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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RyanBeta - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
A lot was made of the glass in the run up to this launch but I see no comment about it in the article.I am specifically looking to see if it has changed or information on the materials used over the years. When the original iPhone came out it seemed like they kept with the same glass material through 4s.
As someone who does not use a protective cover and treats my phone well it is frustrating to see the copious amount of minor scratches that have built up on the glass of my 5s in the past year or so. It has probably a hundred or so minor scratches vs the 5 or so scratches I could see on my 4s when I turned it in after 2 years.
ELPCU - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
u kidding me? Yes, RAM has power cost: TINY power cost.That's the worst excuse EVER.
power consumption of RAM is way less than that of display or GPU.
uhuznaa - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Yeah, but when the display is off and the GPU in deep sleep (like when you don't actively use the phone), RAM still needs to be powered and this can become a major part of standby power draw then. I would like to see standby power usage actually tested though. My old iPhone 4 drains about 10% battery per 24h in standby, which certainly helps with having some battery left when you actually start using it during the day.zhenya00 - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Then you haven't done the calculations. If your ram draws even 5mA when idle (probably in the ballpark, but we don't really know - this study from 2010 indicates that the 128MB of mobile ram in the test device used ~1mA, 8x that much certainly uses more https://www.ssrg.nicta.com.au/publications/papers/... then the RAM alone will drain the 1810mAh battery of the iPhone 6 in 15 days. If increasing the RAM to 2GB increases that power consumption just 50% to 7.5mA, you lose 5 days of standby time! If it doubles to 10mA, you lose half your standby life, and now RAM alone will drain the battery in 7.5 days.RAM power consumption is important because it is powered 100% of the time so even tiny increases in power consumption have a large effect on the overall battery life of the device.
ELPCU - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Before reading review, I already started to read comment and it's soo fun to watch everyone arguing whether apple sucks or rocks.TheSlamma - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
it's not fun, it's patheticmjh483 - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Solid review from Anandtech as always. Would you please elaborate on why you aren't willing to use iPhone 6 as your everyday phone?Torakaru - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Hello,I really liked so much your iPhone6 & 6+ reviews, but I found something interesting in your comment nowhere else found and for which I would like to have a deeper knowledge experience sharing from your side. Basically you said:
"The only flaw that the iPhone 6 has is a lack of RAM, and this is only an issue if you also felt it was an issue on the iPhone 5s."
I find it very interesting because I have being reading plenty of reviews of the new iPhone6/6+ and you are the first ones to mention it. I think that you are right, but I have an iPhone4, so I dont know. Could you be so kind to be more precise about that feeling that you have? It is due lack of RAM for multitasking, or also for single tasks?
Thanks a lot in advance guys!!!
Torakaru - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
By the way guys, if any of all of you have the iPhone5/5S or the iPhone6/6+ already and want to share also your experience regarding the possible lack of RAM (noticeable) in your daily use, please comment. Thanks! ;-)dmacfour - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Switched from a Galaxy, didn't notice a thing.