The iPhone 6 Review
by Joshua Ho, Brandon Chester, Chris Heinonen & Ryan Smith on September 30, 2014 8:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPhone 6
Cellular
As was previously announced, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus both have support for carrier aggregation and VoLTE. For those that are unfamiliar with the two technologies, carrier aggregation is a method of combining multiple pieces of spectrum for simultaneous use, so it would be possible to piece together one band of 10 MHz and another band of 10 MHz spectrum to achieve the same rate that one would get with a single band of 20 MHz LTE. VoLTE is the next generation of voice service that is delivered over LTE, thus eliminating the need for complicated circuit-switched fallback mechanisms to WCDMA or GSM that are currently required. This is all enabled by the move to Qualcomm's MDM9x25 Gobi modem, which is built on 28HPm and therefore brings lower power when compared to the MDM9x15 generation fabricated on 28LP.
GNSS
As the iPhone 6 has Qualcomm's Gobi MDM9x25 modem inside, it goes without saying that it also has IZat Gen 8B. While it isn't possible to force GPS-only location and location is disabled when airplane mode is on, with WiFi turned off and no SIM inserted in the phone a location lock occurs in around 11 seconds.
Misc
While we normally do a WiFi performance test, for some reason it is no longer possible to get a good iperf port for the iPhone 6. It's likely that we're looking at a single spatial stream solution, and given the track record of Broadcom design wins for the WiFi/BT combo chip it's likely that this is a BCM4339 solution. Apple continues to integrate noise cancellation in the earpiece, and at least two microphones are integrated into the phone. Subjectively the single downward-firing speaker reaches acceptable levels of volume although I haven't been able to get the necessary equipment to test peak volume.
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Parhel - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Inevitably stop working? If you really have that many cable failures maybe it's the Radio Shack cables that are the problem? I've never heard of one of them failing. Maybe try Monoprice. They have a line with metal housing on the connectors and they're cheaper than the Apple ones.mrochester - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
I just use the ones that come in the box with the iPad or iPhone. Cost = free :)GerryS - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
I've never had a cable failure with any Apple cable, except those I abused (and even most of those are going strong 2-3 years later). If your wife's cables are failing predictably, it has something to do with how it's being used. That's not to say she's mis-using it - it may simply be that her use involves additional strain. Perhaps she uses a car mount or other device that kinks the cable at the end?shm224 - Thursday, October 2, 2014 - link
in my experience, both micro usb and lightning crap out after some use. The only difference is that it cost on average 4-5 times as much to replace a Apple cable.GerryS - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Actually, I've never had a problem with the 30-pin connector (I believe they replaced it mostly for size reasons), nor with microUSB. I'm somewhat unconvinced there's a strong argument for Apple not to use microUSB. There may be one, but I've not heard it.Stuka87 - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
How is the lightning connector defective? Personally I love it. It has no pins to break like a USB connector, does not have to be inserted in one specific direction, and works quite well overall.mrochester - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
I don't think Apple are interested in the low end. Apple's strategy is to make fewer devices, but more profit from each one. It seems to be the best strategy.WinterCharm - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
They bend after applying 70 lbs of force. Thats a LOT.Can you bend them by hand? sure
But it's not possible to bend them unless you were TRYING to damage them. Ie, during normal use they shouldn't bend.
GerryS - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Agreed. I feel certain I could also bend my laptop screen if I wanted. I don't want.bigstrudel - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
The only people that don't like the Lightning connector also don't own any Apple devices that use one.