One of the highlighted demonstrations onstage today was the ability to manually adjust the depth of field after taking photos in Portrait Mode. Despite Apple’s claims that “this has not been possible with any kind of camera,” it’s actually a feature that’s been available on Android phones like Huawei and Nokia for a few years. Not to mention, the refocusing technology was first pioneered by the now-defunct light-field camera company Lytro in 2012.

So we can take all of Apple’s big keynote claims with a grain of salt, but if we’re looking at technical specifications, how do the new iPhones stack up against the top Android phones? We compared their specs to the Samsung Galaxy S9, S9 Plus, Galaxy Note 9, Google Pixel 2, and Pixel 2 XL.

IPHONE XS AND XS MAX SPEC COMPARISON:

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That said, while the XR may look like a larger iPhone XS, there are a few compromises — the frame is aluminum, not stainless steel. There’s IP67 water and dust protection, instead of the improved IP68 rating on the iPhone XS, and the screen is LCD, not OLED. There’s also no 3D Touch — instead Apple is offering a new Haptic touch system, that offers similar feedback to the buttonless MacBook Pro trackpad

The iPhone XR features Apple’s latest A12 Bionic processor, just like the iPhone XS and XS Max — which Apple says offers improved speeds and performance over last year’s model, particularly for Apple’s “Neural Engine” AI processing.

Despite its larger size, the iPhone XR features only a single rear camera, similar to the iPhone 8. The camera is a single 12-megapixel wide-angle camera — the same wide-angle camera as the XS. The single camera does offer portrait mode, combining hardware and software to create the blurred background effect.

As for the front-facing camera, it’s gotten an upgrade to Apple’s TrueDepth system from the iPhone XS, with a 7-megapixel sensor that allows for Face ID as well as features like portrait mode selfies, Animoji, and Memoji. It’s the same improved system as featured on the XS, with faster Face ID unlocking.

On the battery life front, Apple is promising up to an hour and a half longer battery than the iPhone 8 Plus. The XR also will come in a variety of colors, with black, white, blue, coral, yellow, and red options available for the widest selection of chromatic choice since the iPhone 5C.

But while the iPhone XR may feel like a less flashy version of the iPhone XS, it does come at a significant advantage: a much lower price. The iPhone XR starts at $749 for a 64GB model, with 128GB and 256GB models also available. Preorders will start on October 19th for the XR, which will ship a week later on October 26th.

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Then, when more information or a deeper dive is required, the user is able to pop the screen out of the casing to expand the visible display real estate. The flexible screen on the prototype has a resolution of 2K. So more mid-tier mobile phone of yore than crisp iPhone Retina display at this nascent stage.

The scientists also reckon the scroll form factor offers a pleasing ergonomically option for making actual phone calls too, given that a rolled up scroll can sit snugly against the face.

Though they admit their prototype is still rather large at this stage — albeit, that just adds to the delightfully retro feel of the thing, making it come over like a massive mobile phone of the 1980s. Like the classic Motorola 8000X Dynatac of 1984.

While still bulky at this R&D stage, the team argues the cylindrical, flexible screen form factor of their prototype offers advantages by being lightweight and easier to hold with one hand than a traditional tablet device, such as an iPad. And when rolled up they point out it can also fit in a pocket. (Albeit, a large one.)

They also imagine it being used as a dictation device or pointing device, as well as a voice phone. And the prototype includes a camera — which allows the device to be controlled using gestures, similar to Nintendo’s ‘Wiimote’ gesture system.

In another fun twist they’ve added robotic actuators to the rotary wheels so the scroll can physically move or spin in place in various scenarios, such as when it receives a notification. Clocky eat your heart out.

“We were inspired by the design of ancient scrolls because their form allows for a more natural, uninterrupted experience of long visual timelines,” said Roel Vertegaal, professor of human-computer interaction and director of the lab, in a statement.

“Another source of inspiration was the old rolodex filing systems that were used to store and browse contact cards. The MagicScroll’s scroll wheel allows for infinite scroll action for quick browsing through long lists. Unfolding the scroll is a tangible experience that gives a full screen view of the selected item. Picture browsing through your Instagram timeline, messages or LinkedIn contacts this way!”

“Eventually, our hope is to design the device so that it can even roll into something as small as a pen that you could carry in your shirt pocket,” he added. “More broadly, the MagicScroll project is also allowing us to further examine notions that ‘screens don’t have to be flat’ and ‘anything can become a screen’. Whether it’s a reusable cup made of an interactive screen on which you can select your order before arriving at a coffee-filling kiosk, or a display on your clothes, we’re exploring how objects can become the apps.”

The team has made a video showing the prototype in action (embedded below), and will be presenting the project at the MobileHCI conference on Human-Computer Interaction in Barcelona next month.

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