iPhone Joins the “Phablet” Club

19th of September was a big day for Apple fans as the iPhone 6 was launched worldwide for the public. I too had the opportunity to experience the flagship device and thought of sharing my thoughts with my readers.

Figure 1 : iPhone 6 (Left) and iPhone 6 Plus (Right)

  The first thing I love about this phone is the change in design. Since iPhone 4, Apple had been designing phones which are physically very similar but iPhone 6 has a more curved and sleek design, similar to the Samsung Galaxy devices. Secondly, I must say “Apple, welcome to the family of phablets !”. The iPhone 6  has a 4.7″ screen and the 6 Plus has a massive screen of 5.5″. That’s huge !! I personally did not find it difficult to handle an iPhone 6 Plus using one hand but if a particular user is having trouble, the phone has a feature called “Reachability”, which can be activated by tapping the Home button twice. The contents displayed on the screen get shifted down close to one’s thumb.

Figure 2 : iPhone 6 Plus reachability feature [2]

If you do not prefer viewing content on the 6 Plus in portrait, landscape viewing is available. Simply tilt the phone 90 degrees anti-clockwise.

Figure 3 : iPhone 6 Plus Landscape Mode [3]

Including the retina display found in Macbook Pro’s is also a plus sign for Apple, giving users the option to view movies in high resolution. The phone is pre-loaded with iOS8 with incredible new features such as Quicktype, Health and Continuity. (Please check the official website of Apple iOS 8 for more details). I also checked the technical specifications of both models using the website given in the references below [4] [5]. Both models have a dual-core processor (A8 and M8) and 1 GB of RAM. “Bummer, isn’t it?” I was expecting at least a quad-core processor with 2 GB of RAM. “Oh well…Apple……”. The iPhone 6 has a more advanced iSight rear camera with 8MP of resolution. Again, I was expecting a 13MP rear camera because most of the phones of Apple’s competitors, such as Samsung and HTC, are now equipped with a 13 MP rear camera. Maybe they’re leaving these hardware changes for iPhone 6S? Fingers-crossed. The hexa-core graphics processor is a plus for playing games. Sometimes, the numbers in the specifications can turn you down, so I checked some benchmark results on the performance and I was shocked by the result. Even though iPhone 6 has a dual-core processor, the benchmark score exceeds that of Samsung Galaxy S5, which has a quad-core processor ! The video given below shows this:

A final piece of advice : If you have a Mac, it’s better to go for an iPhone rather than an Android phone since syncing your phone with iTunes is very, very easy. Trust me on this. Plus, because of the lightning cable, you do not have to check the side of the connector when you try to connect your iPhone for syncing or charging. One more thing, please don’t drop your iPhone 6, if you buy one.

References :

[1] iPhone 6 | Release date, price, specs, new features, pictures – PC Advisor. 2014. iPhone 6 | Release date, price, specs, new features, pictures – PC Advisor. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/mobile-phone/3436742/iphone-6-release-date-specs-new-features-uk-price-on-sale/. [Accessed 21 September 2014].

[2] How to Enable and Use Reachability with the iPhone 6. 2015. How to Enable and Use Reachability with the iPhone 6. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.tekrevue.com/tip/reachability-iphone-6/. [Accessed 07 March 2015].

[3] iPhone 6 Plus Landscape Mode. 2015. [ONLINE] Available at: http://cdn1.itpro.co.uk/sites/itpro/files/styles/gallery_wide/public/lanscape_mode.png?itok=d892EIOs. [Accessed 07 March 2015].

[4] Apple iPhone 6 – Full phone specifications. 2014. Apple iPhone 6 – Full phone specifications. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_6-6378.php. [Accessed 21 September 2014].

[5] Apple iPhone 6 Plus – Full phone specifications. 2014. Apple iPhone 6 Plus – Full phone specifications. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.gsmarena.com/apple_iphone_6_plus-6665.php. [Accessed 21 September 2014].