he is, in one word, perfect. Sure, it can't quite match OLED displays in some aspects, but even so, I rank it just a few notches below them. Its color reproduction is very nice and quite vivid, the white is really bright white, unlike OLED, and even black, which displays of this type have a problem with, doesn't look bad at all. In fact, I'm not afraid to say that the black on the iPhone XR is the best black I've ever seen on an iPhone outside of the OLED models. Its maximum brightness and viewing angles are also perfect. So you definitely don't have to worry about the display. It really is what Apple said it would be - perfect.
The new display with a cut-out for Face ID, which is very fast and reliable by the way, brings with it certain limitations, especially in the form of unadapted applications. Many developers have not yet played with their applications for the iPhone XR, so you will "enjoy" the black bar at the bottom and top of the frame with many of them. Fortunately, however, the update comes every day, so even this nuisance will soon be forgotten.
Another drawback is the absence of 3D Touch, which was replaced by Haptic Touch. It can be described very simply as a software alternative to 3D Touch, which works on the principle of holding a certain place on the display longer, which will trigger one of the functions. Unfortunately, Haptic Touch is nowhere near replacing 3D Touch, and it probably won't even replace it some Friday. The functions that can be called up via it are still relatively few, and moreover, they take a long time to start. That is, calling up a function via Haptic Touch cannot be compared to a quick press on the display with 3D Touch. However, Apple has promised that it intends to significantly work on Haptic Touch and improve it as much as possible. So it may happen that Haptic Touch eventually replaces 3D Touch for the most part.
Camera
Apple deserves huge credit for the camera. He decided to save almost nothing on it, and although we won't find two lenses on the iPhone XR, he certainly has nothing to be ashamed of. The camera offers 12 MPx resolution, f/1,8 aperture, 1,4µm pixel size and optical stabilization. In terms of software, it is also helped by a novelty in the form of Smart HDR, which selects their best elements from several images captured at the same time and then combines them into a perfect photo.
And how does the iPhone XR take photos in practice? Really perfect. The classic photos that you can capture through its lens look really good, and in terms of quality, all Apple phones except the iPhone XS and XS Max can fit in your pocket. You will feel a big difference especially in photos taken in poor lighting conditions. While with other iPhones you would only take pictures of pitch-black darkness, with the iPhone XR you are able to capture a respectable photo.
Photos under artificial light:
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Photos in worse light/darkness:
Photos in daylight:
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The absence of a second lens comes with a sacrifice in the form of a limited portrait mode. It does manage the iPhone XR, but unfortunately only in the form of people. So if you decide to capture a pet or an ordinary object, you're out of luck. You cannot conjure up the blurred background behind him in portrait mode.
But portrait mode is not perfect for people either. From time to time you will encounter that the camera software fails and blurs the background behind the photographed person badly. Although these are usually smaller places that many people don't even notice, they can spoil the overall impression of the photo. Even so, I think that Apple deserves praise for the Portrait mode on the iPhone XR. It is definitely usable.
Each photo is taken in a different portrait mode. However, the differences are minimal:
Endurance and charging
Although the days when we charged our phones once a week are long gone, with the iPhone XR you can at least partially remember them. The phone is a real "holder" and you won't just knock it out. During very active use, which in my case included about an hour and a half of classic and FaceTime calls, handling about 15 emails, replying to dozens of messages on iMessage and Messenger, browsing Safari or checking Instagram and Facebook, I went to bed in the evening with about 15% . Then when I tried to test the phone in a quieter mode over the weekend, it lasted from a charge on Friday evening until Sunday evening. Of course, I also checked Instagram or Messenger during this period and took care of small things. Even so, he had no problem holding out for two whole days.
However, battery life is a very individual matter and depends mainly on how you use the phone, so I would not like to get into a more extensive evaluation. However, I can safely say that it will last a day with you without a problem.
You can then charge the novelty from 3% to 0% in about 100 hours with a regular adapter. You can significantly shorten this time with a fast charger that can charge your iPhone from 0% to 50% in 30 minutes. However, keep in mind that this type of charging is not very good for the battery and therefore it is not good to use it all the time. All the more so when the vast majority of us charge our phones overnight, when it doesn't matter if the iPhone has 100% battery at 3 in the morning or at 5. The important thing is that it is always charged the moment we get out of bed.
Verdict
Despite several rather unpleasant limitations, I think that Apple's iPhone XR has succeeded and will surely find its customers. Although its price is not the lowest, on the other hand, you get a very nice design phone with a performance comparable to the latest Apple flagships and a perfect camera. So, if you're okay with the lack of 3D Touch or if you don't mind the aluminum body instead of steel and the wider frame around the display, the iPhone XR could be right for you. Whether the 7 crowns saved for these sacrifices is worth it or not, you have to answer for yourself.
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Dan Pražák 
In Alga, they pushed it next to Huawei. So it can be easily compared. With Huawei for half. Well, I'll leave it open, so I don't have to respond to mental pseudo-wisdom again. The opinion is how successful and beautiful it is, that everyone did it themselves?♂️??♂️
It looks like a plastic model. I don't see how to have a body for 22k and make it look like a toy... but I haven't seen it in person yet.