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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KuyaMarkEduard - Thursday, October 2, 2014 - link
I cannot say any better word than this, but simply, AWESOME!TruthLoader - Thursday, October 2, 2014 - link
Did you really forget to mention one of Apple's new key features, introduced the first time with this new iPhone iteration, a capability prominently displayed by the newiPhone 6+ and best described by the words of Apple's CEO:
Dear iSheeps,
I am enlighted you guys already noticed our brandnew "iBend" feature. We have intentionally kept quiet to preserve the big surprise now unvieled on behalf of our beloved
iSheep. Let me share the following core principles, which were of particular importance throughout the design and development process:
1) Enhance our iSheep's ability to enjoy a panoramic perspective, to be able to make "Panoramas" without moving the iPhone or needing any third party software.
2) We wanted to compete with curved screen models form LG, Motorola and Samsung, mainly offered in their domestic markets.
3) This is our answer to the curved screen dsiplays offered by LG and Samsung, especially the new Samsung Galaxy Note Edge and the LG G Flex:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/3/6097297/samsung-g...
http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/27/5036288/lg-g-fl...
4) It is our firm belief and intention to surprise Samsung and LG by showing that we are capable of having an edged display in our phones without actually having one, all for
the purpose of trashing their new curved display phones and offering you a new, well hidden, feature.
5) Last but not the least, we want to sell more replacement screens (remember, screen replacement prices were already provided before our new iPhone launch event took place
(in anticipation of it:), of course thats's a feature, feel free to exchange displays now:)).
I am sure some of you iTards might be aware of some articles stating that although our new phones cost about 200$ to 250$ to manufacture (now the old ones cost even less),
http://recode.net/2014/09/23/teardown-shows-apples...
http://news.investors.com/technology-click/092314-...
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/16347/20140926/i...
we are selling them at a huge premium, which means we make a lot of money and I get to enjoy a lot of additional bonifications (ideed, my 15th luxury home has an indoor pool filled
with 100$ bills, hence I'm able to take a bath without suffocating).
More money leads to more attractive innovations like this special iBend (Registered Trademark, Patend Pending) feature you guys will be blessed with, as usual.
Soon we will launch a new iDevice with an additional "S" in its name, it will offer a whole pletoria of new features you will be able tomake use of, like the possibility to to bend it back and forth to form an S shape. ("iS", Patend Pending)
I sincerely believe you iSheeps are happy with our new iBend 6 Plus, however please let me take the oportunity to thank you all for being such a giant hoard of ignorant,
blind and mindless suckers whose whole purpose in life consists of buying our new iDevice/iCrap (Registered Trademark, Patend Pending) for a very high premium while wasting
their valueless time waiting in the iQueue just to brag about which poor soul enriched me first.
Always remember and never forget, the only thing premium about apple is price, everything else pales in comparision.
We Own you.
Yours Sincerely
Tim Crook.
TruthLoader - Thursday, October 2, 2014 - link
I'm terribly sorry I did forget to correct some typos, nonetheless, here we go (corrected version):Did you really forget to mention one of Apple's new key features, introduced the first time with this new iPhone iteration, a capability prominently displayed by the new
iPhone 6+ and best described by the words of Apple's CEO:
Dear iSheep,
I am delighted you guys already noticed our brand-new "iBend" feature. We have intentionally kept quiet to preserve the big surprise now unveiled on behalf of our beloved
iSheep. Let me share the following core principles, which were of particular importance throughout the design and development process:
1) Enhance our iSheep's ability to enjoy a panoramic perspective, to be able to make "Panoramas" without moving the iPhone or needing any third party software.
2) We wanted to compete with curved screen models form LG, Motorola and Samsung, mainly offered in their domestic markets.
3) This is our answer to the curved screen displays offered by LG and Samsung, especially the new Samsung Galaxy Note Edge and the LG G Flex:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/3/6097297/samsung-g...
http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/27/5036288/lg-g-fl...
4) It is our firm belief and intention to surprise Samsung and LG by showing that we are capable of having an edged display in our phones without actually having one, all for
the purpose of trashing their new curved display phones and offering you a new, well hidden, feature.
5) Last but not the least, we want to sell more replacement screens (remember, screen replacement prices were already provided before our new iPhone launch event took place
(in anticipation of it:), of course that's a feature, feel free to exchange displays now:)).
I am sure some of you iTards might be aware of some articles stating that although our new phones cost about 200$ to 250$ to manufacture (now the old ones cost even less),
http://recode.net/2014/09/23/teardown-shows-apples...
http://news.investors.com/technology-click/092314-...
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/16347/20140926/i...
we are selling them at a huge premium, which means we make a lot of money and I get to enjoy a lot of additional bonifications (indeed, my 15th luxury home has an indoor pool filled
with 100$ bills, hence I'm able to take a bath without suffocating).
More money leads to more attractive innovations like this special iBend (Registered Trademark, Patent Pending) feature you guys will be blessed with, as usual.
Soon we will launch a new iDevice with an additional "S" in its name, it will offer a whole plethora of new features you will be able to make use of, like the possibility to to bend it back and forth to form an S shape. ("iS", Patent Pending)
I sincerely believe you iSheep are happy with our new iBend 6 Plus, however please let me take the opportunity to thank you all for being such a giant hoard of ignorant,
blind and mindless suckers whose whole purpose in life consists of buying our new iDevice/iCrap (Registered Trademark, Patent Pending) for a very high premium while wasting
their valueless time waiting in the iQueue just to brag about which poor soul enriched me first.
Always remember and never forget, the only thing premium about apple is price, everything else pales in comparison.
We Own you.
Yours Sincerely
Tim Crook
KuyaMarkEduard - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
BWHAHAHAHAH! AWESOME TruthLoader...bonerpopr - Thursday, October 2, 2014 - link
This guy just latches on to the top comment to spew his anti-apple bile.Please disregard
svan1971 - Friday, October 3, 2014 - link
wow you done, now im on my way to buy an iphone 6, oh wait there sold out EVERYWHERE ! Guess 10 million people didn't read your rant. Guess Ill get the Android disposable phone of the month...maybe not.smalM - Saturday, October 4, 2014 - link
That were a lot of words just to say "I hate Apple"...Berenz - Thursday, October 9, 2014 - link
Meh, I don't get why people are so in one camp or another. Both camps are making fantastic phones and a consumer won't go wrong by buying either a leading or even a mid-range device.As for Apple bashing, I think it got old years even decades ago. The fact is that iPhone would be largely the same device it is now (albeit with a smaller screen size still) without Android being developed. The same can't be said for the other way around. Fandroid pick a handful of great features taken by Apple from Android or 3rd parties while ignoring the fact that Android is copied almost verbatim from iPhone thousands of features including the entire concept. Just look at where Android was before iPhone launched. It looked like BlackBerry. There is a reason Goodle were able to copy quickly including Eric Schmitt (Google CEO) being on the Apple board and Andy Rubin (Head of Android at Goodle) having worked on Apple's earlier devices including the Newton (5" screen, stylus input, wireless, email, etc all 20+ years before current phablets.
As for spec, well, the stats speak for themselves. iPhones smoke the competition in almost every aspect by a big margin. However, my bargain Moto G (2nd gen) is still super smooth and feels almost as responsive as my iPhone 6.
The screen res argument is one of the most flawed ones I've seen yet. The thing that's important in a screen a high-enough res to not be able to see pixels (which is around 330ppi). Any higher and all you do is slow GPU and drain battery. Look at the frame rate of any higher res device on speed tests - they just crawl.
Yes, iPhones cost a load more but then Apple are the only manufacturer making a profit on their phones apart from Samsung who have just announced a 60% drop in profits warning. At some point, innovation will slow if companies can't make a profit. Currently it's a race for market share and brand position but Samsung has seen that they have very little customer loyalty and their customers will happily move to Sony, LG, OnePlus, Moto or a host of Chinese competitors. This is great for consumers in the short term but I'm not so sure long term.
I'm curious about the NSA "hotlink" comment. I've never heard any substantiated source claiming Apple have collaborated with the NSA at any point. This is not the same for other organisations.
CR2 - Wednesday, October 15, 2014 - link
There are great, really great Android products to choose from. In fact I may very well switch over and buy one on my next phone upgrade. It does not make Apple products somehow stuck as you say in 2011 technology. Apple is different than Android. Cadillac is different than Lincoln. There are a few, I admit important things that the Android products do that Apple doesn't, however the opposite is also true.The biggest difference might be the business philosophy of Apple versus Android manufacturers. You are correct that as a whole Apple is not always the first to introduce a feature. Of course in the case of fingerprint id, and a Total integrateds phone based payment system they were first.
The payment system highlights a fundamental difference in the 2 approaches to the market. Should the payment platform work it will over time have a big impact on how people pay for items and the security of that process. It is a much better collection and use of resources, with banks, credit card companies and the Android introduced NFC technology that combines for a perhaps better payment experience. (and you know that Apple has long known about NFC- but chose what might be a more powerful and profitable way to use it)
Don't discount profit as it the biggest difference in the phone debate. Like it or not Apple is making lots of money.
I find the venom that I often see on both sides laughable. And the envy that Apple generates because of the buzz for seemingly me to products is funny as well. On the flip side it really is a social question mark why Apple fans camp out, wait in line and spend countless time waiting when you can go online and get er done much easier! Perhaps it's a every 2 year party???
So enjoy the difference, it gives us choice, it makes both platforms drive each other to be better and both camps can enjoy the results. In other words don't hate, celebrate.
CR2
mpfjelsted - Thursday, October 16, 2014 - link
Why do seemingly intelligent people go and ruin their somewhat legitimate tirades by throwing in asinine hearsay?@AppleCrappleHater2, please tell me that you at least had a template that just needed some minor revision for this particular anti-Apple novella. I would hate to think you actually took time to write that in full just to post here. How disappointed you'll be to find out that it probably changed the minds of approximately zero people. Of course, that's the problem, isn't it? You don't have the self-control to make a legitimate point without throwing in the inflammatory (and in several cases above, erroneous) commentary that appears to be the trademark of every hyped-up lackey (both Android and Apple) here.
As someone who is generally supportive of the Android architecture, and the wide array of devices on the market that support it, I feel justified in my conclusion:
You're an embarrassment.