Battle of affordable lighthouses

Design

At first glance, the debate over the iPhone XR / Pixel 3 looks like the latest entry of the new game that smartphone fans are currently playing: Notch or Not? The screen formats of phones are similar – 19.5: 9 on the XR, 18: 9 on the Pixel 3 – but they allow to get these elongated screens in different ways.

Apple draws more from the XR's screen by adding a notch at the top of the screen; Google Pixel 3 presents a more stocky telescope. The look you prefer depends on what you think about nicks.

The iPhone XR offers more screen space of 6.1 inches to the 5.5-inch screen of the Pixel 3. But this allows the pixel of 5.7 x 2, 7 x 0.3 inches to be more compact than the iPhone XR 5.9 x 3 x 0.3 inches. The Pixel 3 is also lighter (5.3 ounces versus 6.4 ounces for the iPhone X).

Both phones have a glass back, although Google deserves credit for using a two-tone design that blends matte and glossy textures. We found with the time spent with Pixel 3 that it does not detect fingerprints as easily as some other phones.

MORE: 9 Reasons Why Pixel 3 Beats iPhone XS

There are many more colors on the iPhone side of the aisle. The Pixel 3 is offered in the traditional options Clearly White and Just Black, with a newcomer, Not Pink. For comparison, Apple offers a true rainbow of choice with the XR version: black, blue, white, coral, yellow and a Product Red version.

Display

The biggest difference between these two phones lies in their screens. While Apple has opted for a 6.1-inch LCD on the iPhone XR, Google's Pixel 3 phone probably uses a 5.5-inch OLED display. This should mean richer colors and more real blacks on the Pixel 3, although LCD telephones tend to have brighter displays.

In addition to the pixel OLED advantage, the new Google phone also offers sharper resolution than that of the iPhone XR – 2160 x 1080, against 1792 x 828 on the future handset of Apple .

MORE: 6 Reasons Not to Use the iPhone XS for iPhone XR

This notch on the iPhone XR is not only there to help Apple to tap more space on the screen. It also houses the TrueDepth front camera, which activates facial identity to unlock your iPhone and confirm mobile payments. The Pixel 3 does not have such technology, but rather uses a fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone.

Cameras

The biggest battle between the latest phones from Apple and Google will probably boil down to cameras. We will not be able to see how the phones compare themselves to each other until the arrival of the iPhone XR at the end of the month, but Google is already launching a marker with the capabilities of the single camera back of the Pixel 3, powered by the AI.

This camera offers a Top Shot feature in which the Pixel 3 will be able to recommend the best possible shot taken from all the exposures captured by the camera. (Think of it as a way to avoid taking a picture, only to discover that someone was blinking when you pressed the shutter button.)

MORE: Face-to-face camera: Can an iPhone beat a digital SLR?

Super Res Zoom using digital photography instead of an optical zoom to crop a close-up image and highlighting details for a sharper photo. And a month after launching, the Pixel 3 will get a Night Sight feature that uses artificial intelligence to enhance colors in low-light shots for a brighter, more natural image.

The iPhone XR also has a single rear camera, unlike the dual lens configurations of the iPhone XS and XS Max. This means that there is no 2x optical zoom, but other features that impressed us during the test of the iPhone XS and XS Max are already present, including the Super HDR. This feature allows you to capture multiple exposures and assemble them, resulting in photos that can capture details in the shadows and show brightly lit objects.

You can also adjust the depth of focus on a portrait made on an iPhone XR even after taking a photo, thanks to the computer processing skills of the phone.

At the front, the Pixel 3 offers two cameras to the unique shooter of the iPhone XR. Pixel's second lens allows Google's phone to take wide-angle self-portraits, which means you have to draw more people or landscapes into the background.

Performance

We will also have to test before we can definitively determine which phone is the most efficient. But the odds are in favor of Apple.

Like the iPhone XS and XS Max, the iPhone XR runs on a new A12 Bionic processor designed by Apple. This 7-nanometer chip produces some of the fastest scores we've seen on synthetic benchmarks like Geekbench 4, and it has also improved the already very fast times of the A11-powered iPhone X in our video transcoding test. . The iPhone XR intends to take advantage of the benefits of the A12.

MORE: Best smartphones on the market now

More importantly, in our tests, the A12 iPhones outperformed the Android devices running on the Snapdragon 845 mobile processor. And the Snapdragon 845 is right in the new Pixel 3.

The Snapdragon 845 phones that have done the best of our tests tend to be full of RAM, like the 8GB version of OnePlus 6. The 4GB of RAM inside the Pixel 3 are certainly respectable, but we do not expect considerable closure We found a performance gap between devices running on the Snapdragon 845 and iPhones equipped with the A12 feature, such as the iPhone XR.

Software

This is the old Android debate against iOS. And while it often depends on which mobile operating system you prefer, Google hopes to rock the debate in its favor with the built-in features built into the Pixel 3.

With Google's new phone, the Google Assistant will be able to filter incoming calls and provide a real-time transcript directly on your phone's screen so you can see if it's in the air. of a call that you really want to go through or just another presentation from a telemarketer. Starting in November, Google will begin deploying duplex support in different cities, which will allow the Pixel 3 Google Assistant to make an appointment and make reservations on your behalf over the phone.

With Android 9 Pie included in the Pixel 3, the latest Google phone will be the first to offer the new Digital Wellbeing tools that control the use of your device, allow you to impose deadlines and even to do so shut up when placing your Pixel screen down. Many of these features match those offered by iOS 12 in its new Screen Time feature, and the iPhone XR comes with iOS 12 preinstalled.

MORE: Best Apps for Android Cameras – Take Better Pictures on Your Phone

This means that you will get other improvements for iOS 12 when you get an iPhone XR, including the ability to turn you into Memoji with the help of the TrueDepth camera on your phone. iOS 12 also introduces a Siri shortcuts feature that allows you to create custom shortcuts with multiple applications via the iPhone's Digital Assistant.

Drums

Apple does not really mislead the size of the batteries inside its phones – according to regulatory reports, the iPhone XR has a power supply of 2 942 mAh – but it promises longer battery life for his new phone. Apple states that the iPhone XR can last up to 90 minutes longer than the iPhone 8 Plus. Our old phone having spent more than 11 hours on our battery test, we are excited to see if the XR is up to Apple's claims.

The Pixel 3 has a battery of 2 915 mAh, slightly higher than last year's Pixel 2. It's encouraging, because the Pixel 2 also exceeded the 11 hours of our test battery.

PLUS: iPhone XS and XS Max battery life: the results are in

The iPhone XR and the Pixel 3 can charge wirelessly and support fast charging. The Pixel 3 however includes a fast charger ready for use. With the iPhone XR, you have to buy one separately.

Price and availability

As stated at the beginning, the iPhone XR costs 50 dollars less than the Pixel 3. And the difference in value becomes even more obvious as you increase the capacity beyond the 64 GB included in the base model of each phone.

Increasing the storage capacity of the iPhone XR to 128 GB increases the price to 799 USD for a Pixel 3 of 64 GB. If you want to have 128 GB of storage on your pixel, you will have to pay an additional $ 100. That same $ 899 gives you an iPhone XR of 256 GB.

The Pixel 3 will be available from October 18th, but you can now order the phone from Google or Verizon in advance. A day after the arrival of Pixel 3, Apple begins to take pre-orders on the iPhone XR. This unit will be shipped on October 26th.

As far as the operators are concerned, each of the four operators will offer the iPhone XR. Only Verizon sells Pixel 3, but you can order an unlocked version of the phone in Google's online store. With Pixel 3, you can also sign up for Project Fi, Google's wireless service, where you only pay for the data you use. Project Fi is not an option for iPhone owners.

Perspective

The good news is that smart phone buyers who do not want to spend around $ 1,000 for a new device have some promising options below $ 800 in the Pixel 3 and iPhone XR models. Bad news? We will not know which phone is ahead of the other before we can examine them completely. Look for camera capabilities, performance, and battery life as decisive factors in this confrontation.

But if we were to make a call immediately, the iPhone XR seems to be the best option for those who want a big screen, a face ID and faster performance. And Pixel 3 should be your best choice if you want a more compact design and a better camera.

Credit: Tom's Guide