Gadget review: iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Picture: Contributed

Gadget review - iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus

Price: from £539

WITH not one, but two new iPhones, Apple has laid to rest fears that the untimely death of Steve Jobs robbed it of its innovative pedigree. Both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus are among the best smartphones available and sure to cheer the Californian firm’s loyal customer base. Crucially, and perhaps more importantly, they also demonstrate how the company is continuing to rewrite the rulebook when it comes to user friendly consumer technology.

The most drastic overhaul to the traditional iPhone template is the most obvious: size. Both the standard and Plus models offer significantly larger screens, with the former boasting a 4.7 inch screen and the latter a 5.5 inch viewing area. In comparison, the humble four inches offered by previous iterations of the handset feels restrictive, particularly when you want to watch television programmes or films on the move without carrying around a tablet.

Increased screen sizes greatly improve visual-led tasks

It is a timely and necessary update. A succession of Android handset manufacturers have won plaudits for large screen sizes, giving rise to the so-called phablet option. The Cupertino firm’s reluctance to introduce a competing device was borne from concerns over the increased real estate would come at the expense of quality. With the 6 and 6 Plus, however, it is clear those hurdles have been navigated with style, making them a compelling choice for visual-led tasks such as image editing.

The additional screen size is a boon for the best improvement to the iPhone - the quality of its photographs and video. Images sing with rich colour and high contrast, but it is the latter that truly excels thanks to new optical image stabilisation technology. Even while jogging or cycling, it is simple to maintain a smooth, tracking shot using the 6 Plus, with the autofocus doing all the hard work to keep pace with the action. It is one of the most impressive additions and a leap forward for the iPhone’s capabilities as a film camera.

Some cosmetic changes borrow from the iPad Air school of design

These improvements, impressively, come without the main chassis of the smartphones feeling bulky. Both handsets feel light and comfortable, with the 6 Plus deceptively thin at just 7.1mm. More generally, Apple have taken aesthetic inspiration from their own iPad Air and the new iPhones benefit from the gentler, rounded design philosophy that has edges melt away into curves rather than right angles. On both the 6 and 6 Plus models, there has been some cosmetic changes, with the power button now located to the right hand side as opposed to the top. On the Plus, it is an understandable transition given the limits of the average handspan, but it feels like a less obvious change on the smaller handset.

The battery life on both versions is significantly more generous than the iPhone 5S, each standing up to a full day of intensive use, spanning social media apps, web browsing, YouTube and games. The onus now is on app developers to optimise their software for the new handsets. At present, too many are crudely scaled up and fail to take advantage of the enlarged screen space, but if the precedent of the iPad is anything to go by, they will come good in time. These are smartphones with transformative technology and peerless design and their potential to reshape the smartphone market is immense.