They’re lighter, faster, bigger. Say hello to the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus – two of the most leaked phones in the entire universe. If some have been underwhelmed with the announcement, blame the rumour mills.
Apple introduced its new smartphones with much fanfare and applause from a supportive audience early this morning (1AM, +8.00 GMT). The Apple Special Event was streamed live and liveblogged from Apple.com.
A visibly excited and happy Tim Cook took the helm at the keynote at the Flint Center, where the original iPhone debuted.
Curvier, lighter, thinner, stronger
The iPhone 6 is both the largest and thinnest iPhone ever made, measuring 6.9mm (7.1mm for iPhone 6 Plus) at its thinnest point. The thin profile is made possible by Apple’s thinnest display yet. The beautiful gap-less body is made with anodised aluminium, stainless steel and glass. In some ways, Apple has returned to the curvier design of the original iPhone.
Two sizes depending on user preference – the single-hand friendly 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the phablet territory 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. Apple made zero mention of the term ‘phablet’ though.
Apple claims the iPhone 6 and iOS 8 is easy to navigate with one hand, with physical button positioned within reach. I’ll reserve my comments until I touch and feel one.
There’s no doubt about it, it’s a beautiful phone. Now bigger. The iPhone 6 is available in gold, silver and space gray.
Bigger, better display
Apple hasn’t gone into 2K and 4K territory as some competitors have done in the Android space. Instead it’s stuck with a slightly improved Retina HD Display which kicks out a HD 326PPI (1334×750) for the iPhone 6 and Full HD 401PPI (1920×1080) for the iPhone 6 Plus.
The Retina HD display supports full sRGB and has an improved polariser for better outdoor performance.
With the iPhone 6 and iOS 8, Apple has introduced Display Zoom, when activated makes your content bigger. On the iPhone 6 Plus, there’s a redesigned Landscape View, much like on the iPad and iPad mini, to better take advantage of the bigger 5.5-inch display.
Super performance
The iPhone 6 features the second-generation 64-bit “desktop-class” A8 chip, enhanced with an M8 motion co-processor. The new chip is Apple’s fastest yet, packing in 2 billion transistors on its tiny silicon footprint using the advanced 20-nanometer manufacturing process. The A8 delivers up to 50% more energy efficiency than its predecessor – the A7.
Apple quotes 50x faster CPU performance and 84x GPU performance over the original iPhone.
For superior graphics performance, Apple introduced Metal – a new technology that lets developers create highly-immersive games on the iPhone. Metal allows CPU and GPU to work together to deliver superior graphics visuals effects.
With the new A8, Apple states that the iPhone 6 delivers up to 14 hours of battery life on 3G, up to 10 days of standby. The iPhone 6 Plus delivers up to 24 hours of 3G talktime and up to 16 days of standby, presumely with a much bigger physical battery. That should be good news for potential iPhone 6 buyers.
With the iPhone 5s, Apple introduced the M7 co-processor together with the A7 chip. In its latest iteration, the new A8 chip works together with a new M8 co-processor, which continuously measures data from accelerometer, compass, gyroscope and new barometer sensor. This brings data tracking to a whole new level especially in apps such as Apple’s Healthkit.
Improved iSight camera
Apple has stuck to its guns and not participated in the megapixel race, and has improved the iSight camera without increasing megapixel count. It’s still an 8MP sensor, with large 1.5-micron pixels and f/2.2 aperture.
The new 8MP sensor features Focus Pixels technology which delivers more info about images to the sensor – giving better and faster autofocus.
On the iPhone 6 Plus. you get optical image stabilisation (OIS) that brings together the tech from the A8 chip, gyroscope and M8 motion co-processor. This is a big deal, IMHO. No one wants 8MPs worth of blurred images.
Aside from taking great photos, Apple is touting the iPhone 6’s 1080p HD video prowess – capturing at 60fps with continuous autofocus and cinematic viideo stabilisation.
You can also now shoot slow-mo at 120fps (1080p) or 240fps (720p).
The iPhone 6 also has a new FaceTime HD front camera – with a larger f/2.2 aperture and all-new sensor that captures 81% more light. It also has improved face detection, HDR mode and 10fps burst mode.
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