Last year, Apple experimented with two different iPhone variants – the iPhone 5s with its premium metal body and the iPhone 5c with its polycarbonate body. The iPhone 5c, being marketed as a slightly affordable version, didn’t quite click as much with the users. This year, Apple is has changed its strategy by launching two devices, one with a 4.7-inch screen and the other with a 5.5-inch screen. The first iPhone was launched back in 2007 and Apple always believed in making just one handset, with the best hardware and features that they could offer. When Samsung introduced its Galaxy Note with a massive 5.3-inch screen, the Apple iPhone adverts were more focused on how compact, lightweight and easy to operate iPhone is. The thumb can easily reach all four corners of the screen compared to the Galaxy Note. However, things seem to have changed now, and looking at the popularity of large screen devices, Apple was forced to introduce the iPhone 6 Plus phablet.
No doubt, the iPhone 6 Plus has the best hardware from Apple to date, but is it worth spending a fortune? Can the performance justify the price tag of Rs. 62,000* for the 16 GB version? Let’s find out as we take a closer look at the Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus.
Design and Build
Right from the second you hold the iPhone 6 Plus in your hand, you’ll notice that it is huge, almost the size of a brick. But, it’s incredibly slim and lightweight at the same time. For users with small hands, it may be a little difficult to hold the device and operate with one hand. Its huge size also means that you need to take a little care when the device is in your pocket and you’re sitting.
Design wise, the iPhone 6 Plus seems to have taken cues from the iPad Air and also from the very first iPhone. The front panel has a 5.5-inch screen wrapped in a unibody design. The screen is made from shatter-proof glass and treated with an oleophobic coating to keep scratches and smudges at bay. The corners of the handset have smooth rounded curves, just like the original iPhone and the iPad Air.
The buttons placement is slightly changed compared to the earlier iPhones. The volume rocker and silent toggle are placed on the left edge of the panel. While the iPhone 5s and earlier models right up to the iPhone 4 had rounded volume up/down buttons, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have rectangular ones. These buttons are made from steel and have a good tactile feel to it.
The sleep / power button is now placed on the right edge followed by the nano SIM tray. At the bottom, you have the 3.5mm audio jack, Apple’s proprietary Lightning port for data transfer and charging, and the speaker grill. The overall build quality of the iPhone 6 Plus is superb, with every inch of the device depicting its premium and luxurious feel.
Features
The Apple iPhone 6 Plus boasts of the best hardware from the company, which on paper doesn’t quite match up to the competition it faces from Android flagship devices. However, it shouldn’t bother you much because even with half the specs, iOS runs smoothly. The device is equipped with a 5.5-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD display that runs at full HD resolution. Its pixel density count stands at 401ppi, which means crisp text and images. The screen is bright, colour reproduction and viewing angles are excellent.
The iPhone 6 Plus is powered by Apple’s A8 dual-core 1.4 GHz Cyclone (ARM-v8 processor), 1GB of RAM and a PowerVR GX6450 GPU (quad-core graphics) to offer smooth gaming experience. The on-board storage options include 16GB, 64GB and 128GB. Unfortunately, as in case of other iPhones, there’s still no way to expand the storage using an SD card. For photography lovers, Apple has added some refinements to the camera module. It still comes with an 8MP shooter with an aperture of f/2.2. Not only can it capture more light, but it also shoot 1080p videos (60fps) and slo-mo videos at (240fps). Unlike the iPhone 6, the camera module on the iPhone 6 Plus comes with optical image stabilization to compensate for any shake while taking photos and recording videos.
For video calling over Apple’s FaceTime and for taking selfies, there is a front facing 1.2MP. The camera app has also seen some improvements along with new added features, which we will look at in our performance sector. Other features such as Touch ID fingerprint scanner for security, NFC for Apple Pay (US Only), Wi-Fi 802.11ac, A-GPS, GLONASS and Bluetooth 4.0 are also present in the device. It’s equipped with a 2915mAh non-removable Li-Po battery which Apple claims to offer up to 24 hours talk time on 3G networks.
Performance
Operating System and UI
The Apple iPhone 6 Plus comes pre-installed with iOS 8 and an update to iOS 8.1 is now available for download. Compared to last year’s iOS 7, there aren’t many changes, but a lot of new features are added along with performance improvements. You can read more about iOS 8 here.
The device comes shipped with an Health app, which is home to all your fitness data. You can now add widgets to the notification panel. The iPhone 6 Plus also supports landscape mode on the homescreen, just like the iPad. Having used the device for a while, we noticed that the UI is very smooth and there was no lag while opening / closing apps or while switching between apps running in background.
There is also a new feature called “Reachability”, which is available for the iPhone 6 Plus. The large screen can make single handed operation a bit difficult. This is where you can double-tap on the home button, which will move top half of the screen to the bottom, making it easier to click. However, this feature isn’t of much help, it is half-baked and the blank screen on top is a total waste. Another interesting addition is that you can now install custom third party keyboards. Popular options available in the app store include Flesksy, Swype, SwiftKey, GIF Keyboard, TouchPal, etc. Multimedia Multimedia experience on the iPhone 6 Plus is really enjoyable. The default music player supports playback of MP3, AAC, WMA and M4A files. You can sort music based on Albums, Artist, Songs, Genre and Playlist. The audio output of the speaker is loud and clear. On headphones, you get good amount of details, to enjoy your music listening experience.
The video player supports playback of 1080p MP4 files. We transferred some full HD demo clips, which the iPhone 6 Plus was able to play without any stuttering. The colours looked nice and with its decent viewing angles, watching videos and movies is a pleasure.
Camera
We were a little disappointed with the fact that Apple is still using a 8MP sensor. Other flagship devices have anything between 13MP to 41MP sensor. However, after looking at the quality of photos and videos that we took using the iPhone 6 Plus, we were pleased with its performance. This is a good example of where quality of images impress over simply high resolution images. The new interface is simple and easy to use. You also get exposure control option before taking photos. Time-lapse feature is also available.
One of the best things about the iPhone 6 Plus camera is that it is equipped with an optical image stabilization. It compensates for hand movements while taking photos and videos, thus letting you take blur free photos. The quality of photos is really good, as you can see in the above image. The camera is able to capture accurate colours and details. The front-facing camera is also good, both for taking selfies and making video calls.
For the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, Apple has taken video recording capabilities a little further. It can now record 1080p videos at 60fps and 720p videos at 240fps, which is good news for those who want to shoot slow motion videos. We recorded some samples, which looked great. The recording quality was good and playback was very smooth. Even the slow motion videos at 240fps look very good.
Gaming
Gaming experience on iPhone 6 Plus was very enjoyable. We installed some casual games such as Subway Surfers, Temple Run 2 and Fruit Ninja. All thanks to the new A8 processor and the quad-core GPU, these games ran very smoothly and we did not notice any lag or stuttering.
We also installed Asphalt 8: Airborne, which is a graphics intensive game. It ran smoothly without any issues. However, the phone gets a bit warm at the back, but not much to worry about.
Web Browser
The iPhone 6 Plus’ large displays offers a good web browsing experience. The Safari browser also supports Flash video playback. We ran the SunSpider JavaScript benchmark that logged a score of 351 and PeaceKeeper, another benchmark tool to check HTML5 performance, scored 2349. Both of these scores are really impressive compared to most flagship devices out in the market.
Verdict
No doubt, the Apple iPhone 6 Plus has many things going in its favour. It’s equipped with one of the best 1080p displays with a really dense screen, it is slim and lightweight; you get the fastest processor from Apple and a camera that can take really good photos and videos. However, the price tag of Rs. 62,500 for 16GB version is a bit much for price-conscious customers, whereas the 128GB variant is priced at Rs. 80,500. If you are a die-hard Apple fan who had been waiting for a phablet, buying the iPhone 6 Plus is a no-brainer.
