iPhone XS, XR hands-on: Max is large but light, XR shows major potential
Apple introduced its three new iPhones Wednesday, and one of the major takeaways for the XS and XS Max is that they're very big. A look around the web at early hands-on demos.
As usual, after the Apple keynote in Cupertino on Wednesday, the company opened up the room to hands-on demonstrations from the assembled press. And this year's gave a first indication of just how big the new iPhones are.
Dieter Bohn of The Verge held the XS and indicated its unusually large size.
"The iPhone XS Max is bigger, yes, but as you can see in the photos it is almost hard to distinguish the two when you're looking at photos," he wrote. "It feels much better than any "Plus" iPhone ever has. I always found the Plus-sized iPhones to be ungainly, but the Max seems to be a little more ergonomic in subtle ways. If you've wanted a Plus before but were put off by the size, I'd at least try to hold the new Max size before making your decision."
Ina Fried of Axios posted a hands-on of her own.
"The details of the devices were largely as expected, but some impressive camera tricks could push some purchasers toward the iPhone Xs, while the lower-cost iPhone Xr will move the previously high-end-only Face ID closer to the mainstream," she wrote, also posting a video:
Chris Velazco of Engadget wrote that "At $750, the iPhone XR stands to bring modern performance to more people, and that's a good thing. Whether or not other companies follow suit remains to be seen, but one thing's clear: I at least want to see other companies try this approach. Velazco also posted a video:
Lance Ulanoff, formerly of Mashable, posted a video to Twitter of his own hands-on with the iPhone XS:
And iPhone SL posted its own hands-on to Twitter:
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
As usual, after the Apple keynote in Cupertino on Wednesday, the company opened up the room to hands-on demonstrations from the assembled press. And this year's gave a first indication of just how big the new iPhones are.
Dieter Bohn of The Verge held the XS and indicated its unusually large size.
"The iPhone XS Max is bigger, yes, but as you can see in the photos it is almost hard to distinguish the two when you're looking at photos," he wrote. "It feels much better than any "Plus" iPhone ever has. I always found the Plus-sized iPhones to be ungainly, but the Max seems to be a little more ergonomic in subtle ways. If you've wanted a Plus before but were put off by the size, I'd at least try to hold the new Max size before making your decision."
Ina Fried of Axios posted a hands-on of her own.
"The details of the devices were largely as expected, but some impressive camera tricks could push some purchasers toward the iPhone Xs, while the lower-cost iPhone Xr will move the previously high-end-only Face ID closer to the mainstream," she wrote, also posting a video:
Chris Velazco of Engadget wrote that "At $750, the iPhone XR stands to bring modern performance to more people, and that's a good thing. Whether or not other companies follow suit remains to be seen, but one thing's clear: I at least want to see other companies try this approach. Velazco also posted a video:
iPhone XR hands-on: Premium power for everyone https://t.co/48KN6ytVRm pic.twitter.com/HeSgDiUVaF
-- Engadget (@engadget)
Lance Ulanoff, formerly of Mashable, posted a video to Twitter of his own hands-on with the iPhone XS:
Finally got my hands on the iPhone Xs Max. It's big, like the iPhone 8 Plus, but feels alright. #AppleEvent pic.twitter.com/YccXpZerHF
-- Lance Ulanoff (@LanceUlanoff)
And iPhone SL posted its own hands-on to Twitter:
Keep up with AppleInsider by downloading the AppleInsider app for iOS, and follow us on YouTube, Twitter @appleinsider and Facebook for live, late-breaking coverage. You can also check out our official Instagram account for exclusive photos.
Comments
What do casual customers (not even sure what you man by that phrase) have to do with smaller form? Xr is for those who don’t want to spend $999 for the latest phone and/or want a phone in bright colors.
Poor Cook, just stumbling around blindly as his company rose to become the most successful ever in the history of humankind. Poor guy. You should get him a memo, help the guy out.
Also, money is NOT how you measure future product roadmap. Steve's quote is famously in the lobby of the Apple campus but apparently people walk by it every day not knowing what the hell it means. Let me tell you something sonny, right after Sculley kicked Steve to the curb, he grew Apple for 7 more years until he milked every last drop that he could out of the Apple 2 platform. It was then all downhill from there and he, in turn, got kicked. The same is happening with Cook. Just because he's able to milk iPhone to great heights doesn't mean that the gravy train won't end someday or soon. You need to ask yourself, what's going to replace the iPhone. The Watch??! Hahahaha! That's really funny!
So no, you don't know what you're talking about.
There is only ONE aspect ratio now. All three new models feature the same aspect ratio. Add to this the 16:9 ratio of the 6-8 series then you have two. Add to this the auto-layout feature of iOS then you have NO screen size problem.
Total nonsense. Having more than one size isn't what makes "fragmentation" a software engineering problem, especially with adaptive-layout. Fragmentation in the android world is the assortment of operating systems, versions, vendors, and hardware that makes it more challenging & expensive to maintain a codebase, leading to abandonment. It's why android handsets, including Google flagships, drop support not long after the products are released. They do not enjoy the developer support nor the lengthy OS-provider support that iOS devices enjoy.
Sorry son, but I do this for a living. I doubt you do.
Oh, but you were a close person friend of Jobs, I forgot. How well did you know the man?
You've exposed yourself as somebody ignorant of Apple history. Incremental, iterative development is how they do product development and have always done product development. The second Macintosh (the "fat" one) was an incremental update to the original.
Better analysts than you have noted this. Macworld wrote a piece about it almost ten years ago:
https://www.macworld.com/article/1151235/macs/apple-rolls.html
Oh but you're angry at gimmicks! Cool story bro.