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The new iPhone XR may not be a flagship product, but it's really good. So good, in fact, that I called the best Apple iPhone in my review, not because of its specifications (technically inferior to those of XS and XS Max), but because of its value proposition. Yet this is opposed to other more expensive iPhone. I wanted to see how the iPhone XR would behave against three of the best Android phones: the Galaxy Note 9, the Pixel 3 XL and the OnePlus 6T.
We will review all the major factors examined in a phone, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each phone and choosing a winner. Click on a link in our table of contents if you want to access a specific item.
iPhone XR vs Android: Show
Ask any screen lover the difference between the iPhone XR's LCD screen and an AMOLED display. They will tell you that there is no comparison possible. Text is clearer, colors are brighter and whites brighter on OLED screens, and blacks are as deep as possible, thanks to the ability to completely disable each pixel.
LCDs have their strengths – they are much cheaper to manufacture, brighter and more sun-readable – but they are intrinsically lower than OLEDs because of the need for constant backlighting. This makes them thicker, less malleable and less energy efficient, with duller colors.
Christopher Hebert / IDGThe screens are all excellent, but the Note 9 (far right) manages the color and details a little better than the Pixel 3 XL (second right) and OnePlus 6T (second left). Even the 720p screen of the iPhone XR (far left) looks good.
All screens are very similar, but the 6.2-inch iPhone XR looks tiny compared to the 6.3-inch Pixel 3XL, the OnePlus 6T and the Galaxy Note 9 6.4-inch. In addition to its size, the iPhone screen The resolution of XR is 1792 x 828, or 720p, compared to the 2K screens of the Note 9 and the Pixel 3 XL and 1080p format of OnePlus 6T. The effective dpi of the XR is only 326, still far from Note 9 (516), Pixel 3 XL (523) and OnePlus 6T (402).
However, unless the phone screens are compared side by side, most people will see no difference. It's hard unless you know what you're looking for. Reduced HD content always looks great, text is crisp and easy to read, and even blacks are beautiful. True Tone is an absolute delight.
Apple calls the screen of the XR "Liquid Retina", a stylish marketing term to draw attention to rounded corners and the "fully screen design." But I also found it extremely accurate in terms of colors and I preferred the shape of the corners of the XR. to those of all comparison phones. Note 9 is a bit too square for my taste and the OnePlus 6T is too round. The Pixel 3 XL is the worst of the group, with inconsistent top and bottom corners that shock my eyes.
The iPhone XR also excels in brightness. During my tests, which enabled each phone's maximum brightness and disabled the respective adaptive brightness switches (as well as True Tone on the XR), the iPhone XR reached the maximum value of 825 nits, the others being less than 700.
Christopher Hebert / IDGThe 2K OLED screen in Note 9 is larger than the iPhone XR's LCD screen, but not as much as you think.
However, nothing hides that the iPhone XR has an LCD screen. No matter how much work Apple provided to make the XR screen realistic and dynamic, a pixel-by-pixel comparison with the three phones with the OLED technology I chose was not really a challenge. OLEDs offer a wider range of tones and shades, especially when you're viewing something with a black background, like the Apple iPhone XR page. On OLEDs, darkness merges with glasses, but on the XR, there is an obvious distinction between the end of the screen and the beginning of the glasses.
Of the three OLED phones, I prefer Note 9. Samsung manufactures the best OLED displays in the industry. In fact, it provides screens for iPhone XS and Pixel 3 XL. The optimization and calibration performed on the note 9 are unmatched. Samsung also offers various display options to adjust both resolution and temperature.
The Pixel 3 XL is a close second, although I noticed some burrs when I watched videos. The OnePlus 6T works well with fewer pixels, especially after switching to DCI-P3 mode. In fact, the default setting was too saturated for all Android screens, a problem I did not have with the iPhone XR. Which is good, because even if I did it, I could not do anything about it.
Christopher Hebert / IDGYou can change the color settings of the content of your eyes on the Galaxy Note 9 (left), but you can only adjust the brightness and switch to the True Tone option on the iPhone XR.
Even with the screen mode set to "Basic," the 9 note shines brightly with richly saturated colors, excellent white balance, and almost no visible band. Although its maximum manual brightness is lower than that of any other phone, it still lights up a room and works extremely well under direct sunlight. Here, I preferred the picture format of the XR and other ultra-high-octane Android phones in Note 9, but I could not possibly deny the size of Samsung's screen.
Winner: Galaxy Note 9
iPhone XR vs Android: Design
Christopher Hebert / IDGThe hulls are much thicker on the iPhone XR (left), but the small notch of the OnePlus 6T really brings it back home.
But one notch alone does not make a premium phone. The iPhone XR has the same cutout at the top of the screen as the iPhone XS, but the designs diverge otherwise. In addition to standard white and black, the bottom of the XR's glass is available in four new colors. The sides are in color-matched anodized aluminum. This is a significant downgrade compared to the stainless steel of the iPhone XS, but I prefer it in reality. It's less prone to scratches and scratches, but I particularly like the way color looks at the edges of the screen. In other words, the back of the iPhone XR is beautiful, even more than the beautiful two-color frosted glass Pixel 3 XL. And that's a small thing, but I like the location and length of the power button on the iPhone.
The glasses, however, are less beautiful. Because of the technical problems inherent to LCDs, Apple has increased the size of the panels on the XR by about 50% compared to those of the iPhone X (4 mm vs. 2.5 mm). The difference is striking. For years, Apple has taught us that every millimeter counts in the design of a smartphone, so the iPhone XR is like a step back from the iPhone X and 8.
Apple could have given the iPhone XR thinner shells with a larger chin and forehead than the other phones offered here. By sticking glasses of 4 mm all around, society favors symmetry to thinness. In fact, I prefer the screen design of the iPhone XR to the unbalanced Infinity of the Note 9 and the giant chin of the Pixel 3 XL. However, when it came to watching movies, the notch of the XR was a real problem, while the 6T and even the Pixel 3 XL were able to hide it.
Christopher Hebert / IDGWe can not deny the impressive OnePlus 6T in Thunder Purple (right).
The OnePlus 6T succeeds. Yes, the chin is wider than the side edges, but it is nowhere near as wide as on the Pixel 3 XL or the Note 9. In fact, it's not bigger than the bottom edge of the XR, with thinner sides and a lean forehead that interrupted only by the smallest notches.
The OnePlus 6T has a "teardrop" shaped notch just large enough to include a single camera, unlike the wide notch of the iPhone XR and the ultra-deep pixel of the XL 3. As for these phones, the notch exceeds a little more than the standard bar state, but its curved design has a slimming effect. It's done so well, I prefer the notch visible at the bar extinction, and it's one of the few phones that I used where it really feels like I have more screen and that's not a weird compromise.
I would have never thought of seeing the day when OnePlus would beat Samsung or Apple with a smartphone design, but the 6T is a true work of art, with the highest screen-to-screen ratio of all phones and a hack that even hates can love. And wait to see the new color Thunder Purple in person.
Winner: OnePlus 6T
iPhone XR vs Android: Battery
When Apple announced the XR alongside the XS and XS Max, the most surprising difference between the three devices was not the screen, it was the life of the battery. According to Apple's specifications, the iPhone XR "lasts up to 1.5 hours longer than the iPhone 8 Plus", which is more important than it seems. The iPhone 8 Plus was the previous champion of the battery of Apple, a duration significantly longer than that of the iPhone X.
Christopher Hebert / IDGThe battery capacity of the Galaxy Note 9 is higher than that of the iPhone XR.
But the claims are one thing, the results are another. As Apple provides few specifications for its iPhones, we have to rely on dismantling iFixit to get the products. We now know that the iPhone XR includes a battery of 2 942 mAh, much smaller than those of other phones here:
Pixel 3 XL: 3,430mAh
OnePlus 6T: 3,700mAh
Galaxy Note 9: 4000mAh
The landmarks tell another story. Using the Geekbench 4 Battery Benchmark test with the screen set to 200 nits and the adaptive / auto brightness off for each phone, the OnePlus 6T outperformed the others, with the iPhone XR and Note 9 switching to back:
iPhone XR: 3463 (5:48)
Pixel 3 XL: 3640 (6:04)
OnePlus 6T: 4380 (7:18)
Galaxy Note 9: 3420 (5:42)
On paper, the iPhone XR is simply smoking. But as usual with the iPhone, the paper does not tell the whole story. OnePlus and other Android phone manufacturers are known for the game criteria to skew the results in their favor. So we should take these numbers with a grain of salt. And as such, real-world testing has not confirmed these results at all. The two best performances on a daily basis are the iPhone XR and the note 9, which got the lowest score with the Geekbench test.
Apple has the knack for pouring a lot of juice into relatively small stacks, and the XR is no exception. The automatic brightness of iOS 12 is either much higher than the adaptive brightness of Apple Pie, or Apple performs magic tasks with processes in the background. Each of these phones lasted a full day of intense use (or almost), but the iPhone XR is the phone that regularly finishes the day with a sufficient amount of battery (10 to 20%), without ever need to plug it in. Note 9 was a close second. The OnePlus 6T also behaved very well, although it tends to become extremely dark with automatic brightness turned on, to the point that some movies are impossible to watch.
Michael Simon / IDGBroadcasting an HD movie in full brightness looked great on all four phones, but the notch of the XR really stands in the way.
Speaking of which, I watched a two-hour Netflix movie with adaptive / auto brightness turned off and the brightness increasing for each phone. Beginning with a full charge, here's what I had left:
iPhone XR: 79 percent
Pixel 3 XL: 76 percent
OnePlus 6T: 83 percent
Galaxy Note 9: 74%
Pretty close, all around. Immediately after, I played a one – hour show with adaptive brightness turned on and changing lighting forced; the screen had to adjust:
iPhone XR: 72%
Pixel 3 XL: 55%
OnePlus 6T: 66 percent
Galaxy Note 9: 52%
This is where you can see how the adaptive brightness of the iPhone XR and the A12 chip benefit the battery. Where other phones were hit at 20% and became very hot after a third hour of streaming, the iPhone lost only 7% of its battery and barely sweated. All that Apple does with its phones is incredibly impressive. I can only imagine how long the next iPhone would last if Apple decided to give it a 4000 mAh battery.
Winner: iPhone XR
When the battery is dead, who charges the fastest? Find out on the next page.
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