Every other year Apple releases their famous “S” line, it normally has a couple of upgrades and enhancements here and there that comes with a lot of hype. This year, everyone is expecting that too – but I was a little surprised.
Like last year’s packaging, the boxes are embossed but now they have a different color of lids so you can determine the color of the phone that it comes with. But when you open up the box, nothing has really changed – same poor charging cable, same earphones and same sim ejector.
Look and feel
The measurements of the phone have changed a bit, they are a little bit thicker and heavier. You might think that these changes are not noticeable but if you’re owning an iPhone 6 you’ll notice the difference immediately. They’re still a bit slippery so if you’re planning on buying one, make sure you buy a case or sticker.
The body is now made with a 7000 series aluminum alloy, it might look the same but it is significantly stronger to avoid the infamous #bendgate.
There’s also a new color this year that Apple called Rose Gold, now this color is very hard to capture, if you don’t have the right lighting or screen it will make the iPhone 6S look very pink (just like the rumors).
Other than these changes, everything is pretty much the same as its previous model.
Display
It’s the same screen as last year’s so there’s really nothing special to say. It’s a very good screen but currently it is starting to show it’s age. Last time people are saying that the iPhone’s screen is the best in the market. But right now, Samsung has way higher resolution, higher contrast, and show more natural colors.
But don’t get me wrong, the display on the iPhone is still good looking and maybe included in the top 10 list out there but it’s not the best. OLED on Android and Quantum IPS on LG are still the best.
Camera
For the past couple of years, Android phones have taken a lot of good videos with the 4K resolution. Even if the iPhone 6 delivered great images, it still doesn’t record on 4K. But now they finally bumped up the camera to a 12 Megapixel. Photos in bright environment are really good for a smartphone, it still delivers the same quality on the iPhone 6 but in higher resolution. You won’t see the difference unless you’re zooming in or cropping the photo for your feed in Instagram.
The Live Photo feature is pretty cool, you’ll always have the option to turn it off if you want. It’s fun if you take a lot of pictures people. Sometimes it’s cool to have it on to capture the full moment. It takes about 2x the storage of the picture which is okay.
The front-facing camera has been upgraded to a 5 Megapixel. It’s a bit better than last year and has that unique feature of brightening the screen up to three times to act as a flash – a good thing for your selfies.
If you’re planning to buy the iPhone 6S, you won’t be disappointed with the camera quality. It’s definitely one of the best. Just a quick tip, recording in 4K videos takes a lot of the storage in your phone so I suggest you buy the 64GB or 128GB variant.
Performance
The performance across the board has been bumped up compared to the previous generation
- The fingerprint sensor has twice the speed and you’ll barely see the lock screen when unlocking.
- The taptic engine seems a lot quieter but it has stronger vibrations.
- The RAM has been upgraded to 2GB for better multitasking. That slight stutter on the iPhone 6 when switching apps is now gone.
- Siri’s performance and WiFi speeds are still the same. We don’t have that kind of internet in The Philippines to really test the speed limits of the phone.
- Battery life is identical to last year’s model despite that it contains a smaller battery (from 1810mAh to 1715mAh). You will still have the battery all day for a light to moderate use.
3D Touch
The 3D touch is Apple’s highlight feature for the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. It has the same mechanic as the Force Touch found in the Apple Watch and the MacBook but it is a lot more intuitive because we are already familiar on how we use our phones.
The support for this feature is pretty limited right now. Even a lot of the native apps from Apple don’t support it yet. But the will change in due time as it is open for developers and we can really see the potential of this innovation.
It makes phone interaction faster and more efficient. Anything that requires multiple inputs will be faster with the 3D Touch. Even though this kind of technology has just launched, it doesn’t feel gimmicky and janky at all – it just straight up works unlike the Live Photos.
Conclusion
Apple’s “S” series highlights unique features – Siri on the iPhone 4S and Touch ID on the iPhone 5S. But these features doesn’t really change the way we use our phones. With the iPhone 6S’s 3D Touch however, it inherently changes the way we the phone – everything that you do with it can theoretically be affected with the use3D touch (assuming that the developers will use it in their apps).
The potential for it is massive that you can really look forward to in the future. For an “S” variant of Apple, the iPhone 6S is the best one and it really takes the cake.
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