![]() After taking the larger XS Max everywhere with me for three days and feeling good about it, I switched to the iPhone XS - and immediately experienced a sense of relief. “But does it fit inside your pocket?” she asked. While browsing Instagram next to my partner, I said to her: “If you can use this thing with one hand, who would want the smaller phone if you only have to pay $100 more for this huge screen?” The display was also nice for reading recipes in the kitchen. The bigger screen made writing longer emails - a task that I usually do on a laptop - more pleasant. While driving, it was easier to read maps. In contrast, my thumb could not reach keys on the sides of the older iPhone 8 Plus, like the shift key or the backspace key, because of the space taken up by the bezel.Īnd I found the jumbo-screen XS Max particularly beneficial in several instances. I was able to hold the XS Max in one hand and type messages easily. These changes amounted to meaningful improvements in ergonomics and overall convenience. (The body of the Plus phones was 6.24 inches by 3.07 inches, while the XS Max’s body is 6.2 inches by 3.05 inches.) A key factor was how Apple had managed to cram a bigger screen into a slightly smaller body. ![]() I began by testing the iPhone XS Max because why not start with the biggest device? I moved my SIM card and all my data from an older iPhone to the new gadget and took it with me to dinner parties, bars, meetings and the gym.Īfter three days, I was surprised by how good it felt to use the XS Max with one hand. I still think the smaller XS is a better fit for most people, but many would enjoy the XS Max. By eliminating the bezels, which are the screen’s borders, Apple did a terrific job of increasing screen size without adding bulk or compromising the usability of the XS Max. The trade-offs of the new jumbo model felt minor. Far from being disappointed by the supersized devices, I was delighted. ![]() Yet after running the 6.5-inch XS Max alongside the 5.8-inch XS through different situations and conditions for a week, I was surprised by my reaction. All three iPhones include Face ID, the feature for unlocking the phone using face recognition. The iPhone XS and XS Max have a dual-lens camera, while the XR has a single-lens camera. None of the new phones were making huge technological leaps from last year, either. The iPhone XR, which will be released on Oct. The XS will start at $999 and the XS Max at $1,099 when both become available on Friday, compared with $699, $799 and $999 for new iPhones last year. The prices of Apple’s phones, for one, have shot up. There were other things I figured I would dislike. I had predicted that the larger display on the XS Max would be unwieldy in my pocket and make the phone cumbersome to hold with one hand while typing and reaching for buttons inside apps. Last week, I began testing both new iPhone models. So it’s humbling to come to you now with another confession: The iPhone XS and the iPhone XS Max may be making me a convert to bigger smartphones. They felt impossible to use with one hand and far too bulky in a pocket. For those reasons, I never liked the Plus phones, the line of iPhones that Apple introduced in 2014 with 5.5-inch screens. These devices spend a lot of time in your pocket and your hand, and there are often compromises in portability and comfort when the screens balloon in size. (The original iPhone in 2007 started with a 3.5-inch screen.) In fact, the 6.5-inch screen on the iPhone XS Max is Apple’s biggest ever. The world’s top phone makers have all added more substantial glass screens to stretch from one edge of their smartphones to another, on the theory that people can better enjoy their apps and content on an ample display.Īpple helped seal the deal last week when it announced that its new phones this year - the iPhone XR, XS and XS Max - would have screens that measured between 5.8 inches and 6.5 inches diagonally, compared with 4.7 inches and 5.5 inches two years ago. ![]() My position was unusual given the increasing prevalence of larger screen devices. For the past few years, I have been a naysayer on one feature of smartphones: their growing size. ![]()
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