In 2007, Apple introduced the iPhone as a one-size-fits-all device. “You can’t get your hand around it”, “no one’s going to buy that.” said Steve Jobs, when asked about big screen phones like the 5″ Galaxy Note. This was 2010, after a controversial launch of the 3.5″ iPhone 4. Two years later, a 4″ iPhone 5 happened, and Tim Cook said “It also provides a larger screen without sacrificing one-handed use.”. People had already wanted a bigger iPhone by then. Even the generally awesome Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak got frustrated and said “Part of me wishes that Apple had not been so, kind of, arrogant and feeling we’re the only one with the right clue. I wish they had made a small and a large version of the iPhone; that would have been great for me.” That was the old Apple.
The new Apple heeded to public demand and released the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus a while back. There are now two kinds of iPhones, not one, and in this review, we are going to focus on the “phablet” from Apple, the 5.5″ iPhone 6 Plus.
Note: The review will focus solely on the 6 Plus, in assumption that you already know about the iPhone 6. In case you don’t, we have our iPhone 6 review available for educational purposes.
Straight away, let’s address the elephant in the room. Does the iPhone 6 Plus bend?
Before we answer the question, you should know a thing or two about materials, especially malleable and ductile materials like Aluminium. Yes, the iPhone 6 Plus is made of anodized aluminium and, unfortunately, it is really thin, at 7.1mm (0.2mm thicker than the iPhone 6). For the world’s 2nd most malleable metal, thinness equals less density, which naturally brings up the concern of bendability.
So.. yes, it could bend, but you have to make sure you don’t sit on it. No really, if you sit on a piece of malleable metal the wrong way, it bends, because the pressure you give exceeds the threshold. That’s the same case with the iPhone 6 plus. It bends if and when you exceed the threshold, and surely, exceeding it doesn’t happen without manual force, mostly. Well, “mostly” because the 6 plus is tall (158.1mm), really tall (vs 138.1mm on the iPhone 6), so there arises the incompatibility with tight pants and short pockets. Sometimes, by accident, short pockets can make you exert enough force to bend the 6 plus, but you only have to be slightly careful to not sit or bend your legs in a reflex, with the phone in your pockets.
I have been using the 6 plus for 4 weeks now, and it has not bent, not a bit. It survived hour long commutes in tight short pockets and came away unscathed. From personal experience, I can say the iPhone 6 plus will never bend but that doesn’t mean it can’t. In fact, this applies to several other phones out there, made of aluminium. Truth is, they won’t bend, unless you are careless.
And now for the next concern, how big is the iPhone 6 plus?
This is the first time Apple has come out of its comfort zone, but it looks like you might have to, too. The iPhone 6 Plus is big and it will be uncomfortable if you aren’t used to phablet-sized devices. With a 5.5″ display, the device actually measures 6.22″ vertically, which makes it too big for many. This is mainly because of the generous bezels around the display. Also, by design, the curved edges are outward and hence the phone becomes wider than usual, at 77.8mm.
Here’s a comparison of various phablet-sized devices with the iPhone 6 plus, to give you an idea.
Because of these dimensions, one handed usage is obviously the biggest compromise Apple made with the 6 plus. You just can’t use it freely. And it’s not even about the comfort in reaching UI controls (more on that in the software section) or hardware buttons, it’s about the danger of dropping the phone. The curved aluminium body is slippery, especially if you have rough dry hands like me, and the device is heavy enough (172g) to force you into making mistakes. I have big hands and can use the 6 plus without much trouble but even then, it has slipped a couple of times. I’ve been using a case ever since, and I suggest you do the same, if you don’t want damage to your investment.
However, form factor has dictated Apple to make things slightly easier in hardware. The lock switch has been moved from the top to the right side of the phone. It now sits exactly at the place where a right handed thumb or a left handed index finger reaches, making it easier to lock the phone. Unlocking is much easier thanks to Touch ID, which makes it effortless if you already had registered your thumb with it. Just a press on the lock button lights the screen up, if you keep the finger placed, the phone unlocks to the home screen in an instant. Using this on the iPhone 5s might have felt normal, but on the 6 plus, it makes the form factor slightly more comfortable. We have seen and used a lot of phablets and the 6 Plus feels no different, but if you aren’t used to big screens already, you will find the 6 plus daunting. People with small hands though, do yourself a favour and please read our iPhone 6 review.
Ever since the iPhone 4, Apple has had great displays on its phones, the 6 Plus is no exception. The 5.5″ display comes with a standard 16:9 1920×1080 pixels resolution with a “Retina HD” pixel density of 401 ppi. This is comfortably above the 326 ppi “Retina” benchmark set by Apple, the ppi at which our eyes fail to resolve individual pixels. The industry has pushed forward ever since, we have quad HD displays now, but Apple knows that it is not just about resolution. The 6 Plus has something called Dual Domain pixels that radically increase the viewing angles. It’s also their thinnest yet, meaning the screen is most definitely bonded to the display, closer than ever. This makes for stunning viewing angles and great outdoor visibility, with the oleophobic coating making sure our fingerprints don’t come in the way of a superior experience.
The iPhone 6 is almost as good as the 6 plus but we did note some differences. Despite Apple openly stating that the contrast ratio on iPhone 6 is higher than the 6 Plus, we found the blacks to be deeper on the latter. The backlight bleeds a little on the iPhone 6 whereas we found no such issue on the 6 Plus. With black bezels, the 6 Plus’ display completely blends into the phone, with the curved edges making it look way better than it already is. It’s great for watching videos, playing games and indulge in any form of consumption, including browsing.
Camera
The iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus have largely the same cameras, except for the inclusion of optical image stabilization on the latter. Perhaps, using up the little extra thickness on the 6 Plus, Apple has managed to pack a hardware solution for video stabilization. The iPhone 6 does come with software-based cinematic stabilization, so how much of a difference does the iPhone 6 Plus’ OIS unit bring?
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