October 13, 2014
Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback! I am not going to lie, the last two years have not been my favorite for the iPhone. I always felt the 5/5S was a mistake; the size was way too small and the shape felt awkward. I was happy to see Apple consider a jump in size and was really wanting something closer to the Samsung Galaxy Note in terms of size. I was thrilled when Apple announced the iPhone 6 Plus. I not even the least bit shocked that Apple is having a hard time keeping them in stock!I use my iPhone more as an internet communications device and iPod then a phone; when Apple announced the phone in 2007 I believe they felt the phone part would be used the most. Today, it is an app that I use arguably the least. I primarily use my iPhone for email, messaging, web browsing and of course apps. Occasionally I will watch videos but I still prefer to watch them on my iPad or MacBook. The iPhone 6 Plus truly is the perfect phone in my book. The size is perfect in that it makes browsing the web, email, and using apps the preferable method for me over the 5S or even the iPad Air. Being a former Blackberry user, I type with my thumbs. The 5S was way too crammed; the 6 Plus is nearly perfect. People who desire a one handed experience can stick to the 5S or even opt for a 6, but for me a true smartphone is one that allows me to type with my thumbs and multitask and I have missed that on the iPhone and am thrilled to get it!The display on the iPhone 6 Plus is truly remarkable. I tried out the Galaxy Note 2 and Note 3 and always found the displays to be over saturated with the colors being over compensated and words to be a bit fuzzy; this is largely due to the Pentile nature of the display (AMOLED) whereas Apple uses a true LCD HD IPS display and it shows. The color accuracy is remarkable. Photos and video look perfect. One area the iPhone needed improvement was in battery life. This is an area where the 6 Plus shines and beats out the 5S and even the iPhone 6. My 5S routinely needed charging by about 3PM and my wife's iPhone 6 can make it to about 5PM without needing a charge. I am at 50% on the Plus based on the same usage. I tried out my wife's iPhone 6 and the battery was definitely better than the 5S but doesn't touch the 6 Plus. Everyone's experience will vary but I find that the 6 Plus battery is truly amazing.The camera on the 6 Plus is pretty good. I wouldn't say it is dramatically better than the 5S and definitely not significantly better than the 6. If you are thinking about going to the 6 Plus only for the Optical Stabilization of the 6 Plus over the Digital Stabilization in the 6, I probably wouldn't. The difference is hardly noticeable except in low light situations. Even in those cases, I find quite a bit a noise in the photos. Don't get me wrong, the camera is fantastic on both the 6 and the 6 Plus but I wouldn't go so far as to say it is a gigantic upgrade over the 5S. I would like to see the 6S and 6S Plus get a bump in megapixels because I do think it is noticeable on an HD screen and would like to see more than processor improvements in the next generation of phones, even if it means that the iPhone needs to be thicker.Apple made some major improvements in the Touch ID sensor. It may just be the A8 processor can identify the print quicker than the A7, but it definitely seems to recognize my finger print and move forward quicker. This is a major improvement as Touch ID is critical to the success of Apple Pay. I am definitely excited to try out Apple Pay but was a little bummed that it wasn't made available the same day the phone launched.iOS8 may be the one attribute to the phone I am a bit disappointed in. As much as extensibility has added functionality and handoff has made improvements to the ecosystem, the software is very glitchy. Nothing compared to Android, but I do find that widgets don't seem to function properly, there seems to be stuttering between opening and closing applications, and the "desktop scaler" Apple talked about seems to really slow down the phone. This could be hardware (A8) or it could be the software (iOS8). Either way, developers really need to optimize their apps and Apple needs to do a better job on their OS. This seems to be the most under-cooked OS I have seen from Apple in a while. If you are trying to decide between the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, I would highly recommend you look at your use. If you don't use your phone much and mostly for calling or the occasional text message, definitely go with the iPhone 6. It is more portable and will accomplish that task and more. If however you are a road warrior, need battery life, frequently email or message, and use your devices to the fullest extent than this is the iPhone for you. It could easily have been called the iPhone 6 Pro.One additional comment, a lot of people say that they have an iPad and don't need a "phablet". The difference between an iPhone 6 Plus and the iPad is night and day. First, the iPad uses an almost square aspect ratio more akin to a 4:3 ratio where as the 6 Plus uses the more common 16:9 ratio. This makes a huge difference. Second, the iPad canvas is substantially larger. By comparison, the difference between the 6 and 6 plus display is 0.8 inches, the difference between the 6 Plus display and the iPad Mini is more than 2 inches! The iPad Air display is over 4 inches bigger at 9.7 inches. The point I am making is that the 6 Plus is still very much a phone and very pocketable. No, it is not a Motorola RAZR but don't try and claim it is like carrying an iPad because it isn't. Make no mistake, Apple has a hit on their hands. The 6 Plus is the perfect iPhone in my book and would highly recommend it over other larger screen phones and definitely over any iPhone to have come out before it.