Along with the launch of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6, Apple also released a much larger 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. Because of the larger display on this device, you can expect a much larger form factor, but there are a few benefits that go along with it as well…
Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 display (401 ppi) and features significantly improved battery life over the iPhone 5/5s and iPhone 6. Along with the battery improvements, the iPhone 6 Plus also has several software enhancements such as Reachability (found on iPhone 6 as well) and its camera includes optical image stabilization.
Check out our iPhone 6 Plus unboxing and hands-on video below:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9gcJoD4Ngg]
If you’re planning on making the jump from any of Apple’s 4-inch iOS devices, the iPhone 6 Plus is going to be a massive change. This thing is huge in comparison to any other iOS device. It almost seems like a novelty-sized device, but a larger screen definitely has its benefits. For example, on the iPhone 6 Plus iOS 8 offers a special landscape mode on the home screen and within several native apps. The in-app landscape mode is similar to what you’ll experience on an iPad when using the Settings, Mail, or Messages app. It’ll give you some extra space to work with and helps take advantage of the larger display.
Inside of the box, you’ll find all of the regular accessories such as the USB wall adapter, Lightning to USB cable, EarPods, quick start guide, and two Apple stickers. It’s a pretty basic unboxing experience (as with other iOS devices), but Apple has given the iPhone packaging an entirely different look this year.
I can’t stress this enough, but the iPhone 6 Plus is very large. The size is nearly identical to the dummy units we reported on prior to this year’s iPhone release. The iPhone 6 Plus actually stands higher than large 5.5-inch Android devices such as the LG G3 and OnePlus One. It’s even taller than Samsung’s 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 4. If you can handle a device this large, you may want to consider the iPhone 6 Plus, but if you value pocket space the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 may be the one for you.
For a complete comparison between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, check out our “Vs” article and visit this link for a closer look at the iPhone 6. What do you think about the iPhone 6 Plus? If you had to choose one, which would it be?
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I have been using my iPad Air and other iPads as my phone for over 2 years, using the app Line2. So going down to a 5.5 is a no-brainer for me.
iPhone 6 Plus no question. Bigger, better, more landscape.
if that was the case, apple would’ve never discontinued 17″ MacBooks ;) you know. 5,5 is a big-ass phone . I’d love to love it (for the battery, then screen) but i still can’t imagine having it in my pocket and handling it with ease (coming from 4s). It just seems clunky and not comfortable. It’d be much better if apple just made a 5 incher :) …
The larger screen isn’t for everyone but once I went to the S5 the S5 and other Iphones seemed so puny.
From my perspective …
Getting use to handling the phone takes minimal effort. I’d suggest a Speck case with texture on the sides and back. Otterboxes will make it too big.
The ability to shrink the keyboard vertically (for one-handed use) may help you.
My Galaxy S5 shrinks the screen both horizontally and vertically, and it’s based on the size of my finger-span.
I would have to agree with Max Mars. I held the 6+ this morning and while it was absolutely stunning and the screen was beautiful (so was the iPhone 6), it was just way too big. The iPhone 6 feels like you are in control of the phone and it feels much better in your hand. I think 5.5 is a great size but for such a smooth and round Apple design, it will easily slip out of peoples hands.
Hey herb. Well, i have pretty large hands and i tried the note3 in the store just to see what a 5.5 would feel like.. It was OK, i guess… but S5 felt much better (it’s a 5”, isn’t it?). that’s why i said 5. Nexus 5 and S5 (at least for me and my hands) feel like the best of both worlds. I’m tied to apple ecosystem (which i love) and i can honestly tell that even my 4S does almost everything i need.. but it’s time to let it go. I still haven’t decided tho. I’d LOVE the bigger battery, i’d love the bigger screen cause i watch nba a lot so it would come handy and using it as a gps with a big screen would be cool ( i have to drive a lot). Oh man. I hope i’ll decide by 25th .. :)
Right? I must be one of the few remaining people that still use their phone as a phone as well, and i just find it easier to hold a smaller phone in my hand. 3,5 is small in 2014, yeah.. But anything bigger than 5 is too big.. even for my hands. The only thing that keeps me from deciding is battery. Really, i’d love the ipad-like battery (that thing is AMAZING). I really need it. But than again… I still use 4s which after 3 years the battery has gone south, but still i manage to kinda charge it once a day.. Having it attached in the car helps a lot.
I am a galaxy note 1 user, I held a 6+ in the store the other day and it was MORE comfortable than the Galaxy note 1 and the GN1 is a 5″ phone. The 6+ is actually about 1/4″ narrower and easier to hold than the GN1. It was not clunky at all. I was actually able to reach farther across the whole screen with my thumb one handed, further than the GN1. Anything smaller than 4.7″ is to small for 2014, 5″ is going to be the norm going forward. Apple should of made this jump with the iPhone 5 generation, they waited too long and gave Android phones to much time to catch up, I was actually waiting for a 5″ screen with the iPhone 4 and 4S, that is when i switched from the 3gs to the GN1. Now Apple is playing catch-up to to the android phones.
Not too sure what optical image stabilization means, can someone help? Thanks
Lens moves to compensate camera shake.
It allows you to get sharp pictures is slightly less light. You still need to hold the camera steady as OIS only does so much.
if you don’t make videos like me just forget about it.
Is the OIS only for video?
That sucks.
I think not, but the only real and BIG benefit of it i see is for making videos on the move. for the photos.. well, at least if you don’t have Parkinson’s i don’t think it’s THAT important.
I’m a videographer but never understood OIS, thanks all for the help
I could be wrong about this, but I believe OIS is only used for shooting photos with the iPhone 6 Plus to not only help with the steadiness of the shot but also for better quality photos in low light situations that require longer exposure times. The video stabilization is a feature on both the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus. Considering the 6 doesn’t have OIS I would assume that video stabilization is done mostly through software algorithms.
Not so. It is important for photos because low light means longer shutter times and more potential should from shaky hands. It is very common in dslr lenses and makes low light photos better without a tripod.
Rather than describe what it does – check out this web site for some great side-by-side comparisons photos that were shot by a professional photographer, using the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6Plus: http://austinmann.com/trek/iphone-6-plus-camera-review-iceland
Well worth the time!
Two stories/videos of opening up a box? I hope Apple is paying you well!
So empty of life as usual Herb. Troll.
Right, like every other Apple blog that posts them? Actually you’re paying them quite well with each comment and page load you bring here….
Dom has great honest reviews both here and google site!
nobody enjoys an unboxing except the DB doing it
Check out this guy being the first guy in Australia to buy an iPhone 6 then he does an interview and drops the phone live on camera hahaha http://youtu.be/cwBE0j04mXM
I just wanted to let you guys know that for the iPhone 6 Plus you can actually change the display zoom in the display and brightness area of settings. The landscape home screen only works if you are on the standard display zoom. If you have it set to zoomed which pretty much sizes everything a tad larger, the landscape home screen capability is disabled. Not a huge set back or anything but it was bothering me in the sense that I could not got to landscape viewing of the home screen until the video above give me the idea to change the display zoom. I hope this helps other peeps who are having the same question. :D
When the display zoom is turned on, the 6 Plus behaves exactly like the iPhone 6. With the iPhone 6 display zoom makes it behave exactly like an iPhone 5/5S.
It’s all no brainer for me to go to a company that literally “uses” me to pay for their device ! I can’t really digest the fact that they intentionally removed OIS from the 6 to 6+, just to create an incentive to choose the more expensive one, and screw the 6 buyers. I can pretty much guess that the battery life follows the same pattern. Otherwise who needed that much thinness which also uglified the design with its camera lens protruding out, they just could have made it like 3 ms thicker and yet had a better battery, but in that case, who goes for the 6+ ? Makes me sick to feel used.
Totally agree on battery life instead of thin. Also agree that Apple are being somewhat abusive to their customers in the way they spec’d the iPhones. Why should loyal Apple customers be forced to buy a humongous iPhone to get OIS and a high PPI display? Size should be choosen based on hand size and portability needs, not arbitrarily neutered features.
Then there’s the 16GB to 64GB jump, which is a transparent ploy to raise the actual price of iPhones. NONE of Apple’s competitors offer flagship smartphones with 16GB NAND. It’s so cheap in the quantities Apple buys that the effect on their margins is negligible.
It’s the same ploy with the gimped iPad mini retina display color gamut. We know there is no technical reason for the sub-par display because Apple’s competitors sell tablets with superior displays and comparable battery life. If the smaller iPad serves my needs better, then the size is another FEATURE, not something I settle for due to lack of money.
I agree on the 16GB base model thing, it’s a big sad that the $299 6 plus has the same storage as the $199 iPhone 3GS did.
However, both OIS and the higher PPI display make sense due to technical reasons. The camera module with OIS is physically larger and the 6 plus has room for it. The higher PPI display requires more battery to achieve the same battery life, and the 6 plus has room for the much larger battery.
Apple could have included those same features on the 6 but it would have been much thicker than the 6 plus to achieve the same functionality.
Previously posted in the wrong forum:
I also decided to go with the iPhone 6 Plus because of the extra real estate and the added features it could do with the space. In the keynote speech Phil talked about the “2 up” possibilities in messages, mail, stocks, weather, etc. None of these features are working for me. Am I the only one? Is there a setting I need to turn on?
I just found the answer to my question. You cannot be in “zoom view” for those features to work. This is a bummer. The smaller icons look silly on the huge screen. hopefully that is changed in a future update.
The display zoom feature just makes the 6 plus behave like an iPhone 6 but scaled up to the larger screen.
4.7″ no brainer. Already have a tablet.
I played around with a Note and loved it but I dispise android so decided to wait deffinetly the 5.5 for me but I have to wait until
November 19th 😞 missed the Verizon early update deal by 4 freaking days lame
I currently have an iPhone 5s and I am definitely getting the new iPhone 6 Plus. More real estate and the longer battery life. LOVE IT!!!
WTF, half the video is advertising for fashion clothing! Thanks for burning my bandwidth.
As for the video, it’s ok but the dude has tiny hands so it’s hard to get a sense of the 6+’s size. He should have included everyday objects for size reference. Also he should stop talking since all he’s doing is parroting features and specs off Apple’s iPhone page.
This is a nice/funny unboxing video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hlCKgUQPMw
iPhone 6 Plus on its way from China as we speak, er type.
I have been using my iPad less and less these days for some reason, so this will likely be my one device.
Played around with both at the launch and went with the 6 Plus. I’m a fairly big guy and it fit my hands pretty well, but really, they had me at camera, battery life, and the screen. My wife tried it and at a thin 5’4″ there’s just no way she would; 6 it is for her.
Such a pity that every review, unboxing etc coming from the US nowadays needs to start with “What’s up dudes how are you doing?”. Silly hipster nonsense. If you expect a reply? It would be a relief to see unboxing vids without all that hipster talk and just sticking to the task at hand: unboxing.
Anyhow, I’m still in doubt about the plus. I can renew my contract in Januari and I will go to the Apple Store soon to check them out. I think the plus is too big for me, but I’d love the extra battery and the screen real estate. It all comes down to how it feels in the hand I’d say.
Just been handling both the new phones at an apple store.
Liked them both – totally see why apple has moved to larger sizes, particularly for anyone who has a smart phone as their only device. They took too long and dropped back against the competition.
I use my phone for a phone and switch to my iPad for anything else, so I’ll be looking at the 4.7in
For me personally I’d love to see a iPhone 6 mini – all the tech, same size a iPhone 4/4s. That’s still one advantage to samsung – full range of products to meet all needs.
I would go for the iPhone 6 minus – well, if they would only make one. The old size was just what I would still want. After all, its supposed to be a phone, not a tablet. But i would not mind if they just make one thing out of all the iOS devices., just with different screen sizes. If anyone prefers to use an iPad as phone, have fun!
No me gusta mucho el iPhone 6 Plus. A ver , yo no soy una super entendida de telefonos, pero a poco que compares las funciones con otras marcas (por ejemplo, en phablets, el galaxy note 4 es mejor) pues iphone ya no es la creme de la creme como antes, yo desde luego, con los millones de opciones que hay hoy en dia en un mercado tan competitivo no me gasto 900 euros por un iphone ni de Blas. Y a los que se hagan un poco de lio con todos los telefonos os dejo esta pagina web que está muy bien porque podeis ver todas las caracteristicas y ademas ver los modelos en 3D WebGL, osea, casi como en directo. http://versus.com/es/samsung-galaxy-note-4-vs-apple-iphone-6-plus
Gracias a todos por las opiniones, me gusta más leer los comentarios que el articulo jaja