For years, Apple held on to the firm belief
that no one would buy a phone they couldn’t
hold comfortably in one hand. But the world
seemed to think otherwise, and with the growing
demand for large screen smartphones, the company
had to give in to what users wanted. This
year, Apple launched the two biggest iPhones
in its history. The 4.7-inch iPhone 6 is aimed
at those who want a more compact device, while
the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus is targeted at
those seeking a large screen smartphone experience.
We have the smaller iPhone 6 with us for review
to help you decide whether it’s worth the
upgrade.
The first thing you notice about the iPhone
6 is how drastically different it appears
from the iPhone 5s. The blocky frame with
chamfered sides has been replaced with a slim
profile, curved corners and rounded edges.
The glass panel in the front has also been
given a makeover, and is now contoured, sloping
gently down to the sides. The iPhone 6 is
constructed out of a single, uninterrupted
piece of aluminium, and as always the quality
of materials used is impeccable. Despite its
negligible weight of 129g and skinny waist
measuring 6.9mm, the smartphone feels solid,
and more importantly, unbendable.
Even with the new design, the iPhone 6 feels
very Apple-esque. On the chin is the familiar
Home button ringed by the metal Touch ID sensor,
while the top features the earpiece, front
camera and other sensors. The power button
has shifted from the top edge to the right
spine, with the ejectable SIM card tray below
it. The left spine features the ring/silent
switch and volume buttons. At the bottom you’ll
find the Lightning port in the centre, flanked
by the primary microphone and 3.5mm headphone
jack on the left, and the loudspeaker on the
right. The back panel features a metallic
Apple logo in the centre, and iPhone branding
at the bottom. At the top left sits the primary
camera, secondary microphone and flash. Our
only complaints about the otherwise gorgeous
device is the slightly protruding camera lens
and ungainly plastic antenna lines at the
back.
Apple devices are known for their stellar
displays, and the iPhone 6 is no different.
Even though it sticks to a modest resolution
of 1,334 x 750 pixels, it’s very sharp,
with no jagged edges visible in text. Brightness
levels are at an all-time high, and viewing
the screen in sunlight is not a problem. Colours
appear natural, with whiter whites and darker
blacks.
In the camera department, the iPhone 6 features
an 8-megapixel camera at the back, and a 1.2MP
camera in the front - the same configuration
as the 5s. Instead of increasing megapixels,
Apple has packed in several improvements.
The most significant among them is a new sensor
with Focus Pixels, which enables the camera
to focus on the subject faster. Other notable
new features include faster face detection,
high resolution panoramas and slow-motion
videos at 240fps.
Coming to the results, the primary camera
takes sharp, detailed shots in daylight, whether
they’re macros, portraits or wide landscapes.
Low light shots are also impressive, and aren’t
clouded by excessive grain. The True Tone
flash, which features one amber and one white
LED, illuminates dark images evenly and naturally,
without excessively yellowing or whitening
the results. The front camera, as always,
is a great tool for selfies.
The iPhone 6 runs the latest software platform,
iOS 8. The new version of iOS brings several
new features like third-party keyboards, actionable
notifications, support for widgets in the
‘Today’ view and app extensions. The new
Continuity and Handoff features let you start
a task on your iPhone and finish it on your
Mac. It supports apps like Mail, Notes, Safari
and Messages, and even phone calls.
Apart from the aforementioned features, the
iPhone 6 gets a few exclusive software tweaks.
Display Zoom lets you choose between Standard
and Zoomed options, with the latter magnifying
the UI to make it easier for those with poor
eyesight. Reachability lets you double tap
the Home button to slide the entire UI to
the bottom, making one-handed use easier.
It’s worth noting that Apple Pay, Apple’s
new payment method which uses the Touch ID
sensor and NFC antenna to authorize payments,
is only available in the US as of now.
Coming to the performance, the iPhone 6 is
powered by Apple’s second gen 64-bit A8
chip. An M8 motion co-processor is also on
board, gathering health data from various
sensors, including the new barometer. Multi-tasking
and day to day performance is expectedly blazing
fast, and gaming is a pleasure too, with intensive
titles like Riptide GP2 playing without any
lags or freezes.
The battery life is one area where the iPhone
6 doesn’t impress. It lasts for a full day
with light usage, but with heavy use you’ll
need to plug in your charger sooner.
The iPhone 6 is available in 3 storage variants
- 16GB, 64GB and 128GB, with Apple having
done away with the 32GB version. On our 16GB
unit, around 11.4GB of storage is available
to the user.
To sum it all up, the iPhone 6 is truly bigger
and better than the 5s, and makes a worthy
upgrade for those invested in Mac, especially
with iOS 8’s new continuity features. But,
it has some stiff competition from Android
heavyweights like the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC
One (M8) and Sony Xperia Z3, which despite
being launched for around the same price,
are now available for less. If cost isn’t
a factor though, the iPhone 6 is still one
of the best smartphones for your money.
