iPhone 6 review: It’s big and beautiful
After months of speculation and leaks, Apple released its new ‘bigger than bigger’ phone on Friday. I was one of those guys (and they were all guys) who queued to be one of the first to get it. So after five days of constant use, here’s my iPhone 6 review.
The bigger display:
Human brains are weird. My iPhone 5 always seemed like the right size for a phone until the moment I took the 6 out of its box. Now it seems tiny in comparison and I’m not sure how I managed with it for so long. I remember feeling exactly the same when I moved from an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 5 a couple of years ago — but the extra screen space really does make the device feel both fresh and familiar.
Unfortunately I’m still not used to not being able to reach the top right of the screen and by the time I’ve remembered about the (horribly titled) ‘Reachability’ feature I’ve already stretched for it and failed. This will obviously become less of a problem as developers stop putting important things up there. But the phone is definitely designed for one-and-a-half handed usage and that may take some time to get used to (especially if you’re the kind of person that uses your phone to escape from the boredom of, for example, eating lunch alone).
The camera:
I’m of the generation that has never owned a digital camera. Almost every photo I’ve taken over the last six years has been through the lens of an iPhone. With that in mind I’m very happy with what the camera can do. Colours are rich, I’m sure the focus pixel things are doing something cool and in low light the iPhone 6’s camera is in a whole different league (I went camping this weekend, in case you were wondering).
The quality of video is also pretty amazing. Slow-mo has obviously been a headline feature since the iPhone 5S, but this is the first time I’ve been able to try it. Add this to the newly introduced time-lapse mode and you have a pretty powerful piece of kit in your pocket even before you download some ‘professional’ camera apps from the App Store.
It’s a bit of a shame you have to choose which mode to shoot in before you press record. I’m sure there will be moments when I wish something I caught by chance in standard video mode could be slowed down with the quality of ‘slo-mo’ (sic) — although I’m obviously aware shooting everything in 240fps would eat up storage space like a kid left alone in a sweet shop.
Increased battery life?:
My thoughts on the battery are essentially this…. hmmmmmmmm.
The iPhone 6 certainly lasts a little longer, not loads longer but there are a couple of extra hours there. It’s more of a welcome addition than something to write home about (reports from people who have bought the iPhone 6 Plus have been a lot more favourable).
I still have to charge the thing every night, but at least it starts moaning to be plugged in at about 22:00 rather than 20:00. We all have memories of the time when we only had to charge our mobiles once a week — but the phone I have in my pocket now is a million miles away from my first Nokia. It’s unfair to compare those days to now — it’s Apples and oranges (pardon the pun).
Conclusion:
I was an iPhone guy with a two-year-old device, so there was no way I wasn’t going to get whatever iPhone Apple released this year. I know essentially all of its flagship features were in the Nexus 4 a few years ago, but for me that’s not really the point. The iPhone 6 is a brilliant device that is significantly better designed than the iPhone 5 I bought two years ago (and had to be fixed under one of Apple’s numerous iPhone 5 replacement programs). It’s obvious that Apple has put a lot of thought into the increased size and I’m looking forward to developers really taking advantage of the extra space.
I must say that I am a little jealous of people who’ve bought a 6 Plus. The even better battery life and the iPad-like features made it very tempting. However, the prospect of having to buy trousers with bigger pockets meant it wasn’t really an option… for now.
Overall, the iPhone 6 is a brilliant piece of kit. Great build quality, amazing camera and some clever new features. Don’t worry about the bigger screen — before you know it you’ll wonder how you ever coped with a ‘tiny’ 4-inch screen before.
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