Review: A week with the iPhone 6

The thinnest, largest iPhone yet.

Hey guys, it’s Timi (obvs).

I decided to start writing tech reviews again since I cannot escape being asked questions about how I feel about this device or that OS. That and well, I love this shit.

I’m about to make like EVERY other iPhone 6 review and say that the first thing you notice about the new iPhone is the significantly larger screen than previous iterations which, by the way, is totally true.

Plus, it’s a very welcome change. I’ve been bashing iPhones about their tiny screens for a while now and I’m happy Apple has finally decided to play catch up.

The new screen is a 4.7 incher with a 1334-by-750-pixel resolution at 326 ppi. It isn’t full 1080p HD but it’s the same pixel density as previous iPhones and that’s okay. Plus Apple has fancy technology (and fancier names for them) that help make the screen look sexy as fuck. It has dope viewing angles, it’s very much viewable in direct sunlight and it’s just really good (colours, contrast and all that enchilada). Everything looks better on the bigger, Retina HD bad boy.

The design of the device is pretty slick. It’s different too, with rounded corners more like the first iPhone and a protruding camera (WHY APPLE? WHY?). It has an aluminium unibody (read: one sheet wraps around the whole phone). You could basically run hand all over the phone and not feel any seams.

I really like the way the screen sort of slopes curvily at the edges, which makes it seem like it never ends and swiping from left across the screen to go “Back” has never felt more natural since iOS 7 launched with the feature.

So yeah, it’s sexy, as is to be expected with an iPhone but I think I prefer the design of the 5S.

I really hate the new antenna design/implementation. Yes, it’s that ugly ass plastic strip running along the back of the phone. It makes it look cheap and people say ‘it looks like the HTC one’ because of it. The 5/5S glass antenna is much better. I also wish the “space grey” model was darker, because now I can’t tell myself I have a black iPhone, which is unfortunate as black is the king of this colour game.

The new phone is also really thin (6.9mm) and that thinness coupled with the relatively large size make it hard to grip for some. I’ve seen it slip from my friends’ hands on more than one occasion. I, on the other hand, happen to be a large slippery phone ninja. Nothing can be worse than the plastic ass bar of soap that is the S4. Though, if you feel like your phone slipping from your grip is something you’d rather not worry about, you can slap a case (or skin) on it.

It ships with iOS 8 installed and it’s pretty much the same experience, only larger, snappier and smoother which owes to the newer and better guts of the phone (the A8 chip). Unfortunately, Apple hasn’t really done much with the extra screen real estate. It’s just iOS 8 blown up. Only semi-cool thing is this feature they’re calling Reachability that lets you sorta pull down the screen half-way so you can easily reach the ordinarily hard to reach corners. I’ve found myself using it a few times, when I’m feeling lazy and stuff. All you need to do to activate it, is to double tap (not press) the home button.

In an unusual turn of events, iOS app developers don’t seem to be in a hurry to optimise their apps for the new device and this sucks major because Timi now has fuzzy/blurry blown up apps here and there. WHY IS WHATSAPP STILL FUZZY?

Gaming with the iPhone 6 is an absolute delight too. I’ve been playing Modern Combat 5 on it and damn, those graphics are legit.

Major pro for this device is the camera. It’s really really really good. It’s still 8MP but as this phone clearly shows, it’s not all about the megapixels. There’s (software) image stabilisation which reduces the effect of your shaky hands and the auto focus is really fast. And it takes awesome pictures too. Apple always has fancy tech to make seemingly ordinary specs do wonders.

The camera also shines (bright like a diamond) when recording video. And FAM, make sure you take slow-mo video every chance you get. 240 frames per second slow mo recording makes everything look awesome.

The front facing FaceTime camera also seems improved for it has been the main contributor my the rise of my selfie game.

Battery life is also pretty good. Definitely better than the 5S, but not “wawu”. Gets me through the day on mild use (my mild use is heavy for most). Standby time is ridiculously good though, leave your phone at 100% all night and wake up to 98%.

There’s one potentially dope feature that the 6 packs but we are not going to experience in Nigeria anytime soon. It’s Apple Pay and it lets you make payments with your iPhone(‘s new NFC chip) and the Touch ID fingerprint sensor. It’s something I’d really like to use because I hate taking cash and cards around with me. It feels like the beginning of the end of the wallet and I wanna be a part of that.

The iPhone 6 has been selling since the 12th of September (Pre-orders) and well, availability in Nigeria, sucks. I mean, it’s being sold but for RIDICULOUS prices on the major online retails stores in the country. I mean, how do you sell a $749 (plus about $50 tax) phone for ₦210,000?

Cheapest place I’ve seen the 6 (and 6 plus) being sold at is ordertolagos.com and it’s at ₦160,000 for the cheapest model. Even at that price, it’s still significantly marked up…I could go on a rant about how the ordertolagos team (me and two friends) are doing a really good job keeping it that low, while large ass companies like Jumia and Konga who definitely have more resources to make this happen are being total rip offs but that’s a rant for another day.

So that’s pretty much it. The iPhone 6 is the best iPhone ever. Nothing especially groundbreaking but I think we should be used to that by now. The new iPhone is all about refinement and a big screen which could be the major reason to upgrade from a 5S.

Don’t ask me about the 6 Plus please, that phone does not exist to me.