14 DAY TRIAL // We’ve finally finished testing both of Apple’s latest smartphones and we did so with great pleasure. While both phones look about the same, the Plus is a completely different animal. The reason is obvious: its size.
In fact, it’s the first iPhone that marks a true departure from what Apple has been doing up until this point. And it feels a bit rushed. Sort of like the phone that people demanded but Apple didn’t want to make.
100% Apple design
The design language is sublime. In usual Apple style, there are no seams, no creaking and cracking, just a smooth slate combining the best materials out there to house the best mobile technology that the Cupertino company has to offer. The glass is coated with a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic substance that gives it a high-quality feel (more than it manages to keep smudges off the screen).
The aluminum-built chassis is pleasant and fulfilling to the touch, but it’s hard to grasp it with one hand without fear it will eventually slip out and fall to the ground. At least that’s what you get when you don’t have Sasquatch hands.
If you’re the type who wears tight jeans all the time, consider carrying the device in a bag / purse / backpack. Even if it does fit in your pants, you’ll feel it poking your thigh when you walk, and it will even prevent you from sitting down properly.
Another thing I believe Apple messed up is the placement of the Sleep/Wake button. While it makes perfect sense to be there on the iPhone 6, it needs to be a lot lower on the Plus – around midway. I say this because I’ve been having tremendous difficulty reaching it without crawling my way up to it.
For those of us who’ve mostly been wielding iPhones (or devices in the 4.5-inch range), this one feels too big for its own size. It may sound like a silly word game, but it’s true. iPhone 6 Plus is basically just a scaled-up iPhone 6. While the design makes perfect sense around a 4.7-inch display, the same can’t be said for a 5.5-inch unit. For a device that wants to give Android and Windows Phone a run for their money, it doesn’t seem well enough prepared. Which conveniently brings me to my next point.
iOS is too small for iPhone 6 Plus
The same goes for Apple’s underlying software, iOS. Sure they give you the option to choose between standard and zoomed views when you first set up the phone, but that’s no way to treat a 5.5-inch display. What you want is to use that extra space, not just show the same iOS blown up to fit a bigger canvas. The zoom option makes it feel like you’re choosing an accessibility option for the visually impaired.
There are areas where iPhone 6 Plus indeed takes advantage of the bigger screen, such as the menus and Notification Center. It’s clear there that, the bigger the screen, the more info you get with fewer scrolls. Games display incredibly awesome too. Especially those made with Metal. But if people are buying iPhone 6 Plus purely for the games, then Apple has a big demographic problem on its hands.
iOS 8 is the first iOS whose Home screen goes landscape on the iPhone 6 Plus. It’s a nice touch, but this one doesn’t cut it either. What Apple needs to do is properly scale iOS to use every millimeter of that display. Instead, what you get in the Home screen is a lot more space to display your wallpaper and an extra row of icons. The lock screen remains unchanged as well. Honestly, if this isn’t the time to let people add some extras there, I don’t know when is.
Audio and Video / Camera
The phone’s built-in speaker is substantially louder than those found in previous-generation iPhones. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that it’s as loud as those inside the iPad line. Don’t forget to turn down the volume if you plan to watch a YouTube video on the subway. Chances are you’ll freak out half the train.
The camera department is where iPhone 6 Plus truly shines. Not only does the large screen make an awesome view-finder, but the camera is amazingly well optimized to take photos on the move. That’s because the Plus has optical stabilization that uses physical parts, not just software. It makes adjustments on the fly using the phone’s accelerometer and gyro. It’s mostly visible in the photos, but also in videos and slo-mo.
Speaking of which, iPhone 6 Plus captures some breathtaking slow-motion videos. If you happen to be in the Apple Store testing one out, don’t forget to try this feature. This one alone could be the winning feature if you’re pondering between devices.
Panorama is also much better than on previous devices. I don’t know if it’s the optics, the processor inside, the motion sensors, or all of these combined. What I do know is that iPhone 6 Plus can stitch together a panorama to look like it’s been edited by professionals. The pixel count is fairly higher on the Plus (1920-by-1080-pixel resolution) and the pixel density is also much thicker: 401 ppi.
The protruding camera is something I personally don’t care for. I know it’s necessary to take these awesome images, but I wish Jony Ive considers another approach in the next major upgrade. It’s not ugly on its own, but it just feels unnatural on such a smooth slate. It also makes the phone rest unevenly on a table, when it sits on its back. In fact, we may soon learn that the camera module on this iPhone is the first to sustain damage after a few months of usage.
Reception and wireless
Another thing I can definitely say in favor of the iPhone 6 Plus is that reception was off the charts in my testing. It rarely dropped under five bars (dots, in the case of iOS). This is the first iPhone that hasn’t dropped a call on me in whole days of 3G and 4G talk time, and the audio quality has been sublime. The earpiece is loud and clear, something I’ve always appreciated in a mobile phone. If it’s too loud you can always turn the volume down, but if the sound is too weak there’s not a whole lot you can do, is there?
LTE web browsing is blazing-fast! But Wi-Fi doesn’t seem to be as swift as Apple markets it. This is something I’ve noticed on the iPhone 6 as well. Let’s hope it’s a firmware bug. According to the company, there are 20 LTE bands on the thing, which means 4G is always handy no matter where you are on the globe (except maybe the inside of a volcano).
And because web browsing is so good on the iPhone 6 Plus, I’ve considered returning to Safari. It makes much more sense on a bigger display, and while I don’t like the device as a phone, I simply love it as an Internet machine.
A8 processor, battery life
There’s great potential for the iPhone 6 Plus in the business sector, as well as for creatives. You can do actual office work on it and that includes CAD design and other cool stuff. To assist with these duties, the battery housed inside the phone’s aluminum chassis lasts twice as long as any iPhone battery before it. It’s the longest-running iPhone I’ve tested so far, and despite the fact that I can’t use it the way I want to, I can’t say I mind not having to recharge it daily. With LTE turned on non-stop, max brightness, and location services constantly at my disposal, the iPhone 6 Plus weathered almost two full days of regular usage, which included a couple of gaming sessions and some Maps navigation.
I’ve also noticed some bugs in the iPhone 6 Plus that I haven’t encountered in the iPhone 6. For example, the OS can get stuck in landscape mode sometimes. And multitasking may or may not kick in when you double-click the Home button, depending on the phone’s mood. Very disappointing coming from Apple’s latest and greatest.
The iPhone 6 Plus is powered by the A8 desktop-class chip. I won’t do a rundown of the technicalities, because that’s boring. What I can tell you is that the A8 does not disappoint. When iOS isn’t acting up, that is. The performance is most visible with graphics-intensive games, like the newly-released Angry Birds Transformers, or the Infinity Blade series. The frames are fast and the overall experience throughout iOS is pretty satisfying. However, I will say that A8 seems to be struggling more with the 5.5-inch display of the iPhone 6 Plus than it does on the 6. As noted above, the pixel count is high on the Plus, so this may be the culprit.
In the box
iPhone with iOS 8 Apple EarPods with Remote and Mic Lightning to USB Cable USB Power Adapter Documentation
