Is this the Best Smartphone Out There?
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus broke several records. It was one of the fastest selling launches for Apple with over 10,000,000 units sold in the first 3 days. Locally the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus also set a new record for being the most expensive smartphones sold in the gray market with the 6 Plus debuting at a whopping Php100,000! The question everyone is asking though is if these new iPhones are actually worth it. That’s what we’ll be answering today with our full review of the iPhone 6. Our full review of the iPhone 6 Plus will follow very soon as well.
Before anything, let’s quickly take a look at the specifications of the iPhone 6.
Apple iPhone 6 Specs Sheet
- Apple A8 1.4GHz Dual-core Processor
- PowerVR GX6650 hexa-core GPU
- 1GB RAM
- 16GB/64GB/128GB internal storage variants, non-expandable
- 4.7-inches IPS LCD, 750×1334 pixels resolution, 326ppi
- 8.0-megapixels rear-facing camera, dual-tone LED Flash
- Can record 1080p@60fps or 720p@240fps
- 1.2-megapixels front-facing camera
- 3G, HSPA+, LTE, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band
- Bluetooth 4.0, NFC (Apple Pay), Fingerprint Sensor
- iOS 8
- 1,810mAh Battery
As you can see it’s not really great to look at on paper. Flagship Android devices boast much better specifications almost across the board. The 1,810mAh battery also looks dangerously low for a 4.7 HD device. However if there’s one thing we can count on is that Apple will never ship a product that they won’t love themselves so they probably addressed all of this with the software… or did they? *dun dun dun*
Hardware: Best in Class in Looks But Not in Durability
Johnny Ive knocked this one out of the park. The iPhone 6 is stunningly gorgeous. At 4.7-inches they managed to keep the iconic look, design, and feel of the iPhone. There are only three notable differences. First is one of my favorites — the display. The glass tapers down at the edges giving the iPhone 6 a very premium and elegant aura. It’s a subtle change but it’s something we really appreciate and love.
Another change we like are the curved edges. The chamfered squarish edges of the last 4 iPhones (iPhone 5S, 5, 4S, and 4) is gone and replaced with a more ergonomic build that lets the phone nestle comfortably in your palm. This combined with the lightness and thinness of the device makes it handle very easily despite being bigger at 4.7-inches compared to the iPhone 5S 4.0-inches form factor.
Perhaps our only gripe with the design is the camera lens. It sticks out too much because the body is so thin. Suffice to say you will really need to buy a case for your iPhone 6 because the last thing you want to do is to wreck the camera. By the way another good reason to get a case is to protect the aluminum chassis of the iPhone 6. While it’s pretty sturdy it’s still prone to dings and scratches. If you have plans of selling your iPhone 6 later on make sure you preserve the value by getting an Otterbox or something for it.
Other minor changes include changing the location of the Power Lock/Sleep button from the top to the side. This is a welcome change as it makes it easier for users to access the button since the phone is bigger now (harder to reach for the top part).
Everything else, Apple kept. The iconic Touch ID/Home button is still at the bottom center. The front facing camera is still at it’s usual place. The mute button, volume rocker, and lighting cable ports are also still there. Oh, the external speakers are better here compared to the iPhone 5S but still pales in comparison to the HTC One M8’s BoomSound.
Display Quality: This is Why You’re Upgrading
While iOS 8 and the awesome camera are nice features of the iPhone 6, the real star of the show is the 4.7-inch display. In essence the iPhone 6 is really just a slightly bigger iPhone, but that’s exactly what the market has been asking for ever since the iPhone 4. This is a nice step for Apple in the right direction because we were really afraid that they would hold on to their previous statements that the 4.0-inch display was the perfect form factor. Good to see they listen to their customers.
What are the benefits of having a bigger display? A LOT. First is that you get to appreciate all the usual stuff you do, like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and messaging, a whole lot more. The photos come out better and much more pleasing to the eyes. You don’t have to squint anymore when going through tweets or when you’re reading articles on Safari. Watching videos via YouTube isn’t as painful as before anymore. In short the bigger display positively affects everything you do on the iPhone. It’s also still perfectly manageable since it doesn’t cross over to the phablet space yet (which is usually 5.3-inches and up). You can still use this with one hand unless you have super super super small hands.
People rarely use their smartphones only for calling and messaging. The bigger display amplifies and makes everything else much better.
Everything considered with hardware and design, the iPhone 6 stands out as one of the most beautiful smartphones in the market. However beauty comes at a price and for this instance it’s durability. Third party case makers stand to make a killing on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus!
Software: iOS 8 Adapts Some of the Best Features from Android
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus run iOS 8 (8.02 if you update OTA). On the surface you get a really polished, smooth, and near flawless user experience with it. There are virtually no lags or slow downs despite the device rocking “only a dual-core processor” an 1GB RAM. This serves as a testament to how good Apple’s software is.
Building on iOS 7, Apple put in a bunch of new features that were initially and only found on Google’s Android OS. Apple was very picky and deliberate though and they only got the ones that would really improve over-all user experience.
First we have the third party interchangeable keyboard. As soon as iOS 8 was announced, Apple also showed that SwiftKey, arguably the most successful third party keyboard on Android, was also going to be available on the App Store for iPhone users. Swiftkey brings outstanding predictive typing capabilities to your device. The good news for Android users moving to the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus who have Swiftkey — if you enabled your SwiftKey Cloud you can just sign-in on your new iPhone and all the customizations and learnings will be automatically transferred. How sweet is that right!?
iOS 8 also brings actionable Notifications to the iPhone. We think they should have shipped this as early as iOS 5 but better late than never!
Lastly, Apple also changed a lot of the aesthetics and iconography on the iPhone. It feels much cleaner, precise, and deliberate versus the original design philosophy employed by former Apple Software SVP Scott Forstall.
We really like the new multi-tasking panel. It doesn’t show you what apps are open but it also brings up a scrolling menu of contacts that you recently contacted. Pretty nifty and useful.
As for new apps, Apple also included a new app called HealthKit. This is basically a suite of fitness monitoring and encouragement features that takes advantage of the variety of sensors on the iPhone 6/6 Plus. By itself it’s hard to use but once paired with the upcoming Apple Watch it’s going to be a massive success.
To highlight the benefits of HealthKit Apple even created a featured section of Health apps on the App Store. Looks like they’re really going to push for fitness as one of their brand pillars and values.
As for all the other core features the bigger display really makes all the apps shine. The over-all experience with the 4.7-inch display versus the iPhone 5’s 4.0-inch screen is like night and day. Everything just becomes much better thanks to the enlarged screen real estate. We particularly enjoyed three activities much more compared to the previous experience with the iPhone 5S: media consumption (video, image, and text), gaming, and web browsing.
When it comes to software, Apple made sure to keep the style and essence of iOS despite adding new features. That’s why the feeling you’ll get is that it’s very familiar and yet pleasantly different.
Camera: Still the One to Beat
There’s no going around the fact that Apple makes kick ass cameras on their iPhones. No exception here. The iPhone 6 has a really good camera to the point that we were looking at our point-and-shoot and thinking if we would ever bring it with us again, lol.
For photo quality the iPhone 6 delivers much better in mid-low light conditions. It also has fantastic macro shots and it focuses much faster as well.
Here are several sample shots we took with the iPhone 6. The consistent over-all quality of the photos is amazing. This is a perfect example that proves that the number of pixels is not everything that should be taken into consideration when judging which is the superior camera on a smartphone.
Other than the photo there’s also the video capture. We’re still uploading our new 720p@240fps video on YouTube though so we can’t embed it yet. Check back tomorrow so you guys see how awesome it is. Makes for a great video cam when you’re taking videos of your kids doing martial arts or dancing, hehe.
Battery Life: 20%-30% Better than the iPhone 5S
Now this is probably one of the best news you’ll hear from this review. The battery life of the iPhone 6 is noticeably better compared to the iPhone 5S. Based on our informal tests, we got an average of 20%-30% battery life on the iPhone 6 with the same usage versus the iPhone 5S. That’s roughly 2-3 hours more, enough to get you through the day.
If you’re a moderate user then the iPhone 6 should be able to make it to your nightstand in the evening with around 20-30% left.
So yeah, cheers to awesome battery life. Crazy that Apple was still able to do this despite just rocking a small 1,810mAh Battery.
Verdict: Well Worth the Upgrade Regardless What iPhone You’re Using
So now we get to the big question — is it worth buying? Here are our answers for you:
- If you’re using a 4S or 4: Absolutely yes. Sell that phone and add that money to your budget to get the new IPhone 6.
- If you’re using an 5S or 5: If you like watching videos, browsing the web, playing games, and reading on your iPhone: absolutely yes. If you just use your phone for messaging and calling then you can probably stick it out and wait for the 6S.
- If you’re a former iPhone User that witched to Android: Honestly we feel that the iPhone 6 offers enough reasons and features for you to consider coming back. The beautiful simplicity of iOS can actually be very charming.
- If you’re an Android user and iPhone virgin: Unless you own a Macbook for your laptop it’s probably better you just stick to Android, hehe.
Like what we said at the start — the iPhone 6 is a more powerful iPhone with a bigger screen. It might not be leap in lightyears but it’s exactly what the doctor ordered.
If you want to get an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus check out Kimstore for their latest prices. They’ve stabilized already so it’s not to bad anymore to get one. 🙂
