Bigger Than Bigger
It is day 37. I’ve fully immersed myself in Apple’s marketing rhetoric for the iPhone 6.
I made the decision to get it after scrutinizing every agonizing detail I could gather from anywhere and everywhere. As soon as it was on display in Apple stores, I went to check it out; noting everything from screen size, one-handed use comfort, new iOS tricks and quirks, and how it fits in my pocket.
I managed to order from T-Mobile before their stock backordered. I opted for the 64GB Silver model. I wasn’t really too fond of the Space Gray edition this time around and Silver looked absolutely pristine. The antenna bands seemed to fit better than any of the other models. The first word I thought of when I unboxed the 6 was *svelte*. It looked so clean, elegant, and sophisticated. It was the first time I noticed the fashionable design aspect of the 6. The 4/4S and 5/5S models were more industrial and, although I prefer that body style, I have fallen in love with the 6's curves. I suspect the size of the phones also factors in the equation. On the smaller 5S, a hard-edged body works well as opposed to if it were on the 6, which would have been a disaster.
The build quality of the 6 is quite possibly the best I’ve seen yet by Apple (it’s funny how this is a recurring statement with each new iPhone iteration). The rounded edges giving way to the curved screen, the ridiculous thinness of the phone, the power and volume buttons with elongated shapes now on the sides, the home button’s stiffer click; it just adds up to a completely joyful experience of simply holding the phone.
However, with that said, it leads me to my biggest contention with the iPhone 6, it’s physical size. The new 4.7" screen is tougher to handle than the previous 4" models. My hands are smaller than the average size; it’s a fact of life I’ve come to terms with. I use my phone one-handed a lot, perhaps more than the average user (if internet comments are any indication). This causes problems when trying to reach the back button with my thumbs. I have to cradle the phone in a precarious manner in order to reach the top or bottom of the device. It gets unnecessarily stressful at times, especially for someone who prides on taking really good care of his devices.
The big screen is great for reading and watching media, but it is arguably worse in the handleability department. As with most design decisions that Apple makes, this is a trade off they felt was worth it. Do I think so? No.
It reminds me of what I wrote in my review of the Nexus 4:
Speaking of sizes, the Nexus 4 has a screen size of 4.7” diagonally, with dimensions 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1 mm. I may be amongst those with small hands because handling it with one hand is almost impossible. As I tend to use my phone one-handed a lot, this usually leaves me feeling frustrated. The size of the screen is great for reading and watching, but managing it became a chore. I usually found myself avoiding doing anything that involved the far corners of the device. Simply put, the size of the screen is simply too big for me to handle the way I use my phones.
In any case, it seems as if Apple has forsaken the “normal” sized screen users and opted to follow the market trend.
And, yet, with the curved edges and the thinness of the phone, it’s really not that difficult to manage the phone. In fact, I find myself twirling it more often, spinning it in one hand, while wondering how to explain to family, friends, and random Twitter followers that I hate the iPhone 6's size but enjoy it at the same time. It’s utterly incomprehensible and a huge testament to Apple’s masterful attention to industrial design details.
With the new iPhone comes a new version of iOS. At times, it does feel like Apple rushes through iOS development to keep up with annual hardware updates. Don’t get me wrong though, iOS 8 is highly polished and feature-rich. It just seems that it wouldn’t hurt Apple to slow down a bit and make sure the software side of things are fully fleshed out. For example, iCloud Photo Library is being slowly rolled out and, even then, as a beta service. Perhaps Apple needs to skip a software update and solidify all the features before iOS 9. I wouldn’t entirely be against that.
Either way, iOS 8 is still on an entirely new level of cohesiveness within the Apple devices network, especially with OS X Yosemite and Continuity. Whether I’m on my Mac or iPad or iPhone, I get all my notifications that I need to get. SMS and phone calls get relayed to my Mac and iPad very smoothly. They already work so well and seamlessly between my iPhone and iPad. It took me by surprise at one point to see a missed call notification on my iPad. I do, however, wish notifications were synced just as seamlessly as I don’t like to see the same missed notifications on different devices. App handoffs are highly useful as well. It’s not entirely perfect yet though as I did notice it not working at times. However, when it did, it was frankly awesome. Hopefully, Apple irons out the bugs as I’m noticing some issues with Bluetooth syncing, potentially because of Handoff.
The new Extensions API in iOS 8 expands the sandbox for iOS apps. Now you don’t need to juggle through the multitasking screen to take a photo, edit it in your favorite app, and then upload it to Instagram to wait for the handful of Likes that enrich your life. Now you can do it quickly in the camera app directly, for example. It’s fantastic and it provides iOS a much needed functionality that Android has had for years. Although, with that said, I prefer how Apple has implemented it.
As a hobbyist photographer, the iPhone’s camera has always amazed me. The last time an iPhone picture took my breath away was with the 4S and I was excited to see what the 6 had to offer. The speed of the autofocus, the accuracy of the color reproduction, and the details captured by the updated sensor floored me. I found myself not realizing the photos were already focused until I tapped on the screen to focus. This feature is more useful than ever now with a 4 month old boy. You can imagine what my Camera Roll looks like. Also, panoramas now capture breathtaking detail. I took a panoramic shot of a park where my in-laws had a BBQ. The detail in the shot was breathtaking and extremely impressive. See for yourself!
Apple wasn’t kidding when they proclaimed that the new camera takes higher resolution photos. It was very impressive. The only complaint I have about the camera is that it protrudes from the rear. I am a big fan of flush camera lenses. To be fair, I know and understand the reasoning behind the protruding lens design — the optics, the engineering. However, it wouldn’t have hurt to make the body 0.7mm thicker, making the camera flush with the rear panel. Apple’s at it again with the trade offs.
With all these upgrades, did battery life take a hit? Apple claims the 6 gets equal or slightly better battery life than the 5S. As some of my Android friends know, I love running battery tests; it borders on obsessive. That’s why I don’t like to share my thoughts on new devices so quickly. I tend to put the phone through its paces for about a week or two. The first few days are what I call the honeymoon phase while that excitement tapers off over time when you settle back in your groove with the device.
With battery testing, every user is different so I’m going to just explain how it was with the 5S and now the 6. With the 5S, I would usually end up with 5–15% at the end of the day and would be rushing to plugging it in at home. It would last me the day but it would be a hectic end to the day. With the 6, I found that with the same amount of usage, I would end up with around 20–30%. That’s a pretty drastic improvement. I’m not sure what Apple is doing but their software optimizations are doing wonders and I applaud them.
With these kinds of battery tests, one must factor in the carrier and its respective signal strength on the phone as well. I have T-Mobile and they are great in my area. I get 4G/LTE practically everywhere I go and the signal is pretty strong. The coverage in other areas I’ve traveled in the past few weeks was also fantastic. T-Mobile also offers something no other carrier does at the moment and that’s WiFi calling. It works and it works really well. That’s really all that matters to me.
Next on the feature list of the iPhone 6 is Apple Pay. It’s actually one of the bigger reasons why I upgraded in the first place. It is, frankly, a fantastic experience. I’ve used Android’s NFC implementation with Google Wallet and Apple Pay is a much more pleasant experience, by far. I hope Google learns from this and improves their product; because, as of right now, Apple still understands humans more than Google. But I digress, this isn’t a discussion to flame fanboy wars, but rather that of a feature that could potential be game changing for an entire industry built on data harvesting. Apple Pay is one of the more secure methods of payments in recent times. This article explains it rather well and it’s sufficiently summarized in the following quote:
“Merchants simply can’t be trusted with your card number, and the only real solution is to never give it to them. Apple Pay solves that, and it does so in a way that embraces industry standards and is easy and maybe even a little bit fun.”
With even banks happy, Apple has managed to provide an extra layer of security in a world where hacks and credit card leaks are quickly becoming the norm. That’s not to say it’s 100% secure, nothing really is. Apple Pay is a good step towards more security. Now let’s just wait for certain retailers to realize their folly and start supporting Apple Pay everywhere.
Because NFC affects us all.
With all of my iPhones, I always put an iCarbon skin on the back for better grip. I did the same with the 6 but have taken it off now. It offers great grip over the slightly slippery back. However, since the screen edges are curved, the skin got in the way of simple gestures and started to gather random fibers and the like. Because of that, it made sense to take it off. Maybe I’ll try another brand but I doubt it’ll resolve my issues. So, for now, I’m using my phone without a case and skin for the first time since my days with the 3GS.
In the end, Apple has managed to simultaneously change and reaffirm my opinion on one of the biggest issues I’ve had with the mobile industry, the current trend of increasing screen sizes on phones. I hate the big screen on the iPhone 6 and the accompanying bigger body. However, I love how Apple designed around it — the rounded edges, the gently curved screen. It is quite impressive.
But the iPhone 6 isn’t defined by its screen size. There’s just so much more to it, iOS 8, the improved camera sensor, better battery life; using the iPhone 6 is such a complete joy to use. Whether I’m checking Tweetbot, or catching up on my RSS feed through Reeder, or redditing through Alien Blue, or taking and editing pictures, I am actually enjoying just using this svelte device.
With all that said, if Apple took the 4S body, got rid of bezels, made the screen bigger, and made the phone thinner and lighter, I’d be all over it. That would be the perfect phone for me…
For me and my small manly hands.
