I’ve made a few posts this week on numerous threads about my thoughts and experience with the iPhone 6 Plus, so I’ve decided to collect these together and make a sort of a mini review.
I hope this will be helpful for members who are trying to decide between the 6 or 6 Plus.
At the time of the pre order, I couldn’t decide between the 6 or 6 Plus when I was placing my pre order with Apple, so I pre ordered them both with a view of sending one back.
I opened the 6 first of all and my first impression was, I was a bit underwhelmed with the size of the screen too be honest. Moving from the 5s, it was only a tad more than half inch larger screen, and I was wanting a larger screen that I would notice, but feared the 6 Plus might have been not right for me, hence pre ordering both models. Using the iPhone 6 felt like using another iPhone, whereas using the iPhone 6 Plus felt like I'd moved to a different smartphone (if that makes sense).
When I first opened the 6 Plus, my first impression was, wow, it’s big. But after playing around with it for a while, I didn’t find an issue with the size. And now after using it for 9 days I still don’t have an issue with the size.
One surprise was. Prior to receiving the 6 Plus, I thought the 6 Plus might be awkward/uncomfortable to hold. But I find the opposite, I think the way Apple have designed them, with them been thin and the rounded edges, this makes the iPhone easy/comfortable to hold. Also, I find the large size of the 6 Plus makes me feel safer holding it over the smaller iPhones I owned previously, the larger size gives me more to grip/hold on to and I feel a lot less likely to drop it (if that makes sense). I have used my 6 Plus a few times for 10 minute plus phone calls and I didn’t feel uncomfortable holding it in that position while on a call.
I find something as simply as typing is a better experience for me on the larger screen due to the larger keys and keyboard. I find now, I can type quickly with both my thumbs when I have the phone in portrait view due to the larger keys. I was able to compare the keyboards side by side on the 5s, 6, 6 Plus. The keys on the 6 I found were not noticeable bigger than the keys on the 5s, but on the 6 Plus they were noticeably bigger. And as I type a lot on my iPhone, the larger keys, keyboard are important for me.
Playing games, using Safari, I found the 6 Plus was better for me. Also playing a landscape game such as Asphalt was a better experience on the 6 Plus, the game was superb on the larger screen. I'm amazed at how far we've come with technology, been able to have that level of graphic quality, and definition on a device as thin as the iPhone 6 Plus is amazing. The Retina HD screen on both the 6 and 6 Plus is really good. Clarity, brightness are superb. I find I need the brightness set at a lower level than I did on my 5s and the only explanation is the new Retina HD screen. I was always impressed with the Retina display found on earlier iPhone’s, but the Retina HD screen is something else.
Also watching podcasts, You Tube I find are a better experience too. When I had the 5s and earlier models, I would grab the iPad when I wanted to watch stuff like this. But since I got the 6 Plus, I don't do this as much, the larger screen makes it more usable for this kind of thing. I still use the iPad if I want to watch a lot of videos or long videos, reason been is I have a case on my iPad which has a multi angled stand feature to hold the iPad.
Obviously the 6 Plus is going to be a smartphone that would be hard to use one handed (but it is possible to a certain extent with the Reachability feature in iOS 8), but has I never used my previous iPhone’s one handed due to having small-ish hands, I’m not bothered about this. Also, the 6 Plus fits in my jeans pocket quite comfortable, and you don’t really notice it due to it been thin. If you have the super small pockets on some skinny jeans, then it might stick out of the top, but to be fair, pretty much any high end large screen smartphone would due to their size.
I also find the battery life on the 6 Plus to be superb, and noticeable better than on my 5s (which I hasten to add I never found lacking). Has you will probably know, the 6 Plus has better battery life than the 6, due to the 6 Plus having more room to house a larger capacity battery. So battery life is a factor to consider if you are trying to decide between the 6 or 6 Plus.
I must admit, I used to think “5 inch + smartphones, what’s the point in them” but after using one for 9 days, I wouldn’t want to move back to a smaller one again, and the larger size now feels natural for me, but I hasten to add that I think 5.5 inch is as big as smartphones should get, but that's my opinion.
I’ve noticed that a lot of apps have yet to be updated for to be optimized for the 6 and 6 Plus. However, I have noticed that over the last few days that I have had around 5 updates for apps that have now been optimized for the 6 and 6 Plus. It’s going to be like when the iPhone 5 came out, it took a little bit of time for the apps to get updated for the then larger screen.
I have read some reports that mention that the camera on the 6 Plus produces better images, this is possible as the 6 Plus has optical image stabilization, whereas the iPhone 6 does not have this particular feature. So this is something to consider when trying to decide between the 6 or 6 Plus.
I’m pleased I did what I did pre ordering the 6 and 6 Plus, it helped me make my choice a lot easier.
I will add some photos I have taken with my 6 Plus to try and show what the quality is like.
A bit overcast but its a decent comparison between a sunny day photo and a cloudy/overcast photo.
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A very nice review Fatboy. This is a full review though not a mini one!
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I think we are pretty much on the limits now as to when a phone becomes a tablet...
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As I say this is on what I would say is the acceptable limit for a stand alone smartphone. I reckon anything bigger would be a phablet and over 8 inches a tablet. Again only my opinion.
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Nice comparative review @Anonymous and very informative.
Also interested that like me you have smallish hands and didn't find the plus too big 
@Toby wrote:
A very nice review Fatboy. This is a full review though not a mini one!
You obviously haven't seen a standard review written by me, there much longer lol.
