The big iPhone is here, with a stunning design and sizeable body
By Any Mobiles
verdict For
"The iPhone 6 Plus is the best looking phablet around.
- Best looking phablet
- Great full HD display
- Its specs don't match strong camera for day to day use
- the Android power houses and it can be tricky to hold,but there's no denyingApple's beautiful (yet expensive) 5.5 incher is a winner."
- Against
- Too big to use one handed
- Very expensive
- 'Reachability' feels tacked on
- Introduction
5.5-inch iPhone. It's something which will send a shudder down the spines of a collective of die-hard Apple fans, a handset some thought we'd never see from the Cupertino-based outfit.
Yet here I am, staring down the barrel of the biggest iPhone in history - the iPhone 6 Plus.
It arrived alongside the iPhone 6 - Apple's new flagship smartphone - which measures 4.7 inches, making it more welcoming to a wider array of palms than the supersized iPhone 6 Plus.
Many of you, especially those of an Android persuasion, may be wondering what all the fuss is about. After all the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 turned up with a 5.5-inch display over two years ago.
Take a moment to glance at the history of the iPhone though, and you'll see why the iPhone 6 Plus is such a big deal.
Buy your iPhone 6 Plus today
Previously Apple has only dealt in two screen sizes - a 3.5-inch display graced the first five generations of iPhone, and just three have had the pleasure of a larger 4-inch display.
The iPhone 6 Plus does boast a couple of unique features however. It's the first iPhone to pack a full HD display, plus its bigger body means it houses a larger battery than its 4.7-inch brother.
Both sport A8 64-bit processors, 1GB of RAM, M8 motion coprocessors and 8MP rear facing cameras - but the snapper on the iPhone 6 Plus benefits from OIS (optical image stabilisation) while the iPhone 6 makes do with EIS (electronic image stabilisation).
As with all Apple products the iPhone 6 Plus doesn't come cheap, and you may want to brace yourself because it's one of the most expensive handsets around.
SIM-free the 16GB iPhone 6 Plus carries a lofty price tag of $749, £619, AU$999 - and that's just the start.
Apple has ditched the 32GB variant for both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with the next storage level coming in at 64GB, and for the 5.5-inch iPhone that equals $849, £699, AU$1129.
The good news for storage fans is that Apple has finally introduced a 128GB model - which may quieten those whining about the lack of a microSD slot - but it will cost you a small fortune. $949, £789, AU$1249 to be exact.
Camera
The iPhone 6 Plus sports a new 8MP iSight camera on its rear and a 1.2MP front FaceTime HD snapper.
As already mentioned in this review, the camera on the back of the iPhone 6 Plus protrudes slightly from surface, as Apple attempted to make the handset as thin as possible.
You're unlikely to really notice this, especially if you stick the 6 Plus straight into a case, so you needn't worry. Plus the lens is covered with a panel of sapphire glass, giving it some seriously tough protection.
Reading the 8MP spec you may fear Apple has just stuck the same old snapper from the iPhone 5S into the 6 Plus, but thankfully that's not the case.
It's done some tinkering behind the scenes to improve the quality of your snaps, and the larger 5.5-inch, full HD display means you get a lovely viewfinder to frame your shots with.
The camera app has been kept simple and clutter free, which also means the options you have at your disposal are limited.
If you slide the opposite direction you'll come across the video modes. This first one is your straight forward video recorder, and with the iPhone 6 Plus you can shoot in full HD at 60fps.
Keeping going across and you'll find slo-mo mode inherited from its predecessors, but as well as shooting at 120fps the iPhone 6 Plus can also capture footage at 240fps, giving you some really awesome slow motion results.
One of the ways Apple has improved its camera on the iPhone 6 Plus is by introducing 'Focus Pixels', which provides the sensor with more information allowing for a faster auto-focus, producing better results.
Face, blink and smile detection have all been improved, allowing the 6 Plus to recognise more faces, more quickly, from further away.
There aren't pages and pages of every camera setting under the sun on the iPhone 6 Plus, as Apple is keeping things simple and that's exactly what the majority of smartphone photographers want. A camera which is simple and easy to use and takes great shots with minimum fuss.
For the more advanced snappers out there the additional enhancements Apple has added provide at least some level of control.
It's the automatic settings such as Auto HDR, Focus Pixel and OIS which are the real winners for me here, allowing the 6 Plus to snap a decent photo pretty much anywhere.
Battery Life
Battery life has been a bit of a sticking for previous iterations of the iPhone, but there's good news with the iPhone 6 Plus.
Apple hasn't revealed the exact size of the battery inside the 6 Plus, but considering its larger footprint it will have a bigger power pack than the iphone 5.
The quoted web browsing time over 4G or Wi-Fi is pegged at 12 hours, while Apple reckons you can get up to 14 hours of life from a single charge during video playback, or up to 80 hours from pure music playback.
These figures are always on the generous side of things, but I have to say I was impressed with the battery performance of the iPhone 6 Plus.
With standard usage I was easily able to get a full day from the 6 Plus (from 7am to around midnight) with some juice still left in the tank when it came to plugging it back in at night.
That included continuous background syncing of several email accounts throughout the day, around two hours of music playback, a couple of hours of gaming and various calls, messages and social media activity.
It's not quite at the same level as the Samsung Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8, but Apple has closed the gap considerably between itself and its Android rivals.
The battery in the iPhone 6 Plus still suffers if you push it really hard. I ran the TechRadar 90 minute video test, which sees a HD movie played at full brightness with various accounts syncing over Wi-Fi in the background.
After the 90 minutes were up the battery level on the 6 Plus had dropped to 73% - a loss of 27%, which isn't a particularly stellar performance.
As with any iPhone the battery is firmly sealed inside the metal chassis of the 6 Plus, meaning there's no option to swap out a flat battery for a fully charged one.
This is less of an issue on the iPhone 6 Plus though, as its battery performance is considerably improved.
With the iPhone 6 Plus you can go out for a full day and not have to worry about being away from a plug, and that simple pleasure will be a huge plus for many iPhone fans.
5.5-inch iPhone. It's something which will send a shudder down the spines of a collective of die-hard Apple fans, a handset some thought we'd never see from the Cupertino-based outfit.
Yet here I am, staring down the barrel of the biggest iPhone in history - the iPhone 6 Plus.
It arrived alongside the iPhone 6 - Apple's new flagship smartphone - which measures 4.7 inches, making it more welcoming to a wider array of palms than the supersized iPhone 6 Plus.
Many of you, especially those of an Android persuasion, may be wondering what all the fuss is about. After all the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 turned up with a 5.5-inch display over two years ago.
Take a moment to glance at the history of the iPhone though, and you'll see why the iPhone 6 Plus is such a big deal.
Buy your iPhone 6 Plus today
Previously Apple has only dealt in two screen sizes - a 3.5-inch display graced the first five generations of iPhone, and just three have had the pleasure of a larger 4-inch display.
The iPhone 6 Plus does boast a couple of unique features however. It's the first iPhone to pack a full HD display, plus its bigger body means it houses a larger battery than its 4.7-inch brother.
Both sport A8 64-bit processors, 1GB of RAM, M8 motion coprocessors and 8MP rear facing cameras - but the snapper on the iPhone 6 Plus benefits from OIS (optical image stabilisation) while the iPhone 6 makes do with EIS (electronic image stabilisation).
As with all Apple products the iPhone 6 Plus doesn't come cheap, and you may want to brace yourself because it's one of the most expensive handsets around.
SIM-free the 16GB iPhone 6 Plus carries a lofty price tag of $749, £619, AU$999 - and that's just the start.
Apple has ditched the 32GB variant for both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, with the next storage level coming in at 64GB, and for the 5.5-inch iPhone that equals $849, £699, AU$1129.
The good news for storage fans is that Apple has finally introduced a 128GB model - which may quieten those whining about the lack of a microSD slot - but it will cost you a small fortune. $949, £789, AU$1249 to be exact.
Camera
The iPhone 6 Plus sports a new 8MP iSight camera on its rear and a 1.2MP front FaceTime HD snapper.
As already mentioned in this review, the camera on the back of the iPhone 6 Plus protrudes slightly from surface, as Apple attempted to make the handset as thin as possible.
You're unlikely to really notice this, especially if you stick the 6 Plus straight into a case, so you needn't worry. Plus the lens is covered with a panel of sapphire glass, giving it some seriously tough protection.
Reading the 8MP spec you may fear Apple has just stuck the same old snapper from the iPhone 5S into the 6 Plus, but thankfully that's not the case.
It's done some tinkering behind the scenes to improve the quality of your snaps, and the larger 5.5-inch, full HD display means you get a lovely viewfinder to frame your shots with.
The camera app has been kept simple and clutter free, which also means the options you have at your disposal are limited.
If you slide the opposite direction you'll come across the video modes. This first one is your straight forward video recorder, and with the iPhone 6 Plus you can shoot in full HD at 60fps.
Keeping going across and you'll find slo-mo mode inherited from its predecessors, but as well as shooting at 120fps the iPhone 6 Plus can also capture footage at 240fps, giving you some really awesome slow motion results.
One of the ways Apple has improved its camera on the iPhone 6 Plus is by introducing 'Focus Pixels', which provides the sensor with more information allowing for a faster auto-focus, producing better results.
Face, blink and smile detection have all been improved, allowing the 6 Plus to recognise more faces, more quickly, from further away.
There aren't pages and pages of every camera setting under the sun on the iPhone 6 Plus, as Apple is keeping things simple and that's exactly what the majority of smartphone photographers want. A camera which is simple and easy to use and takes great shots with minimum fuss.
For the more advanced snappers out there the additional enhancements Apple has added provide at least some level of control.
It's the automatic settings such as Auto HDR, Focus Pixel and OIS which are the real winners for me here, allowing the 6 Plus to snap a decent photo pretty much anywhere.
Battery Life
Battery life has been a bit of a sticking for previous iterations of the iPhone, but there's good news with the iPhone 6 Plus.
Apple hasn't revealed the exact size of the battery inside the 6 Plus, but considering its larger footprint it will have a bigger power pack than the iphone 5.
The quoted web browsing time over 4G or Wi-Fi is pegged at 12 hours, while Apple reckons you can get up to 14 hours of life from a single charge during video playback, or up to 80 hours from pure music playback.
These figures are always on the generous side of things, but I have to say I was impressed with the battery performance of the iPhone 6 Plus.
With standard usage I was easily able to get a full day from the 6 Plus (from 7am to around midnight) with some juice still left in the tank when it came to plugging it back in at night.
That included continuous background syncing of several email accounts throughout the day, around two hours of music playback, a couple of hours of gaming and various calls, messages and social media activity.
It's not quite at the same level as the Samsung Galaxy S5 or HTC One M8, but Apple has closed the gap considerably between itself and its Android rivals.
The battery in the iPhone 6 Plus still suffers if you push it really hard. I ran the TechRadar 90 minute video test, which sees a HD movie played at full brightness with various accounts syncing over Wi-Fi in the background.
After the 90 minutes were up the battery level on the 6 Plus had dropped to 73% - a loss of 27%, which isn't a particularly stellar performance.
As with any iPhone the battery is firmly sealed inside the metal chassis of the 6 Plus, meaning there's no option to swap out a flat battery for a fully charged one.
This is less of an issue on the iPhone 6 Plus though, as its battery performance is considerably improved.
With the iPhone 6 Plus you can go out for a full day and not have to worry about being away from a plug, and that simple pleasure will be a huge plus for many iPhone fans.
Specification of Apple iPhone 6 Plus
| GENERAL | 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - A1522 (GSM), A1522 (CDMA), A1524 |
|---|---|---|
| CDMA 800 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - A1522 (CDMA), A1524 | ||
| 3G Network | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 - A1522 (GSM), A1522 (CDMA), A1524 | |
| CDMA2000 1xEV-DO - A1522 (CDMA), A1524 | ||
| TD-SCDMA 1900 / 2000 - A1524 | ||
| 4G Network | LTE 700/800/850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100/2600 (1/2/3/4/5/7/8/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29) - A1522 (GSM), A1522 (CDMA) | |
| LTE 700/800/850/900/1800/1900/2100/2600 TD-LTE 1900/2300/2500/2600 (1/2/3/4/5/7/8/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28/29/38/39/40/41) - A1524 | ||
| SIM | Nano-SIM | |
| Announced | 2014, September | |
| Status | Available. Released 2014, September |
| BODY | Dimensions | 158.1 x 77.8 x 7.1 mm (6.22 x 3.06 x 0.28 in) |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | 172 g (6.07 oz) | |
| - Fingerprint sensor (Touch ID) - Apple Pay (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX certified) |
| DISPLAY | Type | LED-backlit IPS LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
|---|---|---|
| Size | 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.5 inches (~401 ppi pixel density) | |
| Multitouch | Yes | |
| Protection | Shatter proof glass, oleophobic coating | |
| - Display Zoom |
| SOUND | Alert types | Vibration, proprietary ringtones |
|---|---|---|
| Loudspeaker | Yes | |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes |
| MEMORY | Card slot | No |
|---|---|---|
| Internal | 16/64/128 GB, 1 GB RAM |
| DATA | GPRS | Yes |
|---|---|---|
| EDGE | Yes | |
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE Cat4 150/50 Mbps, EV-DO Rev.A 3.1 Mbps | |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, hotspot | |
| Bluetooth | v4.0, A2DP, LE | |
| NFC | Yes (Apple Pay only) | |
| USB | v2.0, reversible connector |
| CAMERA | Primary | 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, optical image stabilization, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash,check quality |
|---|---|---|
| Features | 1/3'' sensor size, 1.5µm pixel size, geo-tagging, simultaneous HD video and image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, HDR (photo/panorama) | |
| Video | 1080p@60fps, 720p@240fps, optical stabilization, check quality | |
| Secondary | 1.2 MP, 720p@30fps, face detection, HDR, FaceTime over Wi-Fi or Cellular |
| FEATURES | OS | iOS 8, upgradable to iOS 8.1.2 |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Apple A8 | |
| CPU | Dual-core 1.4 GHz Cyclone (ARM v8-based) | |
| GPU | PowerVR GX6450 (quad-core graphics) | |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer | |
| Messaging | iMessage, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email | |
| Browser | HTML5 (Safari) | |
| Radio | No | |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS | |
| Java | No | |
| Colors | Space Gray, Silver, Gold | |
| - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic - Siri natural language commands and dictation - iCloud cloud service - iCloud Keychain - TV-out - Maps - iBooks PDF reader - Audio/video player/editor - Organizer - Document viewer/editor - Photo viewer/editor - Voice memo/dial/command - Predictive text input |
| BATTERY | Non-removable Li-Po 2915 mAh battery (11.1 Wh) | |
|---|---|---|
| Stand-by | (2G) / Up to 384 h (3G) | |
| Talk time | (2G) / Up to 24 h (3G) | |
| Music play | Up to 80 h |
| MISC | SAR US | 1.19 W/kg (head) 1.19 W/kg (body) |
|---|---|---|
| SAR EU | 0.99 W/kg (head) 0.91 W/kg (body) | |
| Price group |
| TESTS | Performance | Basemark OS II: 1222 |
|---|---|---|
| Display | Contrast ratio: 1361 (nominal), 3.023 (sunlight) | |
| Camera | Photo / Video | |
| Loudspeaker | Voice 67dB / Noise 65dB / Ring 66dB | |
| Audio quality | Noise -94dB / Crosstalk -72dB | |
| Battery life |
Endurance rating 79h
|
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