The Slimmest, Fastest & Greatest Phone Ever. Review on Apple iPhone 6

2 years back, I was not an Apple fan, I had this impression that they are overpriced, which I still believe as an iPhone user, I also thought they were getting nothing new to offer and I had no reason to buy an iPhone. And to be honest, the only thing I genuinely liked of iPhone back then was its design and the fact that glass and metal used in their making. I just loved the way iPhone 4S looked as it felt so extraordinary and rich in hands when I finally bought one.

After coming to Canada in 2012, I saw almost everyone using iPhone and was no big deal if you are walking with an Apple device which was in India at that time. And I was a loyal, satisfied user of Nokia N8, and always endorsed the look, feel and features of it. One fine day I finally decided to go for iPhone to match up people here because nobody really used Nokia here. I became a huge fan of iPhone because now I got to know what quality, features and design a phone can offer.

And after a year came iPhone 5 then 5S which failed to impress me at all that and lead me to wait patiently for Apple’s next release and when I finally saw the keynote of iPhone 6 I was in awe and pre-ordered it on 12th September, and received it on 19th September which was a sweet surprise because it was scheduled to be delivered on the 24th. An iPhone user knows the unboxing experience, moments of excitement and high expectation of what’s in the box, though you already know what is in there. Anyway, so finally got this new iPhone 6, 64GB inbuilt in my hand. At first I felt so cool about it at a glance but when my eyes got a little settled with the look I discovered that it somewhat reminds me of Samsung mobiles nevertheless I was not disheartened but as happy as I was previously.

The whole experience until now has been great and I love using this device because of its technological advancements and the feel it gives. Though it is a little bigger than previous Apple phones, but it gets handy were eased. The highlight of the phone is its speed, now people might have impression that it only has core 2 processor and 1GB of RAM, whereas other phones have a far better processor and RAM but it is very irrelevant comparison because operating systems are different. For example 1 GB RAM for iOS may be better than 2 GB RAM of Android. When you actually use both Android and iOS, which I do, you will realize that iPhone and iOS 8 is much faster. And the same goes for the camera and its functionality, it is no brainer that iPhone 6’s camera is incredibly great and no other mobile camera can stand up to it when compared.

Let’s talk about the device now in more precise and categorical manner.

Display

The size of this phone is big which is 5.44 x 2.64 inches with the thickness of 6.9 mm and weighs approximately around 130 grams. It has the retina display of 4.7 inch touch screen with 1334 x 750 pixel resolution which is very random. Honestly, it’s a letdown because other devices from competitors have better resolution pixels. It is hard to reach at the top with the thumb when holding the phone with one hand and so Apple has introduced Reachability features which allows you to bring down the screen within the reach of the thumb by double tapping the Home Button. The phone now supports many languages which is good for several countries where people mainly prefer their respective language. The brightness of the phone is commendable and is very useful when using your phone in bright daylight.

Design

This iPhone is the world’s slimmest smartphone and has a great design which is dissimilar from previous ones and believe me everyone will love it. It is round cornered and smooth edged which makes it a little slippery and guarantees drop if used without a cover. The drawback is the camera which is protruding, it doesn’t make it look ugly, but it is possible that camera glass/lens may damage or may experience scratches if kept on a hard surface on a daily basis and so the use of case becomes more crucial. Antenna bands also contribute to the phone’s design and is on the backside of the phone in forms of stripes.

Power button which has always been on top is now on the right side which is placed appropriately as the device is big and it will be inconvenient to press it if it was on top. Apple mobile users may take some time to get used to pressing the side button to lock-unlock the device. Volume button and silent button is where it was before. The home button is also in the same place with a touch sensor. Apple’s Touch Censor is the best in the market.

Microphone, Headphone jack, Lightening connector and Speaker are all in the bottom. I would have liked it if the Headphone jack was placed on the top, but never mind, got to deal with it. You will require Nano SIM card for this device.

Camera

You will be able to take the best pictures like you take with SLR cameras, it is that good. This is the best camera compared to any other mobile camera available in the market.

No changes have been made to the camera from previous one and it is still 8 MP, but some great insight features and 1.5µ pixels. Factually the camera produces the images of supreme quality even in the diverse conditions. The camera features auto-focus which is a fine feature with face detection and has ideal noise adjustment capabilities. To its bonus, iPhone 6 can take panorama pictures with a capacity of 43 megapixels. Timer mode is also included in taking pictures which is a simple functionality but never seen before in Apple devices. Filters to take pictures are ordinary, True Tone Flash is better than ever and Digital Image stabilization is middling.

Front Camera is 1.2 megapixels and the photo quality is ultimate for a front camera. It has a cool feature called Burst Mode which can be accessed by long pressing on the camera button to display. It takes multiple images and you get the opportunity to pick the best one to keep which is great for selfie lovers. You can also record video with 780p competence and with the great face detection capability.

Video Recording is the best part of the camera functionalities. You can record 1080p with the rate of 30 or 60 frames per second high definition videos which does consumes lots of memory but totally worth it additionally with the capability of 3x zooming. My favorite and the coolest features is Slo-Mo and Time Lapse in video recording. You can now record video in Slo-Mo with 120 or 240 frames per second besides Time Lapse is also good where you can record video in faster moving mode.

Software

iPhone comes with iOS 8 which happens to be the latest software version. This version does not have much to offer and I found it bugged a lot. It also has several glitches like you can see the call details, make Siri read your messages and post on Facebook without unlocking the phone which is a security and privacy concern. Hopefully Apple will release and fix it soon.

Some major advancement in this version includes a quick reply from the notification badge itself, which is very convenient because you don’t have to close the current app and go all the way to Messages or Facebook to reply. The Keyboard has quick or predictive typing function which is really smart, makes typing easier and faster. You can use different third party keyboards, but this is nothing innovative already available on Android and other operating systems. New addition to Messages is that you now have the ability to send audio, video, image, share location and silent the notification in group messaging. Siri is now integrated with Shazam, which can now identify the songs playing around.

The new version also allows widgets on notification center and for now very few widgets are available in apps store. Spotlight Search is not limited to searching stuffs on phone only, but on the web and app store as well. Other iOS 8 feature include Health App, Airdrop, Bluetooth, FaceTime Audio and Video, Using phone in landscape mode etc.

Rest of the review is continued in comments.