I just pre-ordered the 128Gb XR in white. I was 50/50 over black or white, but decided on a change. Interestingly the pre orders opened earlier than 8am with the mobile networks, around 730am. I've got friends and family on EE but still wanted to check Vodafone. Had to look twice on the Vodafone page as the price looked so much cheaper before I realised it was something like £384 up front. Struggled ordering on the EE app though, it kept getting to payment page, doing the bank verify, then redirecting to a page that didn't exist. Fixed by 8:30am though.
Over 24 months, it worked out around £50 cheaper on contract with the FF discount over buying up front, but that was based on my current sim only which is 25gb, and the new contract I went for is 60Gb. Just couldn't justify the extra to get the 100Gb on data when I'm barely using 20Gb atm. I was on 40% discount still with FF which made me not want to drop to the 30%, but had to eventually I guess. Was paying £15 a month for 25gb data and unlimited everything else. With damage protection it's working out at £55 a month for the new contract which isn't too awful. Much better than the prices on the XS and Max.
I'm mainly went for the XR on price and the battery life increase over the XS (hope it's true for real). I'm coming from an iPhone 6 Plus which even with a battery change is still struggling. I've waited so long to upgrade mainly because I just can't justify the prices these days. Used to upgrade every year, then every 18months until it went to 24 months, I'm on a very good wage (silly money per day atm), and I still can't justify so much on a phone, which is why the XR, while expensive seemed like a better deal.