The iPhone 6 Plus Mini-Review: Apple's First Phablet
by Joshua Ho on September 30, 2014 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iOS
- iPhone 6 Plus
Software
For the most part, the iOS 8 experience on the iPhone 6 Plus is functionally identical to what you get on the iPhone 6. However, some aspects of the iPad software are also present. For example, it’s possible to rotate the home screen in any direction desired, so it’s fully possible to navigate between home screens with the phone upside down. While not quite like the iPad, there are split views in certain applications and I’m sure that this view will become common as applications are optimized for the iPhone 6 Plus. For the most part, this really helps with taking advantage of the larger screen real estate. This difference also helps make the iPhone 6 Plus feel like the combination of a tablet and phone that it should be. While Reachability is a great feature to have in a pinch, it's really not a replacement for a proper phone if one is looking for easy one-handed use most of the time.
The one issue that I found was that the stock keyboard was ergonomically difficult to use when in landscape, as seen below. While it may be simpler for first time users, I suspect much less frustration would result if all of the extra functions were moved to the center of the keyboard and a split layout was used for the main keys, similar to the iPad.
However, outside of these dedicated applications the iPhone 6 Plus is really does provide a better experience. All of the advantages that come with a tablet such as improved video, photo, and web experiences along with easier content sharing are present in the larger 6 Plus as it sits right around the point where these benefits are clearly tangible. This becomes a major selling point of the device. While the software differences are definitely smaller than what we see on the Galaxy Note line, Apple has managed to do enough that most won't notice a significant difference one way or another.
Final Words
I started this review by listing the differences that the iPhone 6 Plus has when compared to the iPhone 6, and those are really the key points so it's worth going over again. I'm starting to sound like a broken record on this, but for the areas shared with the iPhone 6 it's critical to go back to the iPhone 6 review to understand things like the A8 SoC, performance, and display.
The first key point is the display size. This is fundamentally the most important difference between the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6. While there are other differences, none of them matter when compared to size. I personally found the iPhone 6 to be right around the ideal balance between screen size and one-handed usability. If you're looking for that combination, then the iPhone 6 is really the better choice, even if it doesn't get everything that the iPhone 6 Plus has. However, those that don't care about using their phone with one hand on a regular basis may find the iPhone 6 Plus starts to be a much more appealing choice.
There are really a few key advantages of the iPhone 6 Plus over the iPhone 6 once the size issue is settled. The first is the camera. While rarely active, optical image stabilization has made it possible to achieve far better photos in almost any situation where longer shutter speeds can be used. Apple has really made it painless to take long exposures, as even a quarter of a second doesn't incur significant motion blur due to the multiple exposures combined for each photo. Even though this seems to be the only application of OIS, Apple has managed to make the overall camera experience better in a way that no other OEM has.
The next advantage is battery life. While the iPhone 6 has competitive battery life, the iPhone 6 Plus manages to extend Apple's lead while also maintaining the same thin and light profile that we see on the iPhone 6. The difference in battery life can be quite significant, especially in compute-bound cases where battery life scales mostly linearly with battery size.
The final advantage is resolution. While the iPhone 6 Plus does have a bigger display and all the advantages that come with the bigger screen, Apple has also provided an even higher pixel density than before with the iPhone 6 Plus. It's certainly not as incredibly high as what we see in phones like the LG G3, but the improved pixel density is clearly visible. There are performance trade-offs in GPU-based benchmarks, but otherwise Apple has managed to make this bump in resolution compromise-free. I definitely notice the improved resolution, but this is a mostly subjective area that requires personal experience to judge whether the higher resolution has value.
Overall, the iPhone 6 Plus is a great phone that builds on the foundation of the iPhone 6. Whether it's right for you will be based primarily on whether you want the larger display or not. Once again, it's pretty easy to see the strength of Apple's integrated hardware and software approach as it's only a matter of time before most applications take advantage of the iPhone 6 Plus' additional screen size. However, comparisons between the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are mostly pointless as they fall into distinctly different categories with different target audiences. There's also relatively little value to testing the iPhone 6 Plus against the Note 3 as this would give the iPhone 6 Plus a massive lead due to differences in time of launch. The iPhone 6 Plus must be compared to the Galaxy Note 4, which looms large on the horizon as Samsung has consistently succeeded in holding on to their first-mover advantage in the phablet market. If you have to buy a phablet now though, the iPhone 6 Plus is the best one available.
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WinterCharm - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Hahaha This guy has been running around and posting this comment on EVERY single iPhone review over the web.He's so desperate for attention, and so put off by the iPhone 6 that he feels the need to go about justifying his choice to love android.
darwinosx - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Everything you said is wrong of course and you sound like you have a personality disorder of some sort. I would seek therapy if I were you.Alexey291 - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
He's deffo not correct but you certainly have always been on par with him when it comes to random bs :3option7 - Tuesday, September 30, 2014 - link
Moron. 1080P is a waist on a small screen. All it does is increase the file size of every video you watch which then requires more RAM and mor memory.You wouldn't know this because you are one of the lemmings that jump off a cliff for overkill specs that cause other "back door" issues you are too stupid to recognize.
What other great products do you own? ...a Dodge Ram pickup? ...a Kia Soul? ...or are you a big fan of all those high quality products from "As Seen On TV"?
Maybe you should hold off on critiques of engineering, design and asthetics and learn how to dress so you can get a girlfriend someday. Here's a tip for you...don't use a coupon on your first date when you take her to Denny's. Good luck, Moron...
shtldr - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Wow, someone whose life revolves around cars and dating women calls someone else a moron?iphone4ever - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
You are the tool.Did you read the article (you do know how to read numbers and graphs I hope) and notice that iPhones totally dominate every display statistic and the Samsung S5 lags behind two prior generations of Apple iPhones and the iPhone 6 is so far ahead that Samsuck may never catch up.
I noticed you conveniently forgot about the 64bit Processor that runs at 1GHz lower speed on only two cores but is still faster than the Quad core junk that Android uses and oh yeah the battery life is significantly better and thats on a much smaller battery. Yeah no innovation there, Apple is really falling behind. In terms of memory the iPhone 6 comes in 16, 64, and 128GB - no need for some extra RAM modules because Samsuck decided to cheapen out and only include 32GB.
You Sumsuck troll just go away and play with your me too devices from the copy cat foreigners and come here and tell us when Samsunk/Android actually invents something significant or innovative - remember the tilt to scroll feature (HaHa what a piece of crap and they let be seen by the public). Ohh a bigger display no one would ever see that coming, except for Apple and the iPhone 1.
bigstrudel - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
This is a copy and pasted post from the iPhone 6 review.MODS please delete.
RandomReader - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
In contrast to you I very much enjoyed reading the differing viewpoint mentioned above, albeit the facts that it does display a healthy dislike for apple products in general and has been written by an obvious android fan-boy.Now what I don't like that much is your request to censor the aforementioned post and all related answers out of purely private motives.
Just because you deem something inappropriate and dispensable, it doesn't has to be that way, thus I politely ask you to respect the right of others to enjoy unhindered freedom of speech in general and the existence of other peoples personal opinions.
Hereby I politely ask you to abstain from censorship requests out of mainly egoistic, egocentric motivations, please respect other peoples rights and opinions.
As a side note, based on your behavior and the totalitarian nature of your requests, I suspect you to be either a member of some law enforcement entity or
an individual blessed with a pretty weak character, apparently unable to deal with differing viewpoints in a grown up, factual manner.
klutzak5 - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - link
Wow, just WOW. Most apple users probably earned enough money to pay the price differential while you were codifying your irrational hatred in your never-ending screed.Why so much bile? As much as you condemn apple users, its clear that your have tied your self-worth into your non-apple purchase to a much higher degree than any apple fan.
Grow up. Its pathetic.
akdj - Thursday, October 2, 2014 - link
There's really no where to start, other than your 'name' with your falsehoods and reek of 'Android Zealot/Evangelist' attempting to discredit today's BEST option for a 'phone' ...rather pocket computer on the maket. Period. Silly. Silly. Man. Apparently there were about ten million 'idiots' in the first 72 hours ....and probably triple that today that see things a bit differently. Including myself and I'm ambidextrous. Note 3 for my personal business. 5s as my personal phone. Still have the original Xoom and a pair of Nexus 7s collecting dust. Why? No one wants them. They're worth nothing.iPhones on the other hand? I've owned em all. I've got a pair of sixes on order. My wife wants the larger, 6+, myself the standard. You're so incredibly wrong about literally EVERYTHING you've said it's impossible to even get started without laughing myself to sleep.
Thanks for the incredible reviews. I've just finished the '+' addendum and I'm excited. Delivery date through my 'business rep' ordered the 'launch day' albeit in the afternoon is sometime between November 3-29th I think ...lol.
...and then the conspiracy theory. Apple is a business. If you had a million dollars you'd managed to save from your 'worldwide' business ...and one of the countries you do business in, your home country wants to tax it at a 40% rate to 'bring it home', WTF would YOU do? Forget s million. How about 200 billion? While still a helluva lot of cash, $80b is a big F'ING check to write to help our dumbass spend their government recover interest rates and bonds. Juvenile.
Get outta mom's basement
Let the spider go
Get some sunshine
Don't buy an iPhone. You'll 'enjoy' it and forget all about defending it. Too much fun 'using' it. And when you're done you can actually 'sell' it. Unlike ANY Android device I've owned! Not just sell it, but typically recover your subsidy payment, often up to 50% more selling locally! Try that with an LG G2, Note 2 or an S3/4. They gave me a hundred bucks when I turned my Note ones in and update to the Threes. AT&T did. No one else would
Record busting weekend. So much so, I ordered a couple for the business as we provide 17 employee phones, and I upgrade my wife and I. Ordered it launch day, lucky to get it before turkey day!
What. A. BUST!
Ignorance is bliss I guess. Unreal
PS. I forgot to see who did the review, but thank you again to the Team! Very well done, both reviews. As always, not rushed. Detailed. Objective and subjective as well, from the POV of a daily Android user made it all the more enjoyable as I guess I just don't 'get it'.
Generational maybe? We had baseballs and bats. Bikes and 'jumps' when I was a kid. I was in my second year of graduate school when I got my first massive brick for a cell phone. You could talk maybe an hour before you had to re-charge it. No texting. Monochrome (or whatever Orange on black is;)). And a buck a minute to chat. And I'm young. I think! @46 I'm astounded by these (obviously 'paid') schills spewing their bullshit after such an incredibly written and informative piece
To take an entire page and not ONCE reference the review or data. Just. Pure. Vitriol.
J