By Jimmy Smith
It was not so long ago, back in 2010, when Apple founder Steve Jobs publicly stated that "no one" would want to buy a phone with a bigger screen. Fast forward four years into the future, and you'll see that a lot has changed. Not only has Apple recently launched two brand new iPhones with substantially larger screens, but the founder and former CEO of the most successful consumer electronics company to date is no longer here.
On the surface, the iPhone 6 & 6+ represent a company responding to the market and it's consumers. Instead, it goes deeper than that. The new iPhones stand as a symbol of change at Apple: Not just a change in screen sizes, but a change in leadership and direction. A bold statement that Apple, a company famous for defining the rules of the computer and smartphone industry, is capable of breaking them.
Overview
As you could guess, the first thing you'll notice about the iPhone 6 is its size. If you're coming from an iPhone of a previous generation, your fingers may feel awkward as they wrap themselves around the edges of the phone. That may be a good or bad thing, depending on the size of your hands. The second thing you may notice is how incredibly thin the phone is. Coming in at 6.9 mm thick, the new iPhone 6 feels like you're holding a giant wheat thin. But all jokes aside, the phone feels great in the hand. The rounded edges of the all new aluminum casing feel great and give the impression that you're holding something valuable in your hand. With that said, it also gave me the impression that I could easily drop it. Although a of lot people turn their heads at the awful perforated back of the Samsung Galaxy S5, it does make the phone easier to hold. In holding the iPhone 6, I slightly yearned for a similar caveat that would make the phone easier to grasp, something that my fingers could grip onto.
The next biggest changes are the location of the power button, which is now located on the side for easy access, and the rear camera, which now slightly protrudes from the rear of the phone. Setting the phone down on its back on a flat table allows the phone to rest on the outer rim of the camera. For some this can be quite cumbersome, but for the majority of people that throw cases onto their phones, it shouldn't be a problem.
Other than a new design encased around a bigger screen, there's not much to externally differentiate the new iPhones from the previous generation. But that's not to say the buck stops there.
Hardware
The new iPhones come with the latest incarnation of Apple's microprocessors, the A8 & M8. While they're vastly powerful, they're more of an evolutionary bump over last year's A7 & M7, rather than the revolutionary bump we saw from the A6 to the A7. With that said, these processors are still considered state of the art. Even though many rival smartphones boast quad-core processors, the A8 still utilizes a dual-core 64-bit architecture and 1GB of RAM. What's even more interesting is that the new iPhones beat out rivals from HTC and Samsung in various tests, such as internet browsing and response time. Apple has always been known for their focus on power consumption and efficiency, so the A8 and M8 paint a familiar picture.
The new screen on the iPhone 6 features a 4.7" 1334 x 750 resolution display. On paper, it may fall short of the 1080p and QHD screens featured in other smartphones released this year, but in practice, the iPhone 6 screen shines. The blacks are deep, the colors are vivid, and viewing the screen under a bright sun won't strain your eyes. Browsing the web and reading text on the new screen is great, and you can't truly distinguish individual pixels unless you hold the phone directly up to your face. Even though the resolution is sub-par by today's standards, the iPhone 6 has a great screen.
When Apple held their press conference almost a month ago, many people expected the new iPhones to boast better cameras. When it was announced that the iPhone was keeping the same 8 megapixel sensor that they've been using since 2012, a lot of photographer's hearts were broken. Instead, Apple announced that they've made upgrades to the sensor to allow more light and added in a new technology that they like to call focus pixels. To keep things simple, focus pixels allow the new iPhone to rapidly focus on subjects, no matter how near or far away they are. In theory, this sounds like a small benefit, but gone are the days where you open the camera app and have to tap the screen and wait a few seconds for the camera to focus so you can get the best shot. Now the iPhones are able to focus almost instantly, and this makes the iPhone a better choice when it comes to choosing a phone camera to get the best shot in any situation.
Along with those improvements, Apple finally announced something that Android and Windows phones have had for years, NFC. NFC stands for Near Field Communication and is a term used to describe a technology that allows data to be transferred over really short distances, like a few inches. What's great about it is that it can allow you to interact with objects and services just by simply holding the phone in close proximity to an NFC enabled device. Regarding Apple, they've decided to use NFC in the iPhone 6 to introduce a new payment system called Apple Pay. Apple Pay allows you to sync your credit card information to your iPhone. Then, once you come in contact with an NFC capable register at a retailer, you're able to to pay for your items using your phone. You simply hold your phone near the register and use the thumb print on the Touch-ID button to complete the transaction. Although Android phones have had this capability for the past three to four years, Apple's adoption ensures that NFC is here to stay. Since both major platforms have adopted this technology, it means that we're one step closer to ditching our wallets. It's a small step into the future, where our phones will be at the centerpiece for everything that we do.
Software
The new iPhone 6 comes out of the box with iOS 8. If you watched WWDC back in June, you'll already know of the new features of Apple's latest operating system. Instead, I'd like to talk about how it runs. iOS 8 is super smooth on the iPhone 6. It's obvious that this phone was designed with iOS 8 in mind. Even the rounded curvature of the new screen allows your fingers to glide on the sides of the device, which makes using gestures even more of pleasure. Switching apps and tabs is smoother than what I experienced on my iPhone 5S.
Conclusion
The iPhone 6 represents change: A change, not only from big to small, but from one direction to the other. It represents a shift in the smartphone market and a bold claim that large screen phones are here to stay. Apple's latest smartphone machines are more evolutionary than revolutionary, but that's not a bad thing. If the something isn't broken, then why reinvent the wheel? Why not just improve the wheel and make it better? That's what Apple has done with the iPhone 6. Feel free to check it out at http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/
Sources
www.apple.com
Other than a new design encased around a bigger screen, there's not much to externally differentiate the new iPhones from the previous generation. But that's not to say the buck stops there.
Hardware
The new iPhones come with the latest incarnation of Apple's microprocessors, the A8 & M8. While they're vastly powerful, they're more of an evolutionary bump over last year's A7 & M7, rather than the revolutionary bump we saw from the A6 to the A7. With that said, these processors are still considered state of the art. Even though many rival smartphones boast quad-core processors, the A8 still utilizes a dual-core 64-bit architecture and 1GB of RAM. What's even more interesting is that the new iPhones beat out rivals from HTC and Samsung in various tests, such as internet browsing and response time. Apple has always been known for their focus on power consumption and efficiency, so the A8 and M8 paint a familiar picture.
The new screen on the iPhone 6 features a 4.7" 1334 x 750 resolution display. On paper, it may fall short of the 1080p and QHD screens featured in other smartphones released this year, but in practice, the iPhone 6 screen shines. The blacks are deep, the colors are vivid, and viewing the screen under a bright sun won't strain your eyes. Browsing the web and reading text on the new screen is great, and you can't truly distinguish individual pixels unless you hold the phone directly up to your face. Even though the resolution is sub-par by today's standards, the iPhone 6 has a great screen.
When Apple held their press conference almost a month ago, many people expected the new iPhones to boast better cameras. When it was announced that the iPhone was keeping the same 8 megapixel sensor that they've been using since 2012, a lot of photographer's hearts were broken. Instead, Apple announced that they've made upgrades to the sensor to allow more light and added in a new technology that they like to call focus pixels. To keep things simple, focus pixels allow the new iPhone to rapidly focus on subjects, no matter how near or far away they are. In theory, this sounds like a small benefit, but gone are the days where you open the camera app and have to tap the screen and wait a few seconds for the camera to focus so you can get the best shot. Now the iPhones are able to focus almost instantly, and this makes the iPhone a better choice when it comes to choosing a phone camera to get the best shot in any situation.
Along with those improvements, Apple finally announced something that Android and Windows phones have had for years, NFC. NFC stands for Near Field Communication and is a term used to describe a technology that allows data to be transferred over really short distances, like a few inches. What's great about it is that it can allow you to interact with objects and services just by simply holding the phone in close proximity to an NFC enabled device. Regarding Apple, they've decided to use NFC in the iPhone 6 to introduce a new payment system called Apple Pay. Apple Pay allows you to sync your credit card information to your iPhone. Then, once you come in contact with an NFC capable register at a retailer, you're able to to pay for your items using your phone. You simply hold your phone near the register and use the thumb print on the Touch-ID button to complete the transaction. Although Android phones have had this capability for the past three to four years, Apple's adoption ensures that NFC is here to stay. Since both major platforms have adopted this technology, it means that we're one step closer to ditching our wallets. It's a small step into the future, where our phones will be at the centerpiece for everything that we do.
Software
The new iPhone 6 comes out of the box with iOS 8. If you watched WWDC back in June, you'll already know of the new features of Apple's latest operating system. Instead, I'd like to talk about how it runs. iOS 8 is super smooth on the iPhone 6. It's obvious that this phone was designed with iOS 8 in mind. Even the rounded curvature of the new screen allows your fingers to glide on the sides of the device, which makes using gestures even more of pleasure. Switching apps and tabs is smoother than what I experienced on my iPhone 5S.
Conclusion
The iPhone 6 represents change: A change, not only from big to small, but from one direction to the other. It represents a shift in the smartphone market and a bold claim that large screen phones are here to stay. Apple's latest smartphone machines are more evolutionary than revolutionary, but that's not a bad thing. If the something isn't broken, then why reinvent the wheel? Why not just improve the wheel and make it better? That's what Apple has done with the iPhone 6. Feel free to check it out at http://www.apple.com/iphone-6/
Sources
www.apple.com
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