iPhone XR review – All things bright and beautiful

iPhone XR review – All things bright and beautiful

Launched a while after the iPhone XS and and XS Max, this colourful powerhouse is the youngest (and funnest) member in the X family. Think Jack-Jack in The Incredibles 2, but far more reliable.

While it might not have the specs to match the XS duo, it certainly has many of the same perks.

Apple has dropped the price (by Apple’s standards), switched out OLED for LED and scrapped a camera sensor on the rear to bring us this ‘affordable’ iPhone in an array of glorious colours, and with battery life that’ll withstand a whole day of heavy tapping.

If you’re in the market for a brilliant new iPhone, or just a new smartphone for that matter, then read on…

Design and build: Hard candy

From the front the iPhone XR looks similar to the X and XS with a whole lotta screen plus notch, yet it’s a touch wider, taller and bulkier — sizing in at 150.9 x 75.7 x 8.33mm. The XS is 143.6mm tall for a comparative example.

For those used to an iPhone 8 or 7, it might feel a bit wide in-hand at first. But it’s just about manageable.

The iconic rounded edges feel great to touch and the metallic colour around the perimeter looks good, if you get what we mean. It’s almost reminiscent of the colourful troupe of iPods and Shuffles. Plus, the candy colours (it’s available in blue, coral, yellow, white, black, gold and (product) RED) bring to mind those old Apple iPod TV adverts, of dancing silhouettes against block colour backdrops.

Let’s take a tour — around the back we’ve got one very lonely camera sensor, which makes it look similar to the iPhone 8. It’s finished in aluminium and glass, rather than the steel on the iPhone XS duo.

The glass on the front is allegedly among the strongest on any phone, and that still stands to be proven. Although, we are a little, er, heavy handed and usually manage to get a couple of scratches after a few weeks with a new phone. Not the case with the XR, it does seem very sturdy.

Similar to the iPhone X and XS, there’s the slender lock/Siri button where the power key once was, with the volume buttons and the mute switch on the left. It’s no surprise that this phone is devoid of a headphone jack and every iPhone going forward will be too.

What is a pain though, is that Apple don’t include the adapter in the box as was supplied with 2017’s iPhone X. So you’ll need to get yourself a headphone jack to Lightning dongle for your wired cans.

Not out of choice, or journalistic integrity, but we’ve tried and tested the XR in torrential downpour riding a bike and its IP67 waterproofing meant it was up to the challenge. So we can only imagine it would be fine in most everyday water-based threats.