iPhone 6 Review
The Perfect iPhone?
There has been a demand for a bigger iPhone ever since there were bigger smartphones. Apple stuck with their 3.5-inch screens from the very first iPhone in 2007 all the way to the iPhone 4S in 2011.
It was not till the debut of the iPhone 5 in 2012 where they finally increased the screen size to a measly 4-inch, a time where the Samsung Galaxy, Google Nexus, HTC One, etc have been readily available as alternatives for people who demanded a larger screen. While Apple held on to the “familiar” design, shape, and size of their iPhones, they have lost quite a bit of the marketshare with their Android and Windows alternatives.
You see, over the years people have become very dependent on their smartphones to manage their work, personal, and social lives without having to tethered to a desktop, laptop or even a tablet nowadays. The bigger screens are pretty much a requirement for most people and a 4-inch iPhone just can’t seem to cut it. Just try watching anime when reading subtitles while on the treadmill at the gym. It’s pretty painful and I know this because I did it just about every day with my iPhone 5S!
This year, with the debut of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, things are a little different. With the release of the 4.7 and 5.5-inch iPhones, this changes everything… or does it?
Build and Design
Reminiscent of the very first iPhone launched in 2007 mixed with the modern iPod Touch, the new iPhone 6 sports a thin, aluminum build design with rounded edges. It measures at 5.4 x 2.6 x 0.3 inches (128 x 67 x 69mm) weighing at 4.5 oz or 128g. Compared to the previous iPhone 5S at 4.9 x 2.3 x 0.3 inches at 3.9 oz, it’s a bit taller and wider with the same thickness and a bit heavier obviously due to the larger 4.7-inch screen. You have a selection of the same Gold, Silver, and Space Gray colors to choose from along with a variety of leather or silicone cases from Apple.
Although it is definitely a good looking phone, it doesn’t have that unique, industrial feel and design of the “Leica camera” like the iPhone 4 – 5S. As a lot of my colleagues and friends have commented, it’s just like any other phone by Samsung and HTC and for those who are switching from those phones, that could be a good thing with the familiar layout. For instance, the round volume buttons from the previous iPhone are now elongated on the iPhone 6 and the Power button has now moved to the side very much like a Samsung Galaxy. The headphone and Lightning ports are still at the bottom along with the mono speaker. The iPhone 6 still ports the iconic round Home button that also doubles as a fingerprint scanner with Touch ID which now has more functions thanks to iOS 8 (more on that later).
The phone has a solid feel and build to it but with the more rounded redesign, you have to be extra careful in handling the phone because it tends be slippery like the HTC One M8. It is still comfortable to use one handed, unlike the 6 Plus so this would be the iPhone of choice for most people based on size alone. I’m 5’ 8” at 170lbs and it fits in my jeans, work pants and I have no issues using this one handed even while walking. As for driving… people please be safe and just don’t do it!
This is one of those phones that needs a case. Also, for some reason this is the first iPhone that has a protruding camera that totally unbalances the uniform design that Apple has been known for. No idea what they were thinking in the design department and is very unlike Jony Ive for missing this detail. Adding a case does help and I am currently using a Spigen Slim Armor case which you can get from Amazon for $15 and it has so far served me well.
Another issue that I have with the design of the phone is that the large bezels waste too much screen space. The iPhone 6’s footprint is almost identical to the Google Nexus 5 which has a 5-inch screen which Apple could have easily done on the iPhone. I guess we have to wait for a revision or two for the, to work out the bezels but this is what we are stuck with for now.
Screen
Even with the annoyingly large bezel, the upgrade 4.7-inch IPS 1344×750 resolution screen is where the iPhone 6 really shines on this device, especially when you are coming from a smaller sized phone. The iPhone 5/5S’s 4-inch 1136 x 640 display has been feeling dated since 2012 when 5-inch screens have been readily available so it would seem that Apple is just barely playing catch up with its competitors. The 4.7-inch HD Retina Display looks amazing and you can totally appreciate the improved overall experience with a larger screen. Text is much easier to read, games look great, and I don’t have to squint when watching movies. Videos in HD are much sharper and easy to view on the larger screen.
With the extra screen real estate, you can now get an extra row of icons on the iPhone 6 coming from the 5/5S and on the 6 Plus, you get one more on top of the iPhone 6. Unlike the 6 Plus, you don’t really have to wait for the developers to optimize their apps for the larger screen size because the current apps looks great and the fonts don’t get overblown like they do on the Plus.
As mentioned earlier, Apple could have reduced the bezel size in exchange for a 5-inch screen, however coming from the 4-inch or smaller iPhone or even another similar sized Android phone, the upgrade screen size is much appreciated. Also, there is always the choice of going for a 5.5-inch iPhone if you need something even bigger.
Performance
Currently, the iPhone 5S’s 64-bit dual core A7 processor has yet to utilize it’s full potential and still holds its own with today’s apps, even against this year’s Android competitors. So how much more can you improve the CPU on the iPhone? Apple claims the new A8 processor is 25% faster in overall performance than the A7 but it will take some time for developers to take advantage of the upgraded CPU. I currently don’t feel that the iPhone 6 is any faster than the 5S, maybe just a little but that just could be psychological because every app I’ve used on the 5S runs and loads about the same as it does not the new 6.
Everyday apps that I use are Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, have no real performance increase with the new A8 processor. Safari is as snappy as always. Games such as Infinity Blade III, Riptide, and Plunder Pirates did load slightly faster but the difference was negligible from the 5S. It will be a matter of time when developers take full advantage of the A8.
I care more about real world usage rather than benchmarks but in this situation, it’s currently the only way to measure how much faster this year’s iPhone is from the last.
Courtesy of CNET.COM
iOS 8
Apple’s mobile operating system receives some pretty nifty upgrades this year without making any drastic changes. The transition from iOS 7 to iOS 8 is analogous to iPhone 5 to iPhone 5S where it looks very much the same on the surface but receives a handful of enhancements and additions underneath. In fact if you handed the average Joe an iPhone with iOS 7 and iOS 8, they wouldn’t really notice the difference unless they spent more time with it. You can however appreciate some of the refinements of this year’s operating system. So without going into too much detail, here’s a handful of what’s new and useful:
New iMessage Features
You can now send voice messages through iMessage as well as name and leave your message group. A little bit lat in the game but it’s good to see that Apple has finally caught up with WhatsApp
Enhanced Keyboard
Apple has added predictive typing, very much like the one found on the Blackberry where it gives you word suggestions and learns as you type. You also have the ability to disable this feature of you don’t wish to use it.
Third Party Keyboard Support
Welcome to 2010! You can now install your own keyboard such as Swiftkey and Swype. Since these apps are still at their infancy for iOS, they still don’t work as well as their Android counterparts so they still needs some time. Glad to know we now have a choice of keyboards!
Improved Spotlight Searching
Spotlight is now integrated with your search engine of choice where you can search online with just about anything and it effectively categorizes what you are searching for.
Customizable Notification Center “Widgets”
Although nowhere near Android’s execution of its widgets, you can now customize your Notification Center to show sport scores, eBay listings, weather, etc from third party apps. Hey, it’s a start in the right direction!
Health
Tracking your health is trendy these days and Apple likes to be trendy. You can track your daily activity with the Health app which will soon be able to pull from 3rd party fitness apps so you can have all of that in one place. Waiting on Apple to re-open the API to other sources such as Fitbit, Jawbone, and Nike.
There are other features such as an improved Photo app, Safari Extension support, Family Sharing, and more but I won’t go into too much detail since Apple has listed them on their site.
There are some annoyances with iOS 8 such as the obtrusive Tips app that randomly pushes some tips on how to use iOS 8 better. There is no way to delete that app and it’s a waste of space. Also, the new features need some refining so Apple definitely needs some time to improve them. The one thing that bugs me about iOS 8 is the Photo Stream and iCloud Drive catastrophe. Pre iOS 8, photos use to be categorized under the Camera Roll, and Photo Stream (which saves your most recent 1000 photos). Apple has eliminated the Camera Roll and Photo Stream replacing it with Recently Added photos. Some people will be shocked to find that their photos are missing but they are now placed in the Photos tab rather than in the Albums. The Albums tab categorizes your photos by “Moments” based on the time and location it was taken. They are then redundantly place in the Recently Added photos section in the Albums tab. Some of your photos are there, some are not. I am not sure how iOS determines which photos to place where but they are sometimes duplicated on other apps such as Instagram and Google+ so developers may need to update their software or Apple has to fix this. I don’t know what the deal is but it’s definitely a mess.
Other than some new enhances, and needed tweaks, iOS 8 is more or less the same from it’s predecessor.
Apple Pay and NFC
Apple has finally introduced NFC to their mobile devices starting with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, however the only feature announced so far that will utilize NFC is Apple Pay. Starting in October, you will be able to make payments from your iPhone using the security of Touch ID (your fingerprint) to a retailer’s wireless reader. Also, you can have all your credit cards securely stored on your iPhone by simply taking a photo of them which you can select the method of payment through Passbook. Apple has announced several popular retailers such as Walgreens, WholeFoods, McDonalds, etc with the support of popular banks / credit card companies such as Chase, Bank of America, American Express, and more.
We will update this section once the feature is available.
Camera
Apple touts the iPhone as being the world’s most popular camera and that statement is accurate for a reason. Since the iPhone 4, it has been one of the best overall smartphone cameras available and the camera gets better every year. While other competitors boast high megapixels, the iPhone 6 sticks with now a FOUR year streak of 8MP. Building off of the previous generations of iPhone cameras, the 6 has some new improvements and additions. Wait a minute, lets just stop right here. I just plagiarized myself on what I said on my iPhone 5s review last year!
With jokes aside, the iPhone 6 still has one of the best smartphone cameras to date rivaling even the Samsung Galaxy S5 16MP camera. What’s new in the iPhone 6 is the improved autofocus for photos and videos. The iPhone 5S already takes excellent photos but if you compare how you use the camera side by side with this year’s iPhone, the 6 quickly autofocuses on your subject without having to tap the screen. Other than that, the camera remains the same with the 1.2MP front facing “Selfie” camera but enhanced with a larger f2.2 aperture and HDR sensors. You can also take burt shots with the selfie camera as well. Panoramic photos have improved with 43MP capability.
In terms of taking video, the iPhone 6 now has the ability to record video at 60fps as well as take slow-mo at up to 240fps (120fps is still an option) giving you the ability to create a Matrix slow motion action shot. Also on the video recording, the iPhone 6 now features video stabilization which reduces the shaking on your videos when you are in motion. A really nice touch for those who use their iPhones as their only video recording device.
Unlike the iPhone 6 Plus, the iPhone 6 for some reason lacks optical image stabilization which really helps with low-light situations. I really can’t find a valid reason for why Apple has omitted this from the smaller iPhone 6 and am disappointed that they did. Although the iPhone 6 is an excellent camera been without it, it would have been nice to have. Below are the photos I have taken so far with my iPhone 6 and I will do a shot by shot comparison with the iPhone 5S and 6 Plus along with some video samples so I will update this section in the very near future!
Photo Samples Taken with the iPhone 6 (more coming soon)
Battery Life
Jumping from a 4-inch to a 4.7-inch phone, one would expect a much bigger battery right? In the case of the 5.5-inch iPhone Plus, yes and it comes packed with a whooping 2900Mah battery which clocked up to two days of use. So what about the smaller iPhone 6? To my disappointment, it is no better than the 10-11 hour battery life of the iPhone 5S. The iPhone 6 has a measly 1810 Mah battery that last about a full work day. I run a sales team for a telecom company so the phone is taken off the 7AM and I go through a daily routine of calls, text, emails, social networking with Bluetooth and WiFi on and the battery quits just a little before 8PM with moderate to heavy use. Why Apple didn’t include a bigger battery on this is a mystery to me and I am not sure how well a Mophie battery pack case will go on this but I don’t expect it to be pretty.
I will update this section with more in-depth testing of the battery in the near future since I’ve spent about half a week with the phone.
Conclusion
To crush it’s competitors, all Apple had to do was create a bigger iPhone right? That would be true if this was two years ago but the competition has gotten a lot tougher. Sony’s Xperia Z3 has a bigger screen, 2 day battery life and waterproof capabilities. Samsung has a 16MP camera, water resistant, and a replaceable battery and other competitors haven’t made things so easy any more. Apple continues to improve the iPhone which itself is an excellent product but there is nothing really revolutionary about what they do with it anymore. As with every iPhone revision, you get an improved operating system, camera, and additional features that matter. These subtle and some not so subtle upgrades however continue to enhance the iPhone experience and that’s more than satisfying for most people.
The people asked for a bigger iPhone and they got it. The people wanted NFC, customizable keyboards, and extension support, and again they got it. It’s good to see that Apple is taking steps to compete with its rivals and so far, regardless of some of it’s quirks, the iPhone 6 is the best iPhone to date. Personally, I think it’s the most perfect iPhone to date since it’s a great balance for a larger screen phone without the sacrifice of portability. As for being the perfect smartphone? That’s for you to decide but if you are upgrading from your current iPhone, you will definitely be happy. If you were an Android user waiting for a larger sized iPhone, you will most likely not be disappointed especially when you factor in Apple’s large app library, ecosystem, and customer support on their products.
Having a better battery and Optical Image Stabilization on the iPhone 6 would have been nice though.
Pros:
- Gorgeous display
- Improved Overall Performance
- Excellent Camera
- Easiest smartphone to use with the largest App Library and support
Cons:
- Mediocre battery life
- Wasted screen space from large bezel
- Inexcusable missing features from iPhone 6 Plus
- Protruding camera rear camera lens ruins uniform design
- iOS 8 has its annoyances
Overall Rating: 4 / 5
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