iOS Devices

Meet the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. I’m almost certain this isn’t the first time you’ve seen these phones, but I thought I’d give you my voice on the matter. Sure, we may be on the “S” cycle this year, but does that mean there’s nothing special to look forward to?

This year, the iPhone is now available in a new Rose Gold color option, but no matter which way you slice, that color is pink. There’s also the typical Gold, Space Gray, and Silver available as well, but colors aside, what makes this iPhone better than last year’s model?

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Ben’s six hours ahead of me in the UK and had fallen in love with his iPhone 6s before I rolled out of bed, but UPS held my iPhone 6s Plus as requested so I was able to pick it up and spend the morning trying it out before the usual evening delivery. 3D Touch, Live Photos, 4K video, 60 fps 1080p video, faster hardware… it’s all great, but moving from the 4.7-inch screen to the 5.5-inch screen is the real reason I upgraded.

I moved from 2-year commitments to AT&T Next last year so the upgrade process was mostly painless. I would have used Apple’s iPhone Upgrade Plan if it weren’t for the need to complete the process at the Apple Store; that’s a 90 minute drive compared to the UPS center 10 minutes away, but maybe next year they’ll support web orders.

That being said, the move from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone 6s Plus is a dramatic one even before you consider the new features and enhancements. I also opted for space gray after trying gold for a year; my wife naturally picked rose gold while making the same switch from iPhone 6 to iPhone 6s Plus. So what’s changed year over year for iPhone and how does that new finish look in the real world? Read on for answers…
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Apple announced during the iPhone 6s keynote earlier this month that the phone would include a second-generation Touch ID system that was much faster than its predecessor. Now that iPhone buyers are starting to get their handsets delivered, it’s possible to test just how much faster.

In the video below from iFixYouri, you can see the new phone go head-to-head with the two previous Touch ID-capable phones.

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Foursquare is tapping into its data of foot traffic for the first time to predict Apple’s iPhone sales as the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus launch this weekend. The company notes that it has “the world’s largest database of information on the foot traffic of people around the globe,” courtesy of its app users that use the app to check-in at locations they visit. 
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Put the iPhone 6s next to its predecessor, and I’d challenge anyone to tell them apart. You start to notice the difference as soon as you put your thumb on the Touch ID sensor. Apple says that the new sensor is faster, and I was surprised to find that the difference – while small – is definitely noticeable. I had to use both a number of times to persuade myself that it wasn’t just a placebo effect, but I did end up convinced.

I’m going to play with the camera this evening when I have something a bit more interesting to photograph than my office and a view through the window of a very ordinary street, so mostly what I’ve been playing with today is the new Peek and Pop features using 3D Touch.

I was impressed by the idea – it was really this that persuaded me to upgrade despite my earlier doubts – and now that I’ve used it, I would now say there is no doubt at all: 3D Touch fully justifies the upgrade from the iPhone 6 … 
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We’ve seen some great photo galleries from professional photographers using the new iPhone 6s ahead of its retail launch today, but now we get our best look yet at the upgraded camera’s new 4K video ability courtesy of ryot.org

‘The Painter of Jalouzi’ is a short documentary (embedded below) following one man’s mission to transform a slum in Haiti by painting the drab surroundings on the town’s hillside buildings in bright colors. The film was done by David Darg & Bryn Mooser for Ryot and shot entirely on an iPhone 6s Plus. The team shared some thoughts on the experience filming with iPhone 6s Plus:
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The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus launch today, with a pressure sensitive 3D Touch screen being touted as one of the phone’s flagship new features. Apps can take advantage of 3D Touch in many ways, such as using firm presses to reveal quick actions on the Home screen or use Peek and Pop metaphors to quickly preview content from within the UI.

Naturally, Apple has added 3D Touch features to its own apps. Try firmly pressing on a link from within Safari, or quickly call one of your Favorites by using the Phone app’s 3D Touch quick actions. You can even force press on the keyboard to enable trackpad cursor input. However, as is true in most cases, the most interesting innovations come from the third-party App Store community.

We’ve compiled a list of the best third-party apps that have updated to include 3D Touch features, so you can try them out on your brand new iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus …

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I know better than to try to compete with my colleague Dom Esposito when it comes to videos, but here in the meantime are some photos of my shiny new iPhone 6s 128GB in Space Gray emerging into the outside world for the first time … 
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Current iPad owners can download Microsoft Office apps free of charge, using them for both viewing and basic editing – but that won’t be the case with the iPad Pro, Microsoft told arsTechnica.

Office on the iPad Pro will require an Office 365 subscription for any and all editing. That’s because Microsoft defines a 10.1 inch cutoff. Anything below 10.1 inches is a “true mobile device” and as such qualifies for free access to the core editing capabilities. But above that threshold and it’s not a “true mobile device” any longer, it’s something else entirely, and it will need an Office 365 subscription as a result … 

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So, you’re Samsung. You want to try to sell some phones. You need to find some potential customers. You draw up lists of potential targets, and right at the bottom, in billionth place, are Apple fans so dedicated that they’ve queued up outside an Apple Store to buy the shiny new iPhone 6s. So where does Samsung go? Yep, to the Apple Store in London’s Regent Street, complete with backpack-mounted banners, reports The Enquirer. And it gets worse … 
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When the iPhone 6 Plus launched a year ago, users quickly started noticing that the device would bend when put in pockets and put under moderate levels of pressure. Dubbed ‘bendgate,’ the issue overshadowed much of the iPhone 6 Plus launch and with the release of the iPhone 6s Plus, Apple claims that it has made changes to the device to make it more sturdy…

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As the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus start to become available around the globe, early impressions and hands-on images are starting to roll in. As they usually do, the iFixit crew waited in line in Australia and have started their teardown process of the iPhone 6s, with the iPhone 6s Plus teardown to commence later this evening…

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Following up on T-Mobile’s decision to lease the iPhone 6s for $5 a month and Sprint’s move to undercut that deal at just $1 a month, Verizon announced a plan today to let iPhone owners upgrade to a newer model every year.

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via <a href="https://twitter.com/iPhonemods/status/647119325090807808" target="_blank">Twitter</a>

While at least one person in the United States has already received their iPhone 6s after pre-ordering with the rest of us, iPhone 6s launch day has officially kicked off on the other side of the planet. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus go on sale at 8 am local time in a dozen markets around the world. New Zealand goes first at authorized resellers as there are no Apple Stores in the country, then the first Apple Stores in Australia two hours later, followed Japan and China and others before starting in the United States 16 hours from the start.

Earlier this week, all models and configurations of iPhone 6s and 6s Plus became sold out online for pre-ordering with launch day delivery. The larger iPhone 6s Plus models were among the first to sell out for launch day, although that may be in part due to display production issues and not just demand. Still, Apple Stores and carriers alike will have limited launch day inventory if you’ve waited and decide to take a gamble at getting the model you want.

Do you plan to queue up outside your Apple Store for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus this year or did you send your robot instead? Send your launch day photos to tips@9to5mac.com and check out the scenes below as you await your new iPhone.
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Ahead of the launch of the new iPhone 6s and 6s Plus tomorrow, National Geographic today published a set of photos shot on the new device. Apple’s SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller pointed us to the article, which follows photographer Mark Leong reflecting on his history of shooting with various devices in China over the last 25 years. Head below for a look at the photos shot on Apple’s new flagship iPhone…
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The carriers really are getting carried away trying to sell you an iPhone 6s as they respond to Apple’s own Upgrade Program. T-Mobile got the ball rolling with a $125 discount on an 18-month plan, before later offering an iPhone 6s from just $5/month if you trade in your iPhone 6 as part of the deal. Sprint has now responded with a similar deal for just $1/month.

This new offer is part of Sprint’s iPhone Forever program, which allows new and upgrade-eligible Sprint customers to get the newest iPhone as soon as it is available.

Of course, the old adage applies: if a deal seems too good to be true, it is too good to be true … 
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Queuing at Apple Stores versus ordering online is one of those great divides. Those who queue describe it as an unmissable social experience, while those who order online see queueing as a way to get cold and wet while not getting your iPhone any earlier. But one enterprising woman in Sydney, Australia, has found a way to combine the two: fourth in the queue is her iPad-based telepresence robot … 
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When Apple releases a new version of iOS, owners of previous generation devices are always a tad hesitant to upgrade, worried that the added features will bog down their device and make it run slower than it originally did. While iOS 9 has been the quickest adopted version of Apple’s operating system yet, there are likely still some holdouts worried about device performance. YouTuber iAppleBytes has this evening shared videos comparing the performance of iOS 9.0.1 to iOS 8.4.1 on the iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPhone 5S…

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T-Mobile CEO John Legere has tweeted that iPhone 6s preorders are more than 30% higher than those of the iPhone 6 last year. While there have been a number of clues that the iPhone 6s launch was going to be big, this is the first sign of any hard data.

Apple said a week ago that it was ‘on pace’ to beat last year’s opening weekend record of 10M sales, Phil Schiller later adding that customer response had been “incredibly positive.” We’ve also seen that the first batch of both 6s and 6s Plus are sold out worldwide for delivery by Friday … 
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Pixelmator today released the latest version of its photo editor for iPhone and iPad, Pixelmator version 2.1. The update brings full support for iPad iOS 9 multitasking, the ability to import and edit 8K resolution images, Open-In-Place document management across iOS and more.

As part of general improvements for iOS 9, such as adoption of Apple’s new system font (San Francisco) in the UI, the primary change is the addition of the iPad multitasking support. This means Pixelmator can now be docked to the side of the screen using Slide Over. On more recent iPads, you can also pop Pixelmator into Split View for true 2-app side-by-side multitasking.

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