“For the past few years, I have been a naysayer on one feature of smartphones: their growing size,” Brian X. Chen writes for The New York Times. “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.”
“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. Far from being disappointed by the supersized devices, I was delighted,” Chen writes. “The trade-offs of the new jumbo model felt minor. 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.”
“After three days, I was surprised by how good it felt to use the XS Max with one hand. A key factor was how Apple had managed to cram a bigger screen into a slightly smaller body. (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),” Chen writes. “These changes amounted to meaningful improvements in ergonomics and overall convenience. I was able to hold the XS Max in one hand and type messages easily. 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.”
“For years, Apple customers have gotten in the habit of buying a new iPhone sight unseen. But now that there are several sizes for different prices, I encourage you to try before you buy. It may not hurt to wait for the XR’s release next month so you can test all three in a store. Play with the cameras and pay close attention to how each phone feels in one hand and inside your pocket,” Chen writes. “It’s important that you find the right fit: Since you have to pay so much for your next iPhone, you will probably live with it for a long time. And who knows? You might assume you will dislike a bigger screen and then change your mind — just as I did.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iPhone Xs Max is the ultimate smartphone.
“… iPhone Xs Max is the ultimate smartphone….”
Until next year when the Xs Max becomes the XsMaxPro.
Or they may reset the name back to: iPhone (2019 edition)
XsMaxPro w/ G5 processor..
Oh my, Apple’s implementation of Reachability on the XS Max sounds downright awful. Swipe up from the bottom? The author is right that there’s myriad ways they could’ve handled that better.