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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SuLyMaN - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Thanks for the really good and truthful view of crapple.flashbacck - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
lol holy shitMetroid - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Agreed with everything you said + the 1gb memory on iphone 6 is utterly bs and to mention apple has been hiding the 1gb memory ram, checked their website and nothing is said or showed the 1gb memory ram, checked the specs page and nothing too, its too shameful to show it has 300% less memory ram than its competitors heheWinterCharm - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Why do they need more ram? The iPhone kills everything else in the benchmark (did you even read the anandtech review?). Apple rarely lists specs for their iDevices aside from storage. They don't need more ram when the 1GB iPhone is killing your 3GB android devices.Omega215D - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
More RAM is useful for future iOS updates with advance features or new games that come out taking advantage of the larger display/ resolution. You're also forgetting that the RAM is shared with the GPU which means you're not getting the full 1GB for apps and cache. Don't forget multitasking is only going to have more of a presence in the future in terms of iOS.It seems to me Apple fans commenting on a tech site don't know much about tech and how the parts actually work.
Kidster3001 - Thursday, October 2, 2014 - link
Apple doesn't want you to keep upgrading your phone. They want you to go buy a new one. Future-proof is a 4-letter word at Apple.akdj - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
Weird, folks drill extremely happy with their near five year old iPhone 4 & their three and a half hear old iPad 2. Future proof. Interesting word choice. As far as 'future proofing' Apple is another example of 'paving the way' that others can't seem to figure out. Everyone gets the update the Same Day, Same Time. Works perfect! Adoption rates are exponentially quicker, faster and en masse than any other OEM or OS developer. Period. And with older devices they're optimizing and elimating features that WOULD cripple the user experience.I still own the original iPad. Still works great. locked into 5.x.x but holds a ten to twelve hour charge, spotless and scratch free. Going on five years old and still VERY usable for basic tablet comouting; surfing, email and social media, media consumption including incredible 'run time' for video watching or music listening. Reading books. Simple and older games. Pretty amazing and absolutely the opposite of your statement their Kidster. But you'll grow up, gain wisdom and 'learn' fact from fantasy
Metroid - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
I guess you fail to understand why memory ram is important for some specific tasks.grayson_carr - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Because you can only have, at most, 5 tabs loaded in Safari at once before they will have to completely reload, which is time consuming and annoying at best. Even less tabs can stay loaded if, God forbid, you open another app for something and then return to Safari. That is just pathetic.akdj - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
WTH do you need more than a half dozen tabs loaded?Buy a laptop man. Give it up
iOS defekopers defekop for the masses. 512/1GB A5/6(x)/7. iOS 8 defelopment had begun but as we saw with '7‘...as time moves on the "Monument Valleys" and Asphalt 8s show up. MS Office suite and unreal 1.0 release and an example of 'how to do it right'. The list goes on.
A large web page is 17-24 megs. There's almost ALWAYS more than 250-300 free and available, typically closer to ½ of the total isn't being 'spoken for' with compression. Available and 'free'. Cached and common processes life in the availability RAM for instant swipe to the app or page population. Apple seems to think more than 'five tabs' open results in a reload is reasonable. I agree. Typically I'll have two or three. I've got plenty of computers around if I need to write a thesis with mutilple Wiki and info Tabs ready immediately.
I've never understood this 'issue'
A) why so many tabs ...and
B) the instantaneous repopulation of a page with LTE or decent Wifi is a blink of an eye. If you're commenting and need to reference something else, tap, select all, copy. Go to your reference page and when ya return ...if for some reason its 'gone' just click the response and hold finger, 'paste'. You're good. As fast as ios is on new devices it's amazing to me you guys are able to think 'faster' tan 'it'. Weird. LTE and near ubiquitous Wi.fi coverage in urban and populated areas, one shouldn't be thinking 'EDGE' reload speed. Click the empty tab and its damn near fully populated when you're ready with your finger to scroll. Who. Cares? That much of a hurry? Invest in a decent ISP and speed. Your Iphone will take care Of the rest