Sep 19

Apple iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus CNET
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Photo from CNET

Today, Apple released the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, to its initial wave of countries. The USA is lucky enough to be in that list. People have been lining up at Apple Stores around the world, including Australia, for weeks.

I was lucky enough to go hands-on with both an iPhone 6 and an iPhone 6 Plus to check out their design, usability and iOS 8.


iPhone 6 with iOS 8 Hands-On by Chris Rauschnot @24k


iPhone 6 Plus with iOS 8 Hands-On by Chris Rauschnot @24k


The iPhone 6 stats are impressive. It comes with a larger 4.7” Retina HD screen at 1334 x 750 pixels at 326 ppi. The iPhone 6 Plus comes with a 5.5” Retina HD screen at 1920 x 1080 pixels and 401 ppi. Both come in 16GB, 64GB and 128GB sizes in Gold, Silver and Space Gray. A 64-bit A8 CPU and M8 motion co-cpu is included with each, but that’s where the similarities end.

iPhone 6 iPhone 6 Plus iPhone 5S CNET
iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S Size Comparison Photo from CNET

The iPhone 6 is 6.9mm thin and the iPhone 6 Plus is slightly thicker at 7.1mm. The iPhone 6 Plus comes with longer battery life, landscape mode and optical image stabilization. You’ll notice the camera lens on each new iPhone sticks out of the case, a first for Apple.

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cameras both have better sensors, Focus Pixel tech for autofocus and a video mode of 1080p in 60fps. There’s now a new 240fps slow motion option too. Apple didn’t stop there. They upgrade the front camera with f/2.2 aperture for more light and a new burst photo option.

Arguably, one of the most hotly anticipated features of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is its secure element for payments via Apple Pay and NFC. WiFi calling, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and support for the faster 802.11 ac WiFi standard has been included. WiFi calling is supported on the iPhone 5S via the iOS 8.02 update.


iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus Apple Cases

Updated

iOS 8 has been a good upgrade for Apple iPhone 5 and 5S smartphones. Owners of the iPhone 4S can upgrade to iOS 8, but will see a slowdown in system responsiveness. Their first update 8.0.1 didn’t go so well, so it was pulled. 8.0.2 was released the next day.

“It had to do with the way the software was being sent over servers,” Joswiak told Re/code “It was the way software was being distributed.”

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