With the release of new iPhone models – 6 and 6 Plus – Apple finally offered users the long-awaited “grown-up” displays. Most competing gadgets have long acquired phablet versions with large screens. The long and persistent disregard by Apple marketers of the market for phones with a diagonal of 5.5 inches was largely due to the protest of the company’s ideological inspirer, Steve Jobs. He was convinced that huge smartphones were inconvenient in every sense, looked ridiculous when held up to the ear, and no one would buy them.
In practice, it turned out that everything is quite the opposite. In the first half of sales alone, the 6 Plus helped the company capture 40% of the phablet market. In fact, he quickly gained popularity, especially in his native America, as well as in Asian countries. Comparing the sales levels of past models with new products showed an incredible increase in sales.
But it is clear that not everyone likes such dimensions, so Apple, astutely, released a more familiar alternative - a 4.7″ smartphone, with as close as possible to the unchanged branded four inches. In his segment, he also won many admirers.
Background of the issue
As an introduction, I propose to think about the iPhone 6 not as a smartphone, but as a phenomenon that, one way or another, if it hasn’t stirred up the market, will definitely do so. Let's start from the end. Now in many Apple Stores around the world, the delivery time for new items is 3-4 weeks, both for the younger model and for the older one with the Plus prefix. It is impossible to make a purchase and receive a gadget today, even though insiders reported that Apple has occupied almost all cargo airlines for delivering batches of new smartphones to its warehouses in Europe, Asia and America. It is also very difficult to go to any Apple Store abroad and buy an iPhone 6 there. I’m generally silent about the older version. I felt all the sadness of the situation from my own experience when I was present at the start of sales in Berlin. I’ll talk about this in a separate article.
Let's rewind time. 24 hours after the start of online pre-orders, Apple reported that they managed to “sell” a record number of smartphones to pre-orders only. This time it was reported that 4 million people booked new handsets in the first 24 hours. Considering that the company’s servers went down for a short time, you can trust this information.
Further into the past. After the end of the presentation, the Internet was filled with jokes and demotivators about the unsuccessful broadcast of the last event, laughter from the camp of Android OS fans over the backward characteristics of the iPhone 6 Plus and especially the iPhone 6. Almost all the major players did not miss the moment. Some showed off with advertising banners on the Internet, others mocked the company’s slogans on Twitter, and Samsung, as always, distinguished itself the most. The Koreans released a whole series of strange videos where they openly grinned at the company from Cupertino.
Looking at all this leapfrog, I remember one passage from the famous fable by I.A. Krylov: “And Vaska listens and eats.” While everyone is arguing, swearing and wasting advertising budgets, Apple is rubbing its hands in anticipation of the next super-profit. Even black PR is also PR. And while everyone tried to speak out, even those who had nothing much to say, the iPhone 6 went from the most anticipated to the most talked about smartphone of this year.
I deliberately carried out such a reverse chronology of events. Knowing the situation in the present, it is fun to rethink everything that happened in the past. Many desperately tried to somehow denigrate yet another “Apple” creation, but it turned out exactly the opposite. The iPhone 6 is out of stock and Chinese factories are working at full capacity to meet record demand. However, despite the general euphoria, negative aspects are really present, so I can’t wait to talk about them, so let’s return to our smartphone.
Packaging and equipment
As always, the product of the Californian corporation was packaged in a neat paper box made of thick cardboard, consisting of two parts. However, this time Apple clearly did something too clever. There is no beautiful and bright printing on the packaging. Instead, there is a raised copy of the front of the device. For what? Why? For what?! I don't know.
We captured the unpacking process on video, so I suggest you take a look at this action below:
In addition to the smartphone itself, the box contained a standard USB Lightning cable, a 1-amp charger, and the usual EarPods with playback control buttons on the wire. Of course, there were also all sorts of pieces of paper with, so to speak, parting words from the developers and traditional stickers. There is nothing more, and we didn’t expect anything more.
⇡#CPU
From what is known, it follows that the Apple A8 uses a CPU of an original design, which differs little from the Cyclone core architecture of the Apple A7. Cyclone, like its improved version, runs on the ARMv8 AArch64 instruction set, and is thus a 64-bit CPU.
The Cyclone core is a “wide” superscalar processor capable of executing 6 instructions per clock cycle. Thanks to this property, Cyclone achieves high performance at relatively modest frequencies, providing high ILP (instruction level parallelism) of the executable code. In the A7 and A8, the processor has two Cyclone cores clocked at 1.3 and 1.4 GHz respectively.
Photo by Chipworks
For comparison, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC, which is equipped with flagship Android devices, has frequencies up to 2.5 GHz, but executes only 3 instructions per clock per core. The same applies to NVIDIA Tegra K1, which includes 4 licensed ARM Cortex-A15 cores operating at frequencies up to 2.3 GHz. Since high frequencies already provide competitive single-threaded performance, Qualcomm and NVIDIA products have an advantage over Apple's SoC in the form of two processor cores, but real mobile OS applications have not yet learned how to massively use this number of threads. As we will see in the benchmarks, the Apple A8 feels very confident in confrontation with the quad-core SoCs of its competitors. In addition, the high frequency of these CPUs entails a high supply voltage, which also increases power consumption.
Design and convenience
During the lifetime of founding father Steve Jobs, Apple ignored the market trend towards increasing the screen diagonal of portable devices. The former CEO stated that the 3.5-inch diagonal is the optimal size in terms of convenience. But Jobs is gone, and competitors with their shovel-shaped devices are already breathing down their necks. In addition, the ever-increasing battery also needs to be placed somewhere inside the case. Obviously, taking all these factors into account, Apple management made a “revolutionary” decision to increase the screen size of the iPhone. A long journey of development and technical research ultimately brought the hero of our today’s review into my hands. What can you say about the convenience of the new iPhone 6?
Yes! The iPhone 6 fits perfectly in the hand and finally has a big-eyed display. In other words, you can take it!
And yet, let's take everything into pieces. First, I will describe the elements of the case, and then we will talk about the perception of the device as a whole.
There are suddenly no elements on the top end of the device. Completely bare edge.
The traditional “Power” button has moved to the side of the smartphone and this, it should be noted, is very convenient. All this is easily explained by the increased dimensions of the smartphone. Not all users have fingers long enough to reach the top end. And in this case, the thumb fits clearly on this key.
Below the screen activation button there is a very ordinary tray for Nano-SIM. The tray can be removed as before using a special ejector included with the iPhone. Of course, you can also use a regular paper clip.
On the bottom edge of the smartphone there is a 3.5 mm audio output, a microphone hole, a Lightning port for connecting the supplied cable, surrounded by tiny bolts, and a built-in speaker.
The left side is equipped with a rocker key for adjusting the volume and a switch for silent mode above. Everything here is already familiar to us. The button travel is very clear and pleasant.
Let's move on to the back of the smartphone. Here the plastic inserts between the metal parts of the body immediately catch your eye. Under these strips are hidden antennas responsible for wireless communications. Just like HTC One. In the latter, the design of the antennas is very close to that in the iPhone, but they look much more organic in the Taiwanese brainchild.
I don't understand why these inserts are so wide. Maybe this is explained by the design features of the smartphone, or maybe Apple's leading designer Jony Ive likes it this way the most. I think it looks tacky against the background of elegant fonts and the inscription “iPhone” on the back cover. It's like strips of duct tape.
In the middle of the back cover there is a traditional bitten apple icon. Even before the presentation, there were rumors that it would be made of the so-called “liquid” metal, for which Apple acquired a patent a long time ago (back in 2010). It is impossible to check the presence of this alloy in the iPhone 6 without special equipment and detailed technical specifications, so we will leave this question to the conscience of specialists. Let me just remind you that the main feature of this material is its unprecedented strength. In these and other parameters, this material outperforms even titanium.
Let's return to our sheep. At the very top of the back surface of the iPhone there is a two-tone flash and, of course, the camera eye, which has already become the subject of scandals.
The bottom line is that Apple was accused of hiding this fact, since some official photographs from the company’s website do not show the protruding lens of the photo module (iSight Camera).
The fact that the camera eye seriously protrudes above the surface of the iPhone 6 body is at least strange. Moreover, when the smartphone lies on a flat surface, when you press the upper left corner of the smartphone, it wobbles, that is, the device lying on the surface has only three points of support: the camera eye and two lower corners. If it were four, I would lie flat. For any other company, such a feature is quite forgivable, but not for Apple, whose engineers and designers bring any of their products to an uncompromising level.
Between the camera and the flash there is a hole for the second microphone, which is covered with a fine mesh.
Things are looking much better ahead. Firstly, the smartphone screen is covered with tempered glass with an anti-glare filter and oleophobic coating. And secondly, the edges of the glass are beveled, which is why they form a pleasant roundness to the touch.
We first saw a similar design in Nokia Lumia series smartphones. What can I say, swiping across the screen has now become even more enjoyable. The gap between the metal body and the glass is slightly noticeable only in a few places: on the bottom and top ends of the device. This is not critical at all.
Above the display there is a peephole for the front camera (FaceTime Camera), under which there is a slot for the earpiece. On the side there are holes for the distance sensor and ambient light sensor.
We're done with the description, so let's move on to general impressions. How does the new iPhone 6 feel in your hand? The device fits perfectly in any palm and is perceived as a thin piece of metal. The weight is felt, and it's nice. The same 5S, due to its lightness, somehow gets lost in the hand.
In the carmen, the six is practically not felt. Due to the rounded edges and very smooth, but still matte metal, the device is very slippery.
It costs nothing to drop it from your hands, so be careful.
However, I didn't like the new design. Rounded edges and wide stripes ala Adidas pants make the new iPhone 6 seem somehow not serious. This is not the daring and status-conscious 5 or 5S with its straight shapes and chopped edges.
There is no sense of the company's signature magic that we have seen before.
Due to the large display and sloping design, the 6 is perceived as some kind of Android, only in a high-quality metal case. When you use it, you look at iOS 8 on the large display and think: “No, it looks like a regular iPhone.” Some kind of mixed feeling.
Note
Each of the colors complements each other; three multi-colored iPhone 6s look very harmonious. It should be noted that the “Space Gray” color is being used by developers for the first time - this is due to complaints from users of the black iPhone 5. The fact is that on black iPhones, scratches received while using the phone were most visible.
“White Silver” and “Gold” were refined and became less contrasting than on the iPhone 5, but this made the resulting options a little more expensive. Now let's talk about each color separately and try to choose the best one for you.
Display
The iPhone 6 screen is a sandwich of four layers: a backlight sheet, an IPS matrix, a polarizing filter and tempered glass. Of course, there is no air gap between these layers.
If everything is clear with IPS and protective glass, then the polarizing filter should be interesting. In fact, the screen does not fade in the sun and remains highly readable. According to this parameter, the iPhone 6 display, in my opinion, is one of the best.
The screen is very resistant to greasy fingerprints. And if the latter do appear, they can be easily removed with any soft cloth.
The display contrast ratio is 1400:1 and this, by the way, is exactly 100 values higher than that of the iPhone 6 Plus. The latter, by the way, loses to its younger brother only in this parameter. Otherwise, Apple’s “shovel” is better than a 4.7-inch smartphone in several respects. For a detailed comparison of characteristics, I recommend that you refer to the table below in the technical characteristics section.
The iPhone 6 display resolution is 1334×750 pixels. Pixel density 326 ppi. Yes, the characteristics are far from the best. Maybe Apple is saving on components, maybe they haven’t solved some problems related to rendering the interface at a higher resolution, or maybe they’re just voting to stop the race for the number of pixels per square inch. In fact, most people cannot tell the difference between FullHD (1920x1080 pixels) and QHD (2560x1440) with the naked eye.
Of course, if you look closely, the “squareness” of the fonts and the angularity of the round icons can still be detected. I repeat, only if you do it on purpose. Otherwise, this factor is not at all annoying and does not in any way negatively affect the perception of the updated display.
As for the viewing angles, they are gorgeous. The image does not fade or change color, only the brightness of the picture is lost.
Specifications of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
| Hidden text | SelectExpand> | ||
| Apple iPhone 6 | Apple iPhone 6 Plus | ||
| CPU | Proprietary 64-bit A8 chip | Proprietary 64-bit A8 chip | |
| Coprocessor | M8 Motion Coprocessor | M8 Motion Coprocessor | |
| Display | 4.7" display with a resolution of 1334×750 pixels (326 ppi) | 5.5" display with a resolution of 1920×1080 pixels (401 ppi) | |
| iSight camera | 8 MP iSigth camera, f/ 2.2 aperture | 8 MP iSigth camera, f/ 2.2 aperture, optical stabilization | |
| FaceTime camera | 1.2 MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, HD video recording (720p) | 1.2 MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, HD video recording (720p) | |
| Networks | GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, CDMA, LTE | GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, CDMA, LTE | |
| Wireless interfaces | Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, GPS and GLONASS | Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, GPS and GLONASS | |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, barometer, TouchID, light and distance sensor | Accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, barometer, TouchID, light and distance sensor | |
| Battery | Up to 50 hours of music / up to 11 hours of HD video / up to 250 hours of standby time | Up to 80 hours of music / up to 14 hours of HD video / up to 384 hours of standby time | |
I think it will be interesting to compare the specifications of the new product with the old flagship of the company:
| Hidden text | SelectExpand> | ||
| Apple iPhone 5S | Apple iPhone 6 | ||
| CPU | Proprietary 64-bit A7 chip | Proprietary 64-bit A8 chip | |
| Coprocessor | M7 Motion Coprocessor | M8 Motion Coprocessor | |
| Display | 4.7" display with a resolution of 1136×640 pixels (326 ppi) / 800:1 contrast ratio | 4.7" display with a resolution of 1334×750 pixels (326 ppi) | |
| Memory | 16 / 32 / 64 GB | 16 (11 GB actually available) / 64 / 128 GB | |
| iSight camera | 8 MP iSigth camera, f/ 2.2 aperture | 8 MP iSigth camera, f/ 2.2 aperture | |
| FaceTime camera | 1.2 MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, HD video recording (720p) | 1.2 MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, HD video recording (720p) | |
| Networks | GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, CDMA, LTE | GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+, CDMA, LTE | |
| Wireless interfaces | Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, GPS and GLONASS | Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, GPS and GLONASS | |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, TouchID, light and distance sensor | Accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, barometer, TouchID, light and distance sensor | |
| Battery | Up to 40 hours of music / up to 10 hours of HD video / up to 250 hours of standby time | Up to 50 hours of music / up to 11 hours of HD video / up to 250 hours of standby time | |
| Dimensions | 123.8 x 58.6 x 7.6 mm | 138.1 x 67 x 6.9 | |
| Weight | 112 | 129 | |
Much hasn't changed, but key things like the camera, storage, and brains have all received major improvements. The iPhone 6 is amazingly fast. Moving your finger is an instant reaction from your smartphone. Of course, there are no traces of any lags or freezes. Applications open instantly, and photos and videos are taken even before you even realize that you have already pressed the shutter.
Software features
In this review, I will not describe in detail the operating features of the new iOS 8. This topic deserves a separate article, so I will only describe what looks especially interesting on the new iPhone 6.
The most interesting features of the firmware concern the use of the new increased display space. Reaching the top row of desktop icons is quite difficult even with a large palm and long fingers. You have to either finger the iPhone in your palm, or stretch your finger to the far corner of the screen, risking dropping the device.
Apple accommodated users and provided a double tap on the “Home” button, thanks to which the upper part of the display lowers to about the middle of the screen and you can easily reach any application. The function works flawlessly, recognizes touches well and is generally convenient.
On the desktop, the empty space will remain filled with the wallpaper, and a black screen will be visible in all applications. Somehow strange and a little ill-conceived. You could probably come up with some beautiful textured background or leave a piece of wallpaper from your desktop visible there.
Secondly, you can select an increased interface size from the settings. The example is built into the operating system itself, so you can immediately understand what it will look like.
I liked the look of the desktop, with the icons becoming larger and more closely adjacent to each other.
But the enlarged interface in other applications did not catch my attention, so I returned to the standard sizes.
The developers have presented a whole range of new wallpapers that look simply gorgeous on the iPhone 6 display.
The naked eye can see a single concept of the designs that will be on the Apple Watch. Dark background, beautiful flower and all that.
What are the screen features?
The screen, of course, is one of the main positive features of the iPhone 6. Its diagonal is 4.7 inches: 1334 pixels high and 750 wide. It has excellent color reproduction and phenomenal viewing angles. It can be viewed even in bright light thanks to the new polarizer. Your eyes will not be able to distinguish individual pixels anywhere. The glass on the front slopes very gently into the curved metal edge, giving the iPhone 6 a sort of infinity pool effect: the screen never seems to end.
According to users, the screen control is surprisingly soft and smooth. There is a feeling that images and icons are literally controlled with your fingers.
However, the world famous company couldn't figure out a way to take advantage of the new screen or make navigation easier. Other devices from the brand have smart lock screen mechanisms, styluses, split-screen multitasking, or always-on voice control. The iPhone 6 allows you to access Siri, but only when it is in active mode.
iPhone 6 battery
The non-removable battery capacity of the iPhone 6 is 1810 mAh (versus 1560 mAh in the iPhone 5S) at a voltage of 3.82 V. By the way, the model with the “Plus” prefix is equipped with a battery with a capacity of 2915 mAh. What a scope! However, according to the manufacturer, a simple six is capable of working for 250 hours in standby mode, 11 hours when playing video (which one is not specified), and also continuously play music for 50 hours.
I have not yet noticed a significant difference in performance between the “Pyaeska” and the sixth iPhone. One day with moderately intensive use is the ceiling for the hero of our review. The main thing is that it doesn't get worse. And it didn't get any worse.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the iPhone 6 turned out to be a mixed bag. On the one hand, we all wanted a big screen and fresh design. We received, as they say, in full. The screen is really good. I have no complaints about the camera, since resolution is not so important compared to the main parameter - the quality of pictures and videos. No miracles have happened to the battery yet. But the design has become somehow incomprehensible. Maybe it will take time for us to digest the new concept and enjoy the changes, but for now I vote for the iPhone 5S. His appearance was much more mature and respectable.
Should I buy an iPhone or not?
The starting price of the iPhone 6 with 16 GB is 31,990 rubles. The economic situation and the dollar exchange rate are all clear. In my opinion, it’s expensive, but tolerable, so if you want to buy a new product, then you need to buy it. The older model with 128 GB of memory will cost 41,990 rubles and this is already inadequate. For that kind of money, even the latest iPhone will be of little interest to anyone.
Should I replace my old iPhone 4/4S/5/5S?
Definitely! Still, a large display makes the difference. In addition, it has one of the best cameras on the market, although not the most megapixel. She takes excellent pictures at night, and this is an indicator. As for the design, you'll probably get used to it, unless, of course, it seems strange to you. I only advise you to buy some kind of case, since it’s easier to drop your smartphone out of your hands. I'm serious.
Apple iPhone 6
What other innovations were noted?
When the iPhone 6 came out, reviews immediately noted the advantages of the built-in NFC, which allows you to use the ready-made Apple Pay system. In addition, the smartphone has support for faster LTE and Voice over LTE, plus new Wi-Fi standards. The bottom-mounted speaker is louder and brighter than on the 5S. These improvements don't seem significant individually, but together they make iPhone more reliable and comfortable. According to user reviews, iPhone 6 cannot be called a revolutionary model, but it is quite a luxury smartphone.
However, there is one feature that makes the iPhone 6 stand out from other devices released at the same time. This is a camera. It shoots 8-megapixel images, but - unlike previous iPhones - it does so with a new sensor. It also contains functionality that Apple representatives call “focus pixels.” It is used to achieve phase detection autofocus. In practice, it looks like this: if you move the phone while shooting, no time is wasted on refocusing, but the photos are clear and high-quality. Some manual controls are available, including exposure lock.
The iPhone 6 now takes higher-resolution panoramic photos. Overall, the pictures come out better than any smartphone released in the same year. When shooting video, this model also leads compared to its contemporaries. You can shoot 1080p videos at 60-240fps.
Videos look better thanks to the new “cinematic stabilization”, which does a great job of shaky hands. You can shoot while walking or extending your hand out of a window - the video will still be smooth and shake-free.
