iPhone 6 Plus Review: It's All About Choice

Evolution of iPhone. Image courtesy of Mashable.com

Stop me if you haven't heard this before, “Apple will never, EVER, make a ‘phablet,’ Steve wouldn't want this.” Well, under the new direction of Tim Cook and Jony Ive, Apple not only has a larger iPhone of 4.7 inches, they crossed over to Samsung side of things with a 5.5 inch massive iPhone. For the first time ever, users of the iPhone have a legitimate choice between an amazing iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus, something that other phone makers have been offering for quite some time. I personally love choice and i chose to go with the behemoth iPhone 6 plus on the day of the preorder. So here is my review living with the iPhone 6 Plus for the first few days. 

Design

Like previous generations of iPhones, there is a tick tock cycle where you have a redesign and then a refinement of the product. This year happens to be the tick of the cycle with two new completely redesigned iPhones. Both iPhones are thinner than previous iPhones that come in three colors space grey, silver, and gold. Much like previous iPhones, there are rectangles, or bands on the back, that allow the phone to use aluminum on the phone without hindering the antennas in the phone. While some do not like this, I think the iPhones design on the back is simplistic and elegant. Another sticking point with people was the protruding camera. I must admit, I didn't care for the protruding camera and still say that Apple shouldn't have sacrificed design for thinness. 

Reachability, a new iOS 8 feature, for iPhone 6 and 6 plus

From the design of the 6 plus, I love the thinness and relative weight with it feeling almost as light as my iPhone 5s, but feeling sturdy and tough in the hands. The shifting of the buttons and refinement of them took a few days to get used to, but feel natural on the larger iPhone 6 plus because the distance from the bottom of the phone to the top is too much to want to reach for the top of the phone. 

The iPhone 6 plus makes no shame of being a ‘phablet,’ I much prefer larger phone terminology opposed to the word ‘phablet,’ with the screen size coming in at 5.5 inches and around the size of other phones in the market. With the phone being so big, as with other phones this size, the design makes one handed use very difficult to impossible, even with Apple’s new “reachability” mode in iOS 8. This is a two handed phone that borders on a mini iPad mini, if that is possible. 

Display 

The screen on the iPhone 6 Plus is absolutely stunning checking in at 401 pixels per inch with an aspect ratio scaled down to a 1920 x 1080. That alone, that sentence says it all. That is the BEST screen Apple has ever made on a mobile device. Sure, there are other phone manufactures that produce screens with a higher PPI, such as the LG G3, but the differences are subtle if they are noticeable at all. 

iPhone 6 plus (left), iPhone 6 (right)

Beyond the specs and numbers, the iPhone 6 plus looks gorgeous outside in the light with ample brightness to ensure your screen is easily legible. As with every smartphone, direct sunlight always makes a screen tougher to read, but with the new iPhones, they are a vast improvement over previous generations. Even at a very sunny 12 pm kickoff for a football game, I was able to take pictures, read texts, and score updates with about 60% brightness on. 

Apps such as Netflix, Camera, Safari, and Instapaper and others that take advantage of the new display make the iPhone 6 plus incredible. Watching Netflix or taking a video on such a large, rich display is a joy. For the first time, I didn't feel cramped reading an article on safari with my iPhone. While the iPhone 6 plus is no iPad, the experience feels closer to that than an iPhone because of the new screen size. 

Performance & Battery Life 

The new iPhone comes packed with the new A8 processor, M8 motion chip, 1 gb of ram, and nearly a 3,000 mAh battery. We could go on and on about the specs for performance, but we wont go too far into it. The new iPhone 6 and 6 plus are screaming fast, power efficient, and maximize performance. A lot of people have slammed the iPhone for not expanding Ram throwing out examples of other phones that have 2 and 3 gbs of ram. However, you shouldn't worry at all about that as the iPhone has been optimized to take advantage of every aspect of the OS while other phones on other OS’ have to provide more ram to compensate for the fact the hardware and software are not totally in sync. 

Phil Schiller revealing battery life for new iPhones

As far as battery life goes, both iPhones are better than the predecessors before them. However, the iPhone 6 plus has incredible battery life. I use my phone quite heavy, more than the average person, which requires charging the iPhone usually after being off of the charger less than 12 hours. However, with the new iPhone 6 plus, I was able to achieve on average 9 hours and 13 minutes of usage with 23 hours and 49 minutes stand by averages the past 5 days. I no longer watch my iPhone battery as I have in the past and even leave my iPhone 6 plus off the charger at night occasionally because I simply do not need to charge it, even after a whole day’s use. 

Camera

Photo taken with iPhone 6 plus

Much like other features in the new iPhone 6 and 6 plus, the camera has been upgraded in a huge way with better sensors and software that allows the new iPhones to take pictures that are on par or better than any other camera phone on the market. One feature that sets the 6 plus apart from the iPhone 6 is that the 6 plus has OIS, optical image stabilization, that allows the camera to correct movement from the user that creates better, more clear pictures. For many people, the only camera they have or want is an iPhone and with a larger screen, the person taking a photo can see more of the picture with better clearity because of the improved screen technology in the iPhone as well. Because of this, the iPhone 6 plus is rock solid and an obvious selling factor for anyone in the market for an amazing camera phone. 

Final Verdict

I absolutely love my new iPhone 6 plus and every inch of it. If you are someone that has always wanted a bigger phone, but not quite an iPad, or felt cramped on a 4 inch iPhone so you did a lot on a tablet instead, this is the phone for you. The size of the phone will be too much for anyone that doesn't want a big screen for movies, articles, or games. However, if you are in the market for a huge iPhone, the best camera phone, a phone that has remarkable battery life, and can get past the huge footprint, this one is for you. 

For most people, the iPhone 6 is exactly what they want and should get. If you cant find a definitive reason to get the 6 plus besides its the more expensive iPhone, so I have to get it, you shouldn’t. For the first time for iPhone users, we have legitimate choice in the device that we buy. Pick an iPhone that feels the best to you and fits what you do with an iPhone the best. For myself, the iPhone 6 plus was a clear winner because of what I wanted to do with my iPhone. So go out there people and exercise your choice, enjoy it. Either way, you can’t go wrong with either new iPhone.