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Each and every year, the world looks forward to September. The time of year when Apple tries to blow our collective minds with the latest and greatest to come from the geniuses in Cupertino. Apples legacy is robust, awe-inspiring and defies all odds. The iPhone changed the world as we know it. This type of product comes once a generation and lasts forever. Now-a-days, fans and critics alike are looking for them to do it again. With each release of iPhone, people become more critical of Apple and the minds behind it. We as fans of technology are always going to thirst for more and greater things. Often times when we get caught up in this blood-lust, we lose sight of what’s in front of us. Apple, time and again, have left the technology world a better place than when they got it. Looking back over the short life of the iPhone, each new version has introduced something unique, useful or done something better than anyone has done before. iPhone 6 is much more than this; it is best advancement to the product line we’ve ever seen.
First Impressions of iPhone 6
Something that Apple has always gone above and beyond for is the presentation. When you open the box, it has the unmistakable feel of anticipation that only Apple can provide. This presentation extends to every aspect of the iPhone 6 itself. The feel, fit and finish of iPhone 6 is like no other. The rounded edges make for the best in hand feel of any to date. The buttons are nice and every detail no matter how small has been carefully placed. The size is the most obvious difference about iPhone 6. At 4.7″ it is the perfect size for a blend of one-handed use and pure entertainment bliss. All in all, this device is beautiful and an absolute jewel to behold. The fresh new design brings a fresh new feel to the iPhone and makes the UI changes we saw in iOS 7 fit perfectly, almost as if it had always been this way.
Display
Every year, Apple makes some kind of tweak or change to the Retina display to improve it from the last; this year is no exception. In fact, many are calling this years version the best mobile display ever created. The slight resolution bump and increase in size is enough for Apple to name it Retina HD. Designers have moved the pixels ever so much closer to the glass using a new method they termed as optical alignment. The display glass, LCD and LED backlight are carefully aligned using UV light to make it perfect. The display technology now features 100% color gamut reproduction giving it the ability to show the most accurate colors possible on a digital display. Pixel density is as high as ever and continues to maintain Apples definition of Retina quality.
The main attraction here is the size, 4.7″. Up from 4″ on the previous iPhone 5/5s, this is now the go-to standard screen size, not only for Apple, but for many smartphones today. This is probably the most requested enhancement for iPhone ever, and Apple came through as only they can. This is the best screen I have ever seen on a phone, and I don’t say that lightly. Of course there is the even larger, 5.5″ screen on the iPhone 6 Plus, but that will be for another time.
Hardware
iPhone has always been about quality and continues to be here. iPhone 6 feels fantastic in the hand. It’s so much lighter than it looks, thinner than what seems possible and looks outstanding. The placement of the power button on the right hand side of the device is refreshing, and needed since it’s so much bigger than before. The speaker on the bottom gives us everything we expect and is plenty loud for most uses. The headphone jack, lightning port and volume controls remain unchanged. Moving around to the backside, we have the one and only blemish of the iPhone 6 design, the camera. Unbeknownst to anyone outside of Apple why, the camera protrudes ever so slightly from the back. (Anyone remember the old HTC’s of ’11 and ’12?) Not as glaringly obvious as some might initially think, the slight protrusion, as much of an eye sore as it is does not create anything in the way of a bad experience. Not to say that it isn’t a bit annoying when you set the phone down on a flat surface, and it rocks a bit.
Performance
If the iPhone always gets something right, it’s performance. Each year Apple figures out a way to out do themselves in this department. The A8 SOC in the iPhone 6 is Apples best and fastest yet. It flies through everyday activities like nothing, games are absolutely beautiful with no slowdown to speak of, and does all of this while barely breaking a sweat. Apples careful engineering of iOS truly shows that just because you’re running a dual core processor, does not mean you don’t blow away the competition in benchmarking. Make no mistake, iPhone 6 is the fastest mobile device on the planet right now.
Along with the A8 processor comes the M8 motion co-processor. Updates have been made to its accuracy and is now able to discern when you are walking, running, biking or driving a car. Apple has added a barometer to allow the M8 motion co-processor and the Health app on your iPhone 6 to calculate general altitude. This means you can now see how many flights of stairs of have climbed and general changes in altitude.
If there’s one wrench to throw into the mix, its app scaling. The same thing that happened back when the iPhone 5 came out, is happening again. The new screen size and resolution of the iPhone 6 require app developers to make changes to their code in order to work well. Using an unoptimized app results in a grainy or fuzzy looking app, particularly with text. It’s much more apparent with the keyboard. When using an app that is optimized, your keyboard looks great and fits nicely on the screen. Switching to another app that isn’t means you have a keyboard that is oversized and slightly misshapen. They keys end up in different positions and makes for a frustrating transition until the apps can be updated by their respective developers.
Features
The iPhone 6 is packing support for the biggest range of wireless technologies of anyone. Nearly every kind of LTE band is now covered as well as the bleeding edge of Wifi, 802.11ac. Anywhere in the world you go, you’ll be able to take your iPhone. New this year is NFC, Near Field Communication. This low (or no) power wireless tech has been in Android phones for some time now. But as with anything Apple does, they took their time implementing it and made sure they did it better than anyone. This technology is the staple of a new service Apple intends to launch in October, Apple Pay. Aiming to reinvent credit card payments as we know it, Apple Pay will allow users to load up certain credit cards onto their iPhone 6 and make purchases in most stores by simply tapping their iPhone to the terminal. This will be the most secure payment method on the planet and protects ones identity from start to finish. Look for this drop in an update in mid October.
You can’t talk about the new iPhone without mentioning the camera. Each years iPhone brings small and steady enhancements to the camera everyone loves. iPhone 6 gives us the best photo shooting possible yet. The Image processor is faster than ever at compiling burst or HDR shots in the blink of an eye. New “focus pixels” in the camera optics allow photos to be focused even faster and with more accuracy, before you take the shot. The 120 fps video mode has been replaced with 240 fps. You can now take even more entertaining slow-mo video.
Final Thoughts
Make no mistake; iPhone 6 is the best iPhone ever. Apple is able to prove time and again, they are the best at what they do, and that’s making great products. Sure, they aren’t the first company to make their screens bigger or allow third-party keyboards, but that’s fine. They always do it better than anyone else. What’s more important to you; more and more features, or better and better features? The iPhone 6 does what Android does, but better. It certainly is the best iPhone yet and you’re going to have a hard time finding competition to match it. At the end of the day, Apple is slowly but surely taking away all of the reasons why people switch from iOS to Android. They are few and far between these days and make the decision to switch that much more difficult.
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