Apple iPhone 6 Plus

Review in pictures

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A larger iPhone 6?

The iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus are exactly the same in terms of design, except for the size The anodised aluminium body is nicely curved on the sides and the cornersThe contoured glass layer on top of the screen is a nice touch – it slopes gently towards the sides to match the same curvature on the rearThe white antenna bands do look rather unsightly, but that and the unwieldy size aside, it’s a gorgeous-looking device

DESIGN

A massive, capable screen

The 5.5-inch screen offers a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels resulting into a pixel density of 401ppiIn terms of capabilities and performance, the 6 Plus’ screen is gorgeous – with sharp text and vivid visualsThe large screen makes everything pop out – be it games or videos, and it’s a pleasure to work with productivity-related stuff tooWeb browsing and working with emails and documents get a boost thanks to the screen’s size and quality, and it’s great in terms of both viewing angles as well as sunlight legibility

DISPLAY

More features for the barebones camera app

The iPhone 6 Plus sports an 8-megapixel primary shooter with a True Tone flash, along with a 1.2MP FaceTime camera in the frontFeatures like phase detection autofocus and optical image stabilisation, the ability to capture panoramas in 43MP resolution, 1080p video recording at 60fps and slow-mo recording at 240fps are yours for the takingThe app itself is barebones, and you can’t tweak things like image size or aspects like ISO or white balanceYou can choose from a variety of live filters and modes

CAMERA

Shoots to kill

The image quality is great under most conditions, and it shoots pristine images in daylight. Close-ups look great tooWe were amazed at how it keeps noise to a minimum while shooting in low lightThe HDR mode is subtle as compared to some other smartphone cameras we’ve seen, but does its job in highlighting the colour variance and brightening the darker areas of captured scenes

CAMERA

Sunlight

Low Light

No Lollipop this

The iPhone 6 Plus runs iOS 8, and the latest iteration brings tons of new featuresSupport for third-party keyboards – hitherto the sole domain of Android, has now been added to the platform… so it’s now possible to use options like SwiftKey and SwypeOne of the most notable new features involves Continuity and Handoff that work between devices running iOS 8 and Mac OS X Yosemite… basically letting you carry forward unfinished tasks on a device on to another. This covers apps like Safari, Mail, Messages etc, and even for calls

USER INTERFACE

Features galore

Then there are the other new features such as support for third-party widgets in the Today screen, actionable notifications, Reachability and two different zoom options for the UIOne feature exclusive to the iPhone 6 Plus is the two-paned layout that appears in landscape mode. It’s supported by apps like Messages and Mail

USER INTERFACE

A smooth operator

Powering the show is a new-gen A8 64-bit processor. Teardowns say that it’s a 1.4GHz dual-core chip mated to 1GB of RAM. The device flies in terms of pure performance. We didn’t encounter any lags or freezes no matter what we threw at it – and it shines in most respectsConnectivity options include 4G, Wi-Fi ac and NFC apart from the usual dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth LE and A-GPS

PERFORMANCE

A long-lasting battery

Apple hasn’t specified the exact battery capacity, but teardowns peg it at 2,915mAhThe 6 Plus is much better than its smaller sibling in terms of battery life and you can expect it to last a full day even with heavy useWith more frugal usage however, you can possibly see it stretch into the second day

PERFORMANCE

Store more

There are three storage variants of the iPhone 6 Plus available – 16, 64 and 128GB, with Apple having ditched the 32GB variant altogetherOur 16GB review unit offered about 11GB free to use, and unless you just want to use the device for the most basic tasks and apps, we think it won’t suffice in terms of available storage in the long run. The 64GB model makes a lot more sense

STORAGE

At a glance…

5.5-inch, 1,920x 1,080 pixel display (401ppi)64-bit Apple A8 chip, M8 motion co-processor8-megapixel iSight camera with True Tone flash and OIS, 1.2MP FaceTime camera16GB/64GB/128GB non-expandable storageSingle SIM, 4G, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth, NFC, GPSTouch ID fingerprint sensoriOS 8

Pros and Cons

Sexy design and superb build qualityA gorgeous, large displayVery capable shooterSmooth performance

The size and design make it a tad unwieldyUnsightly antenna bands at the rearCosts a kidney or two

Pricing & Verdict

“There’s no doubt in our minds that the Apple iPhone 6 Plus is one of the best phablets money can buy right now. It’s got everything going for it – a lovely design, brilliant display, capable shooter, smooth performance and good battery life. It may not be for those who prefer the flexibility, customisation or plug-and-play usage offered by Android, but it shouldn’t disappoint others – not with those capabilities. But then, it does cost a pretty penny”

Price: From Rs 62,500