iPhone 6 Video Review
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Despite record sales, Apple was heading for a fall. Not this year, or the next. But the brand had been trading on the same phone for four years and something big was needed to keep it current.
Iphone 6 First Imperession from Tech Reviews on Vimeo.
So with that, the iPhone 6, and its bigger brother, theiPhone 6 Plus, were born to keep Apple at the sharp end of a market that was starting to lust after powerful, big screen smartphones with clever and premium design.
The iPhone 6 certainly addresses a number of the problems Apple had developed, coming with a much larger screen (although not dramatically increasing the size of the phone) a boosted processor, better camera, improved battery and crucially: overhauled design.
This is the sixth iPhone I've reviewed now, and there's a real sense that this one is really rather different.
I wrote last year that Apple was becoming more aware that the time when it could define what consumers would buy in the smartphone is ending – and with the 4.7-inch screen, it's clearly had to admit defeat in the smaller screen market.
There will be some that will miss that screen size, maintaining that they don't want a bigger display on their phone – but nearly all of those people won't have spent any appreciable time with a larger device, and I believe that a good portion of you thinking you need a smaller phone will quickly come to appreciate the power a bigger handset brings without hurting quality.
But while the iPhone 6 has answered a lot of the problems I've had with previous iterations of Apple's handsets, there are still some issues that still swirled when I handled the phone for the first time.
Why has Apple decided to not join the masses with a really high-res screen? Why is the iPhone still the most expensive on the market? Has it done enough to improve the quite dire battery life of previous models, especially at a time when many high-end Android phones are easily chugging through a day's hard use without thirsting for a charger's caress?
Let's take a quick look at the price - and it's not pretty.
In the UK, you're looking at £539 for the 16GB version, £619 for the 64GB option and £699 for the 128GB model. On a decent contract these start at around £45 per month, with roughly £100 for the phone up front, although you can shop around and get it for slightly less if you stray from the main networks.
That's a lot more than the competition, with most high-end contracts topping out at £38 for the main rivals, with less up front too.
In the US, the iPhone 6 16GB is $199 on contract, 64GB comes in at $299 and the 128GB at $399. If you're planning to go off book, then it's 16GB at $649, 64GB available for $749 and a whopping $849 for the 128GB model.
In Australia, the iPhone 6 outright pricing starts at AU$869 for 16GB, then jumps to $999 for 64GB and $1,129 for the 128GB version. If you prefer to pay off your phone over time, Optus is offering the 16GB for $0 on a $100 monthly contract over 24 months, Telstra has the same model for $0 on a $95 monthly plan and Vodafone will give you the 16GB iPhone 6 if you sign up for 24 months on an $80 a month plan.
The iPhone 6 Plus, meanwhile, costs AU$999 for 16GB, AU$1,129 for 64GB and AU$1,249 for 128GB. On contract to get a 16GB model for $0, you'll need to spend $95 a month with Telstra, or $100 a month with Vodafone, both on a 24 month contract.
Design
Let's take a look at the first thing most people will wonder about before picking up the iPhone: how will it actually feel in the hand?
This is a big departure for Apple, marking a time when it's admitted that the industrial, sharp design of the last four iPhone models is a little outdated and needs to up the ergonomics to really compete.
Well, with the iPhone 6 we're looking at one of the thinnest and sleekest handsets in the market. It's got a strong combination of metal back (which feels exceptionally premium, borrowing bucketloads of design language from the iPad Air) and the way the screen curves into the chassis gives it a slight lozenge feel.
The iPhone 6 looks the business, and at 6.9mm thin it's very nice to hold. I do still feel that phones that push harder on ergonomics are a better choice though - the HTC One M8 bows out at the back and fits in the palm a little better - but that's quibbling. This iPhone just feels really well made.
Apple has always favoured a flatter phone than the rest of the market though, and placed on a desk it looks great. It does feel great in the hand too, but as said others impress more if I'm being hyper-critical.
There's also the issue of the large plastic strips that flow through the top and bottom of the device. Given metal is a nightmare material to try and get radio signal to penetrate, these are clearly there to offset that.
While the plastic does seem to give good performance for signal for the most part, it's nothing amazing, and to my eyes they're a little unsightly and ruin the sleek back of the iPhone 6, and their presence seem at odds with Apple's design ethos.
The other big design change is to the power button, which has now been moved to the right-hand side of the phone. This makes a lot of sense, and given the phone is now a larger device at 138.1 x 67 x 6.9 mm hitting the top of the handset is a much harder task, so moving the button is the right thing to do.
Like the rest of the exterior buttons, the power key is raised and easy to hit in both left and right hand modes. It's metallic and crucially doesn't have the same rattle that I criticised on the iPhone 5S.
However, that doesn't mean the metallic keys don't have a little wiggle to them. Running your hand up and down the sides idly will result in you noticing a very slight looseness to the power and volume buttons... I'm in danger of being too critical here, but for the price it's not the sort of thing I expect to see.
The other important design change here is the camera now protrudes slightly on the rear of the phone. It's good to see that happening, as it shows that Apple isn't willing to compromise on camera quality in order to just whack in a thinner phone.
The protrusion is a little worrying in that laying the iPhone 6 down flat on a table could see scratches appearing, but the sapphire glass that covers the lens should see that's pretty safe.
The rest of the iPhone 6 is very similar to the iPhone 5S, with the speakers at the bottom flanking the Lightning port. Well, I say speakers: it's just the one speaker, but thanks to the slightly elongated bottom of the phone you won't cover it when holding the phone in landscape.
This was irritating when trying to game or watch a movie without headphones on older iPhones - but this upgrade, combined with the lightness of the iPhone 6, mean you won't have a similar problem for the most part as the hands sit lower and free of the speaker generally.
Sadly the headphone port still resides at the bottom of the iPhone 6, meaning you'll still probably get your phone out of the pocket the wrong way around when listening to music.
Let me make one thing very clear though: the iPhone 6 is another iconic handset in terms of design for Apple. It's not the best looking on the market (I'm still giving that title to the HTC One M8) but it's definitely right up there, and for the price I'd expect nothing less.
You can pick up the iPhone 6 in Space Gray (the colour I've had on test here), or the more standard silver or gold. Whichever one you want is up to you, but there had better not be a shortage of the champagne gold colour again this year.
That made me sad to see so many clamouring for a colour just because it was hard to get hold of.
The important features of the iPhone 6 are hard to list. On the one hand there are so many of them that I don't really know where to start, but on the other hand the iPhone 6 is very much an iteration of a long line of Apple smartphones, and shares a lot of features with previous smartphones.
However, there are some standout new additions that I want to talk about.
Screen
The screen of the iPhone 6 is definitely an upgrade from before - you can't increase the size, resolution, colour reproduction and power efficiency without calling it an improvement.
The resolution on offer is 1334 x 750, which is a big change from the 1136 x 640 resolution of previous iPhones. Thanks to being increased to 4.7-inches though it's still 326PPI, which means you'll get a very familiar experience visually.
My technology reviewer hat wants to criticise Apple for not going Full HD with the display here, but when I first picked up the iPhone 6 I wasn't sure if it was a real or dummy device, such was the closeness of the display to the glass.
The improved contrast ratio (the difference between the deepest blacks and the whitest whites) is really something to behold, and the colour reproduction is very impressive too. It's not in the same league as theSamsung Galaxy S5's Super AMOLED screen, but then again a lot of people feel that screen is too saturated in colour.
However, I'm not going to give Apple a pass here for that lower resolution screen. Why are we looking at what is essentially a 720p screen when 18 months ago we were seeing smartphones using a Full HD display at the same size?
OK, so arguments can be made that it saves battery. That the increase in sharpness is imperceptible at this size. And they're not incorrect statements. It's a great looking display, and if you've got fewer pixels to drive then the battery will hold out longer.
And the Samsung Galaxy Alpha and Sony Xperia Z3 Compact, both rivals in terms of overall dimensions, are also at the same resolution, meaning there's some thought here by other brands in terms of the lower pixel density.
But there's a cost reduction associated - the Z3 Compact in particular - where Apple is sitting pretty at the top of the pile when it comes to price.
The sharpness is visible when held next to another device - something like the Samsung Galaxy S5 has sharper, crisper text and the movie watching experience is definitely superior. You might argue that people won't compare the iPhone 6 with a Full HD display, but of course they will: the iPhone 6 Plus has one, and most people will hold both in their hands before deciding which to choose.
I wouldn't disparage a phone for not having the best spec if it wasn't warranted, but for Apple to launch a flagship without packing the best screen technology possible seems a little unfair.
There's a clear lack of clarity in the crispness of the text and images, especially when browsing the web, and while you probably won't miss it much when solely using the iPhone thanks to the enhanced screen technology, I can't see a reason for Apple not sticking in an amazing screen here.
Battery life or design can only be the real problem here – if it's the former, then Apple should be having a long, hard look at its OS to find out why it can't handle a Full HD screen when competitors were managing it 18 months ago.
If it's the latter, then the thickness could have easily been increase a millimetre to accommodate…it wouldn't have bothered anyone.
Camera upgrades
I'll be giving this a lot more focus (I thank you) later on in the review, but for now it's important to really see what Apple is offering from a top-level perspective given it's stuck once more with an 8MP sensor.
This is a bold move in my eyes when the rivals like Samsung and Sony are pushing harder and harder with improved megapixel counts, nearly hitting 21MP (and that's without even touching on Nokia's 43MP PureView camera) so it seems, side by side, Apple is woefully behind the competition.
However, regular readers will know that I'm firmly in the camp of quality over megapixel numbers, and while the rivals' snappers are very good indeed, there's no reason to think that decent pictures can't be grabbed from even a 5MP sensor - after all, that's still good enough to fill a Full HD TV.
So what's Apple done here? Well, the main talking point is Focus Pixels, additional elements that work out where light is actually coming from, so they can provide directional information to the camera to focus more quickly.
This, combined with the lower MP count (which makes the task of taking a photo less onerous on the sensor) improves snapping speed.
However, that's in theory. I didn't notice anything particularly speedy in taking rapid pictures (not counting burst mode) but the additional time did seem to result in well-focused pictures.
Apple's still got the Auto HDR mode on offer here as well, which means a larger selection of your photos will look better naturally. There are also new camera modes to play with, with HD panoramas and a new time-lapse feature that's integrated into the app itself.
I feel annoyed at myself for getting excited about the new time-lapse feature, testing it out the first day I got my hands on the phone - in reality, it's been on offer for a long time through standalone apps on the App Store, so it shouldn't be something to be lauded.
It's OK as a feature too. I can't see when you'd really need it, and you do need to keep the phone plugged in and ideally on a tripod, but it's not a bad thing to have and performs well if you've always wondered what the dawn breaking outside your bedroom window looks like (spoiler: it's pitch black for most of it).
The other element that's been improved on the camera is the video: Slo-Mo now can pump out 240FPS for smoother super slow movies, and 1080p standard video is now shot at a very smooth 60FPS.
Both of these upgrades actually give that 'hyper real' effect that some movies are now showing at your local multiplex (the recent Hobbit film is a good example of this) and while I really like the way it looks on the phone screen, there will be some that think it's too much.
I'd agree with that for a cinematic shot, but for home videos I think it really adds a touch of class.
Facetime HD camera
The self portrait craze is sadly going nowhere it seems for the smartphone user, and Apple has joined the race to make people think that it has made the ultimate 'selfie phone'.
It makes me sadder every time I write that word.
Again, I'll dig further into this new feature later in the review, but it's definitely a much better front facing camera, and comes with the features I'd be looking for if I was into taking loads of photos of my face.
For instance, the new f/2.2 aperture ratio of the 1.2MP camera is pretty darn good, and helps take good photos in low light. On top of that you've got an HDR mode for snaps and video, which appears to fire automatically as there's no option to toggle it from within the app itself.
And there's the lovely pre-shot filters to have a look at as well, so if taking a picture of yourself isn't enough, you can always make it look weirder.
However, it's not got the resolution power of some of the other handsets on the market - for instance, the HTC One M8 has a much better front facing camera, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 even incorporates a panorama mode for the self-portrait lovers.
I'm not saying this is critical technology, but if you're one to buy a phone for the pictures you can take of yourself, there are better options out there.
(Courtesy Techradar)
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iPhone 6 Video Review
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Reviewed by Salman
on
11:56
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