Apple has launched their new smartphones iPhone 6 and 6 plus last month with new design and bigger displays. Finally the wait is over and Apple gave what customers have waited for, that is an iPhone with bigger screens. While the other companies have already crossed 5inch barrier, Apple is late to big screen party but made it perfectly right. IPhone 6 with 4.7 inch and 6 plus with 5.5 inch. This is a great rejoice for customers and fans. IPhone proved its impact by breaking its previous sales record by selling more than 1 CRORE units of iPhones both models combined in first 3 days of launch that too in only 10 countries. Till date apple sold more than 2.5 core iPhones worldwide significantly more than any other individual flagship smartphone in the world within a month. Latest iPhones have numerous innovations and upgrades than its predecessors other than just design and screen size. Let’s Explore them.DESIGN:
Both new iPhones are taller, wider and dramatically thinner with same design. IPhone 6 measures at just 6.9 mm and 6 Plus at 7.1 mm. Apple made the edges rounded and curved unlike the flat Diamond cut chamfered edges on iPhone 5 & 5s.The cover glass curves around the sides to meet the anodized aluminum enclosure so that it makes the swiping gesture from the edge of display more comfortable and smooth. The entire screen and sides feel like one continuous seamless surface.
Apple moved the lock button to right side from top because it is easier to reach sides than the top. Below the screen it has Touch ID finger print sensor. On the bottom there is speaker grille, lightning connector port, 3.5mm headphone jack. On the left we have volume buttons and mute switch.
Below we have the size comparison between iPhone5s, iphone6 and iphone6plus:
SCREENS:
The new screens have Dual domain pixels, so we can see more accurate colors at wider viewing angles. To deliver this quality they used advanced pixel alignment technology to get deeper blacks and sharper texts with superior viewing experience.
REACHABILITY:
Previously Apple made compact iPhone at 3.5,4 inch screens before because they are comfortable to hold and navigate with the thumb reaching all four corners of the screen. Now that they are increasing screen size it is not possible for thumb reaching 4.7, 5.5 inch screen’s corners. But apple came up with a creative idea called Reachability Gesture.
That means by Double Touching the home button (Don’t double click), the entire display slides down from top to the half way middle just like shown in the picture.
Now we can tap any icon or any button. This works in all native apps and many third party apps to make navigation easier.
We can also pull down notification bar by sliding finger from above the top row icons in the middle of the screen. So even if the screens are bigger the navigation is easy with this new gesture.
With the iPhone 6 plus having 5.5 inch screen it works in landscape mode too just like iPad. Apple optimized UI to make use of bigger screen. The home screen and native apps like messages,mail,calendar etc., are operable in landscape mode too.
PROCESSOR:
IPhone 6 and 6 Plus feature new Apple designed 2nd Generation 64-Bit Architecture A8 chip and M8 motion co-processor. The new chip is 25% faster and energy efficient. The M8 co-processor collects all the sensor and motion data to reduce the load on main processor. Now it can also measure elevation through Barometer sensor which helps to maintain fitness with new Health app.
The CPU clocks at 1.4 GHz Dual core 64-Bit processor with Quad core Graphics coupled with 1 GB RAM. Even though with dual core processor and 1 GB ram the iPhone can easily compete and out ran the other quad core flagships with 2 GB RAM. Thanks to the 64-Bit cpu and it uses advanced RAM management techniques and can handle heavy applications without any stutter. The iOS is light weight OS and it utilizes each core efficiently to run smoothly. Even the apps designed for iPhone are of high quality and utilizes the Processor and RAM effectively.
CAMERA:
IPhone 6 and 6 Plus have new 8 MP camera with twice as fast Autofocus. There are multiple ways of implementing technology and apple does the same. With bigger pixels in sensor the light sensitivity is more resulting in high quality images. Apple gave more importance to image quality and light sensitivity rather than increasing more pixels. iPhone’s new cameras have dedicated pairs of Focus pixels with advanced phase detection technology which is used in high end DSLR’s.
Now we can shoot even bigger panorama shots up to 43 MP. IPhone 6 has Digital image stabilization and 6 plus has optical image stabilization (OIS), it uses the gyroscope to compensate the movement of the hand while taking picture to deliver images with less blur.
Both iPhone can shoot 1080P video at 30 or 60 FPS, and Slow motion video at 120 fps and 240 FPS too. With cinematic video stabilization users can shoot videos with less shaking, blur. New Time lapse mode is also added to take long duration time lapse videos.
The new face time HD front facing camera is 1.2 Mp and now features Burst mode selfies, faster face detection, HDR Video. With larger aperture which lets in 81% more light it delivers high quality selfies.
CONNECTIVITY:
There is no doubt in calling iPhone as the World phone because the both new iPhone have 20 LTE Bands that’s more than any other smartphone. Now we can connect to more than 200 networks worldwide while international roaming. Both iphones have thrice as fast Wi-Fi at 450 MBPS and LTE with 150 MBPS downloading speeds.
New iphones also support VoLTE (voice over LTE) we can initiate calls through Wi-Fi where there is bad cellular network. And once we go out of range of Wi-Fi the call seamlessly transitions to LTE network. So the call switches without any interruption and noise.
NFC:
iPhone 6 and 6 plus have NFC for payments through Apple pay. Though NFC arrived lately to iPhone, apple took time to make it easier, simpler and much faster to use.
Apple pay is the new type of payment system that is being introduced first in USA.
Customers can pay bills by authentication through Touch ID. There is no need of opening any special app or switching on NFC. Everything happens automatic and fast. More than 500 banks and companies have agreed to receive payments through Apple pay. But disappointingly apple restricted NFC to only Apple pay service. We can’t share photos and other media through NFC.
iOS 8:
Both new iPhones comes with inbuilt iOS 8 with new features like Continuity, Handoff, Health, quick type, custom keyboards, widgets and many more improvements. For features like continuity and handoff needs a MacBook or iMac running on their latest operating system OSX Yosemite.
New notable feature is continuity, which means we can work on single task across multiple apple devices. All apple devices are aware of each other’s activities. For example we can type mail on iPhone and complete the remaining on an iPad or a Mac, if we are creating a presentation on a Mac it prompts the iPad or iPhone on the lock screen itself, so we can start working on same thing on other devices. Same thing happens with messages, other applications too. All our pending activities, tasks, contacts, messages show up on all apple devices.
The most Brilliant thing is apple made it with the phone calls too. If the iPhone is somewhere in home in a bag or in charging and if we get a call there is no need to rush to pick up the phone, we can simply lift the call in iMac or Mac Book through speaker. We can also dial calls directly from Mac without picking up iPhone. Both the iPhones and Macs need to be in same Wi-Fi network for this feature, it works seamlessly across all apple devices.
Here is the official video by Apple about their new iPhones.
[videoembed type="youtube" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FglqN1jd1tM"]
Both the phones are available in three colors. Silver, Gold, Space gray with 16gb, 64gb and 128 gb memory options.
Pro’s n Con's of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Pro's:
- Full metal bodies at just 6.9mm and 7.1 mm thickness,Displays are bright with excellent contrast and sunlight legibility,much wider viewing angles.
- Faster and energy efficient processor.New Barometer sensor for measuring elevation.
- Much better Cameras with improved Auto focus and face detection.
- Slow motion video at 240 FPS and Time Lapse Mode.
- 128 GB Memory variant.
- Touch ID finger print sensor built into Home Button.
- 150 MBPS LTE Network Download speed.
- Much improved battery life in 6 Plus with 2,915Mah battery and iPad-like split screen functionality.
Con’s:
- Resolution in iPhone 6 is still not Full HD.
- Base memory variant would have been 32 GB instead of 16 GB.
- Bezels are thicker,other companies packed bigger screens in the same foot print.
- No Optical image stabilization in iPhone 6.
- No stereo speakers and no 4K video recording.
- Camera is slightly Protruding on back and the Antenna stripes look bit odd and artificial.
- NFC functionality is restricted to only Apple pay service.
MRP’s of Both Models in India are listed Below:
iPhone 6:
- 16GB: RS: 53,500/-
- 64GB: RS: 62,500/-
- 128GB: RS: 71,500/-
iPhone 6 Plus:
- 16GB: RS: 62,500/-
- 64GB: RS: 71,500/-
- 128GB: RS: 80,500/-.
CONCLUSION:
Whatever the features that every smartphone company brings, the decision is up to the customer’s taste and choice to spend his money. Because any phone at this price point is not less than any other in terms of features and quality. There are other alternative Android phones with distinct features starting at this price range like Xperia Z3, htc one M8, LG G3, galaxy S5, Note 4 and others. The wise customer buys the phone which suits his needs, usage and life style. If you are waiting for a compact phone with simpler, easier and faster phone yet with premium design, top notch quality, the new iPhone 6 can be your choice. If you need a phablet with apple’s touch you can go for iPhone 6 Plus.
