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
Video Quality
At a high level, video recording seems to be mostly similar. Both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6 continue to rely on EIS for video stabilization, both seem to use somewhat similar optics and sensors, and both can only shoot 1080p video. However, the details are really where we see improvements in the iPhone 6. For starters, the iPhone 6 now has 1080p60 video support, which is definitely helpful for improving spatial resolution and general performance. There's also 720p240 slow motion video, which is an addition to the 720p120 video that we saw in the iPhone 5s.
| Video Encode Settings (Approx.) | ||||||
| iPhone 5s | iPhone 6 | |||||
| 1080p30 | 17 Mbps High Profile H.264 | 17 Mbps High Profile H.264 | ||||
| 1080p60 | - | 27 Mbps High Profile H.264 | ||||
| 720p120 | 27 Mbps High Profile H.264 | 31 Mbps High Profile H.264 | ||||
| 720p240 | - | 42 Mbps High Profile H.264 | ||||
As you can see, there's really not a massive difference in encoding bitrate, at least for the standard video record settings. However, even casual examination shows just how big a difference there is when comparing video from the iPhone 5s to video from the iPhone 6.
While the YouTube compression is likely to make it hard to see whether the iPhone 6 really has better video quality, when viewed at full resolution with Quicktime it seems that there is some level of improvement, but this could be due to the smaller field of view that is used when compared to the iPhone 5s. This tighter FOV also seems to be part of the reason why the stabilization is more effective than before. At various points in the video, it's quite obvious that the iPhone 6 is also benefiting greatly from PDAF as we see seamless transitions throughout the video and consistently better focus while the iPhone 5s is locked from the start and would require multiple taps to refocus the video.
1080p60 brings significant improvements to temporal quality, as capturing fast motion is noticeably more fluid when compared to 1080p30. Video stabilization is also retained, which makes 1080p60 an easy choice when capturing fast-moving objects.
As with the iPhone 5s, the original video on NAND is saved to play back at either 120 or 240 fps, but on the phone and when uploaded to social media the slow motion versions play back certain parts at 30 fps. As far as I can tell, there's relatively little difference in the image quality between the two modes, but this advantage is unlikely to hold when in lower light situations as the frame rate inherently caps the exposure time.
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MagickMan - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
It seems like an amazing phone, but there's no effing excuse for only having 1GB of RAM. Multitasking with the 5S was poor and Safari web page reloads were constant for me, and anything that needlessly wastes my data plan is extremely annoying.hatty - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
You'll see my question posted in these comments. But, I don't understand how more RAM would lead to better multitasking. For the first handful of apps in the multitasking window, I believe they are all stored in RAM. Maybe if one is playing a game or editing a video while multitasking, I can see some performance issues with memory swapping. But, for my day to day use with light gaming and no video editing, 1Gb of RAM is perfect.rUmX - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
So you're saying you wouldn't appreciate an increase in system memory?Laxaa - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
I guess he's beeing apologetic. But with the introduction of the 6+ and more "tablet like" features, having only 1GB of RAM is going to hurt in the long run.akdj - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
Interesting. My iPad Air is still FLYING! I do edit video, I manipulate photos, play games and tend to use Mercury Pro or iCab as my browser of chooce though some awesome improvements have been made with Safari. With LTE and WiFi a,b,g,n and AC, a decent ISP @ home the instantaneous repopulation of a website is 'immediate'. No waiting involved. Not sure which developer is pushing Any Software with RAM limitations in iOS. As this IS the highest, fastest and latest silicon found on an iOS device. Some of the graphic and landscape design they're doing with Metal (see the Unreal 4 engine) is absolutely mind bending ....for a measly GB of RAM.When it comes to 'tablet like features' iOS has Android buried in the dirt. There's a few hundred optomized tab apps for Android. A few hundred thousand 'optimized' iOS tab apps. That's one of the annoyances I've got with my Note 3. Phone apps 'stretched' to fill the display.
mrochester - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Not if it doesn't benefit me as the user. More RAM for the sake of more RAM is just pointless and wasteful.savage_detective - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
it will never matter if it has too much ram. now if it has too little ram...seriously, when did it become a thing to hate more ram? its not like the phone would cost significantly more with an extra gig. Or start operating badly...embrace the ram, it lets you do MORE THINGS.
Hemlocke - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
It's not the monetary cost, it's the constant power cost, in use and at idle. If there is a need for more, then fine, but performance isn't being impacted, nor is battery life, which there would be if it had 3GB.Consider your daily use. What do you get, 5-8 hours screen-on time? That means that the extra RAM is consuming your finite amount of power two-thirds of every day. Couple that with inefficient 2012 Qualcomm architecture, and you will see an idle power-consumption impact.
MonkeyHood - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
A non-trivial impact? Can you list some numbers?Besides, (assuming you browse the web) safari will need to reload tabs if you have a couple open and a few apps. Can you compare how much energy it costs to use the radios vs having the page STILL in RAM?
shaolin95 - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Meh