Review: iPhone 6 Plus

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Just like when the iPad mini seemed to be a reaction to market trends (which it quickly dominated to become the most popular 7.9-inch tablet), the iPhone 6 Plus is Apple’s attempt not just to redefine the large smartphone market but to eke out a whole new place in mobile computing.

The iPhone 6 Plus is the biggest departure for Apple’s iOS-powered smartphone line in seven years, and for what has remained as one of the most conservative screen sizes in the industry.

iPhone 6 Plus shares nearly all the specs and features of the iPhone 6, it offers a 5.5-inch Retina HD display and software improvements to help scale iOS 8 to a larger phone format. It also adds optical image stabilization in the camera which counteracts the usual shake.

Big, but not bulky 

The iPhone 6 Plus' look and feel is cohesive and  refined, it is a hair thicker than the iPhone 6 and thinner than the iPhone 5 and 5s, it weighs a mere 6.02 ounces too which is crazy considering it is a large phone. Coming to Canada this week in either gold, silver or space grey, it will be available in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, the most of any smartphone in the market today.

Apple says they could have made a bigger smartphone years ago, but didn’t embark on that journey until the timing was right. Now that consumers are used to the idea of larger smartphones, phablets, Notes and Megas, having an iPhone in this category fills a certain niche.

The display technology has also caught up to where Apple wants it to be. As a result the iPhone 6 Plus features an even bigger 5.5-inch Retina HD display with 1920-by-1080 resolution, providing 88 percent more viewing area and nearly three times the pixels of iPhone 5s, but only with 55 per cent larger volume. The displays are not only higher resolution, but also ultra-thin to fit inside Apple’s thinner iPhone designs. 

The 5.5-inch Retina HD display is clear, bright and responsive, and gives a more immersive experience when interacting with games and apps, watching videos and even looking at photos are all much better because of the vast amount of screen real estate. The iPhone 6 Plus resizes content to display it onto the Retina HD, which uses a scale factor of 3x.

So, while Apple could have just scaled up its Retina Display to fit a larger phone, they instead did their best to create a larger, more detailed display that’s also incredibly thin. 

The extra screen real estate may not mean much in terms of the number of app icons you have on screen, but once you open certain apps, the larger display definitely put to good use.

The horizontal mode of many apps now include enhancements that approximate the functions we have on our iPads, which can orient horizontally and vertically while adjusting the user interface.

Applications like Mail, Pages, Numbers and weather and stocks apps show additional information and even when multitasking, the iPhone 6 Plus will also show your most recent contacts, which is clever and useful.

Since the iPhone 6 Plus and its screen and features are so new, I think it will take some time to see  more enhancements or third-party apps develop uses for the larger display.

-Functions and features

With larger screens come the challenge of one-handed usability. While the iPhone 5s and 5c were perfect for one-handed usage, and fit most human hands quite well, the larger footprint of the iPhone 6 Plus requires a lot of stretch to use. Remember that iOS was designed for smaller sized screens and the challenge moving forward would be to enhance it for the larger screen sizes and all those pixels.

Apple has  tried to offset these challenges by redesigning aspects of the iPhone 6. They moved the wake/sleep button to the left-hand side, and made the volume rocker buttons longer. They also used software to make things a bit easier.

Double-tapping the Touch ID button moves the contents of the screen down within reach of your thumb or finger, it’s an effective way to get to the top of many apps where the controls are located. This is very important to the iPhone 6 Plus, since it's large screen would be very hard to navigate without the reachability function.

Display Zoom is another feature that increases or decreases the size of the icons and make them easier to read on the larger screens. You can select small or larger icons and layouts at will. 

iOS 8 is a big component of iPhone 6 Plus. The newest and most comprehensive change to Apple’s mobile OS will need its own review as we put it through its paces (iOS 8 is available as a free download tomorrow.).

OS 8 brings a long list of improvements to the core functionality of iPhones, but more importantly, helps extend shared functionality between iOS devices and OS X through Continuity and Handoff features.

Some of the features I’ve been able to try so far include AirDrop to Mac, which allows quick sending of files on your iPhone to a nearby Mac, which is very convenient. I was also delighted to see that I had the option of answering calls from my iPhone on my MacBook Pro, as well as calling any phone number on my Mac using my iPhone 6. 

One of the biggest features from iOS 8 is the QuickType keyboard which brings native predictive typing to the iPhone and it also understands the way users communicate. QuickType will offer various options to words you have started to type so you can pick one instead of typing the whole word. It is convenient feature we’ve seen on other devices for some time now, and really works nicely on the iPhone 6 Plus.

Battery life on the iPhone 6 Plus is simply marvelous. I got almost two-days use on a full charge and that's with a lot of email, voice calling, FaceTime, Messages and playing music as well as streaming HD movie trailers from YouTube.

A new frontier

I’ve pondered the place of a large iPhone in the ecosystem, and after spending time with the iPhone 6 Plus realized that it is easy to dismiss it as another Phablet or go-between device. Looking closely at the specs, the size, as well as all the new features and functionality, it is clear to see that iPhone 6 Plus is much more than that.

Sure, the 5.5-inch display on the iPhone 6 Plus isn’t the first the market has seen. Android, and even Windows Phone, have this size well represented, but none of their options offer features that innately take advantage of the larger screen size (I’m not considering third party widgets or bloatware, just the native and pure base OS).

Just like when the iPad mini seemed to be a reaction to market trends (which it quickly dominated to become the most popular 7.9-inch tablet), the iPhone 6 Plus is Apple’s attempt not just to redefine the large smartphone market, but to eke out a whole new place in mobile computing.

 

There’s promise in 64-Bit computing, having a super-connected device that’s capable of running business applications, and even in the new  larger 128GB storage capacities which are what we now get on base-model ultrabooks.

-Who is it for?

 

Lovers of large smartphones who want the latest technology Apple has to offer, will love the hardware and software that comes as part and parcel of the iPhone 6 Plus. Current Mac users who are upgrading to Yosemite will find many of the Continuity features between mobile and desktop game changing.

iOS users who are torn between having to carry their iPhones and their iPad minis or iPad Airs, now have a new option that floats nicely in between those two categories of devices. 

Business users who want all-day battery life, a slim and sleek device for calling and email, and who desire the widest range of LTE bands for when they’re travelling, now have one device that neatly fills in these requirements.

Avid photographers and people who have long relegated their standalone cameras and HD camcorders to the dustbin, now have the ultimate device not just to capture but also to share their creations. Journalists and writers who can manage running MS Word or Pages on a 5.5 inch screen, possibly in tandem with a foldable bluetooth keyboard, now have a compact word processing tool. 

The camera on the iPhone 6 Plus and specially the video features are potential huge features for users who rely on their mobile devices for shooting photos and video. The optical image stabilization is particularly helpful for the slow-motion video capture. The fleeing squirrel below was captured in HD and in 240 frame per second recording.

The usual caveats to large smartphones and phablets apply to the iPhone 6 Plus. You're going to need big pockets to carry it. A case is definitely a consideration as something with that much screen real estate will unlikely survive a drop, even from desk-height.

Some users might find the iPhone 6 Plus's large size and its new seamless design a bit slippery. If you're getting one on launch day, wrap that rascal with one of Apple's cases, they add substantial grip.

The iPhone 6 Plus's SRT is $859 (CAD) for the 16GB model, $969 (CAD) for the 64GB model and $1079 (CAD) for the new 128GB model. It will be available from Apple retail stores, the Apple Online Store (www.apple.ca), and through Rogers, Bell, Telus, MTS and Sasktel, additional carriers, and select Apple Authorized Resellers.

Conclusion

Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus has all the features of the smaller model and then some. The large Retina HD screen is an engineering marvel and is sure to attract users who have been waiting for iOS on a larger canvas.

Improved battery life, faster WiFi, expanded LTE bands and a truly impressive camera and software set put the iPhone 6 Plus at the top of the large-smartphone pile and blur the lines between iOS powered smartphones and tablets.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5