Apple iPhone 6 Plus Review

Introduction

Phablets have risen in popularity over the last couple of years, thanks mainly to the many Android devices that were quick to establish this newfound segment in the smartphone space. For the longest of time, Apple refuted the idea of having a phablet-sized smartphone. However, that’s all changing this year with the introduction of not one, but two new iPhones.

Giving it more of that flagship smartphone status, the iPhone 6 chimes in with a modest sized 4.7-inch screen. Well, if that’s not enough for you, or if you simply prefer a more ginormous iPhone of sorts, you’ll quickly place your attention on its close sibling – the iPhone 6 Plus. Yes folks, the Plus intends to give the other notable phablets in the market some heated competition.

Flaunting a 5.5-inch display, the iPhone 6 Plus from the outside looks like its 4.7-inch sibling, but it’s packing its own exclusive set of arsenal to set it apart. Taking into consideration that phablets are meant to be bridge devices between the smartphone and tablet, we’re curious to know exactly how the iPhone 6 Plus can deliver in that regard – more so knowing what its rivals have accomplished already. The word “plus” after anything sounds mighty intriguing, so let’s hope there’s a lot of that in this!

The package contains:

• Lightning cable
• Wall charger
• Apple sticker decals
• Get Started Guide

Design

It’s premium by nature from head-to-toe, but the biggest obstacle here is trying to handle this beastly sized thing with one hand.

Frankly, the design language of the iPhone 6 Plus is identical to the iPhone 6 – except that it’s obviously bigger in size. Going for a grander scale, the size is what’s probably going to dictate consumers what to get. Needless to say, its wide girth makes the iPhone 6 Plus a handful to operate, requiring more two-handed operation than anything else.

Sporting the foundational qualities of iPhones past, the iPhone 6 Plus is one of the more premium-made phablets in the market. That’s primarily attributed to its unibody aluminum chassis, which not only gives it that high-quality feel, but it’s relatively resilient to fingerprints and other nasty baddies. At the same time, the construction feels solid thanks to the premium choice of materials Apple has decided to go with. Unlike past iPhones, the Plus, much like its sibling in the iPhone 6, sports rounded edges to make it slightly more comfortable to hold – as opposed to the flat, chamfered beveled edges of last year’s iPhone 5s.

Attributed to its larger size, the power button has moved away from its traditional location on the upper right corner of the phone, and is now placed along the right edge – a fitting change, since it’s easier to access. As for the volume controls and silence switch, which are still in their same old spots on the left edge, they might not jut out as much as before, but they’re relatively still easy to distinguish and operate. Notably different is the size of the volume buttons, which are elongated now, in order to accommodate the iPhone 6’s skinnier frame. Meanwhile, other familiar items, like the Lightning docking power, 3.5mm headset jack, speaker, earpiece, and microphones are found in their usual locations.
Underneath the display, we have the phone’s iconic home button, which has the Touch ID biometric touch sensor incorporated into it. Still rocking the same responsiveness and easy unlocking operation as before, it’s still somewhat mind-boggling to know that it’s the best implementation around.

Apple’s iPhones have always been known to take spectacular photos, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone to find that the iPhone 6 Plus is packing some new gear. Even though its iSight camera doesn’t increase in count, a decent 8-megapixel sensor with a two-toned dual-LED flash, Apple introduces a new technology called “Focus Pixel,” which we’ll expand more on later in the camera section of the review. Likewise, they’ve opted to stick the iPhone 6 Plus with the same 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera as last year’s model.

Display

What a change! The iPhone 6 Plus earns the mark for having the highest resolution screen on an iPhone.

Notable for its immense 5.5-inch Retina Display, which is based on IPS LCD technology, the more pressing matter here is that the iPhone 6 Plus’ screen earns the prestigious mark for being the highest-resolution panel to ever grace an iPhone. Although it’s been the norm for many high-end smartphones for some time, the iPhone 6 Plus one-ups its sibling in the iPhone 6 by having a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. In fact, its 401 ppi pixel density eclipses all iPhones before it! Therefore, it translates in giving fine details a substantial amount of crispness and clarity. It’s sharp, there’s no denying that, but it’s still a step behind quadHD displays on paper.

Beyond the resolution, the panel is also remarkable for its other impressive qualities. First, the IPS LCD display conjures up a maximum brightness output of 574 nits, enabling its screen to shine brightly under direct sunlight. In comparison to other notable phablets, the screen that’s present here is undoubtedly brighter. Colors are nicely reproduced too, which has been a characteristic of nearly all iPhones. However, color temperature is rather cool at 7300K, not as close to the 6500K reference as we would like.

Naturally, the size alone is something unprecedented for Apple. Directly comparing the display of the iPhone 6 plus to its sibling in the iPhone 6, we do notice that the latter has the stronger brightness output and superior color accuracy. Versus the rest of the competition, however, the 5.5-inch 1080p Retina Display is hardly ground shaking, but we can’t complain either because of its alluring properties of being high quality.