Initial Thoughts on the iPhone 6s Plus

With the new year, and AT&T’s announcement that it was killing off 2-year contracts this week (dumb move, AT&T), I decided that it was time to take the plunge and upgrade my iPhone 6 to the 6s Plus. I had delayed updating because I was not sure if I wanted the Plus model or not. I hated the idea of a larger phone, but the extra screen space seemed like a benefit — especially after this past year where work has more frequently taken me out of the office. After reading a number of seemingly like-minded folks like David Chartier make the jump this year with success, I made the jump. After one day with it, I thought I would offer some quick initial thoughts:

1. Whoa! It’s huge! It does not seem that much bigger than the 6 in the store, but in real use it is big. The screen is great and more immersive. But it is also big. It takes up a lot of room in a pocket. I have not yet decided whether this is a deal breaker.
2. The days of one-handed operation are largely over. Although to be fair, I am not sure if this is a function of the size or a function of apps not being designed well. For example, Twitterrific has been my go-to Twitter app for a few years. However, the account switching mechanism is to press and hold on the account avatar on the top left of the screen. This was a stretch with the 6. It is impossible on the Plus. I suspect that I will be using Reachability much more with the Plus than I ever did with the 6.
3. Touch ID is, in fact, faster. I have not yet noticed a single time where the phone did not unlock on the first try very quickly. And, to be honest, I have not yet found it to be too fast like some users have been complaining.
4. Battery life has surprised me in that it is not noticeably better than it was on my 6. Although one day is not enough to judge — especially when I am most certainly using it more today than normal.
5. The keyboard is great. The extra space makes typing a joy for a guy with fat fingers like me.
6. Landscape view is decidedly under-used and even when it is used, it is often of little use. This is again an issue of UI being hard. I suspect many developers do not use a Plus. It is also a pain to develop something for a small portion of users. But it is a shame to have the ability to use all that screen space only to not use it.
7. The only thing I have not played with too much is the camera. I am excited to see how much of a difference optical image stabilization will have.