iPhone 6

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpx6r5FVXPo&start=47]

In iFixit’s ritual dismantling of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus last week, the repair company noted that Apple had started including rubber gaskets around the power and volume buttons likely in an effort to make the iPhone more water and dust resistant.

Similar gaskets surround the volume buttons. Altogether, this seems to represent a move toward increased water/dust resistance, and therefore improved durability.

iFixit

How did Apple do? Well iPhone warranty provider Squaretrade was able to dunk both the 6 and 6 Plus for 10 seconds without any real damage. While this is indeed nice to have, especially for those of us who like to take our iPhones with us to the pool, it is by no means a guarantee like Samsung and Sony have on some of their phones.

And then there is the toilet. If you are willing to go after your iPhone 6 within a few seconds, you might actually have a good chance at saving it.

The slightly amphibious nature of the iPhone 6 isn’t entirely new either. Previous iPhones have been able to go underwater for a few seconds (see iPhone 5c below) but as you can see buttons and features rapidly begin to fail. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

A product teardown of both the new 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus devices last week confirmed earlier reports that Apple is indeed opting for TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) to produce the 20nm, second generation 64-bit A8 chip that drives the new iPhones. Research firm IHS, however, has shared a teardown analysis report with Re/code that claims Samsung is still responsible for a fraction of Apple’s A8 chips produced.

Rassweiler said the processor he saw during the teardown was manufactured by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the massive chip-factory-for-hire based in Taipei. […] Rassweiler says TSMC is manufacturing about 60 percent of the chips for Apple, while Samsung is still turning about about 40 percent.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Some iPhone 6 owners have found that Apple’s latest and greatest phone comes with an unexpected (but patented!) new feature: flexibility. According to reports, the iPhone 6 is slightly bending beyond repair while in pockets. Some users say that the bending occurred after normal sitting, while other people have had more active lifestyles. Unfortunately, it does not appear that Apple will replace these more fragile-than-expected units at no cost. Some users are reporting that replacement costs are in the hundreds of dollars range. Additional bending pictures below:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Samsung has reportedly decided to move up the launch of its new Galaxy Note 4 smartphone following a positive reaction and strong first week sales from Apple’s new larger iPhones 6 models. The KoreaTimes cited an unnamed employee in Samsung’s marketing department who said “the positive reaction from consumers to those two Apple devices prompted us to launch the Note 4 earlier than previously scheduled.”
Expand
Expanding
Close

iPhone smuggling into China is nothing new, but this year it has perhaps been even more of a problem as Apple awaits regulatory approvals to begin selling its new iPhone models in the country. The good news is that a report from CNBC notes that regulators in the country said today that final reviews of licenses for the new iPhones would be “completed soon”. 
Expand
Expanding
Close

With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple made several improvements to the camera quality. It’s still packing an 8-megapixel sensor (f2.2 aperture), but there are a few new features that make the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus camera stand out. There’s a certain level of quality that most people expect when shooting video or photos with an iPhone, but this cinematic camera demo takes it to another level…

Expand
Expanding
Close

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3uAoeQBpcQ]

Apple has started airing two new iPhone 6 ads starring the duo of Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake. Tim Cook unveiled two ads starring the pair during the iPhone 6 announcement earlier this month with ads that focused on the Health application and size of the phone.

The new ads, dubbed “Huge” (above) and “Cameras” (below) started hitting airwaves tonight and focus once again on the size of the display and the upgraded cameras with enhanced image stabilization, slow-motion and time-lapse capabilities.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Update: We’ve rounded up some nice 2.1A AC/Car charger and battery upgrade options for the iPhone 6/Plus

Apple has apparently enabled much faster battery charging in the newest iPhone models, but you’d never know it if you only use the included power adapter. According to a change in the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus discovered by iLounge, both of the new smartphones are equipped with the hardware to support 2.1A charging.

The problem? Apple only includes a 1A charger in the box. If you’ve been using that AC power adapter to recharge your phone, there’s a much faster way to do it. Since the iPad has long supported 2.1A charging, you can grab a charger for the Apple tablet and use that to achieve a much quicker charge.

Another way to benefit from this new capability is to plug your iPhone directly into a newer-model Mac, which will charge it at the appropriate speed. iLounge noted that the Macs tested for this feature were running Yosemite with no mention of OS X Mavericks, so it’s possible that the change may require the upcoming OS, which is currently is public beta.
Expand
Expanding
Close

While iOS 8 adoption was lagging behind last year’s release at just 15% before the official launch of the new iPhones on Friday, it’s now hovering at approximately 30% after record first weekend sales for the new iPhones. That stat, which comes from research and analytics firms Fiksu, Mixpanel, Appsee, & Chitika is below the almost 50% of users iOS 7 had this many days into launch last year.

Fiksu and Mixpanel also offered data on iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus adoption following the first weekend of sales. Both show that iPhone 6 is outpacing iPhone 6 Plus quite significantly after the first few days in customers’ hands, but it’s quite likely that could be due to a much tighter supply of iPhone 6 Plus.
Expand
Expanding
Close

With the release of iOS 8 and the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, a ton of new video shooting features are now available to iPhonographers including Time-lapse mode, 240-fps Slow-mo mode, 60-fps HD capture, and Cinematic Video Stabilization. Apple demoed some of these video shooting features earlier this month at the September event, and the iPhone 6 camera microsite includes sample videos of each mode.

With Apple selling over 10 million iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus handsets from pre-sales and launch weekend, we’re likely to see a more and more incredible videos shot on Apple’s new devices, and below we’ve put together a collection of some of the best videos shot in each mode from early iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus adopters.
Expand
Expanding
Close

It’s iPhone season once again and most of us are faced with a tough decision. Should you upgrade or wait around another year for a better device? That may be a tough decision, but it’s always easier to see the pros and cons of both sides with a good old-fashioned comparison.

We’re taking a look at Apple’s new iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and last year’s iPhone 5s and going over the details and specifications for each device. Knowing the facts is half of the battle, but hopefully this will help you see the benefits from each side…

Expand
Expanding
Close

With the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus now officially in customers’ hands after a record opening weekend of iPhone sales, today we get a look at various benchmark results for the devices compared to the competition from AnandTech. Ahead of the site’s full technical review of the new iPhones, today it posted several benchmark results showing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus win out by just about every metric.
Expand
Expanding
Close

Apple has today announced that it sold 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus units in the first three days of sales. This includes the 4 million units sold in the first 24 hours of preorder sales. Apple’s newest iPhones have consistently been out of stock across the world, particularly the iPhone 6 Plus which is believed to have faced production issues, limiting the number of available devices for sale.

For comparison, Apple reported 9 million iPhone 5s and 5c sales in the first three days. This means the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus set a new record by over a million units. Apple is unlikely to give any more color regarding iPhone sales performance until its quarterly earnings call in October. As usual, Apple has opted to not share the breakdown of sales between the two new devices.

Expand
Expanding
Close

Keeping your home screen organized can sometimes be a difficult task. Folders are great, but what if you’re looking for a deeper level of order? Luckily, we’ve seen a few glitches over time that have helped.

Hidden in iOS 8 is a glitch that allows you to nest folders within folders. This can be helpful if you’d like to sub-categorize apps within folders or hide various stock apps in iOS 8 (because there are a lot of them). Nesting folders on iOS 8 is easy to do and completely reversible…

Expand
Expanding
Close

New data released by mobile analytics firm MixPanel (via TechCrunch) has revealed a trend in adoption rates of the 4.7-inch iPhone versus the 5.5-inch model. According to the report, the smaller model appears to be outperforming the larger one is deliveries today, and by no small margin. While the larger model has claimed about .30% of hits in MixPanel’s survey, the smaller version has achieved an impressive 2.46%.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the 4.7-inch version is outselling its counterpart by such a large gap, if at all. It’s entirely possible (though unlikely) that more of the larger version have been sold or ordered overall, but weren’t available for delivery or in retail stores today. Of course, this makes a lot of sense given the ongoing reports of extremely limited iPhone 6 Plus supplies both in retail stores and online, even during the pre-order phase.

Expand
Expanding
Close

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…

Expand
Expanding
Close

With iPhone 6 and 6 Plus officially going on sale today through Apple retail and partners, a lot of you on the hunt for a new case. We’ve been keeping track of announcements from the notable case makers and below put together our updated list of the nicest cases we’ve seen yet.

As we always do, we’ve stuck to the case manufacturers we know and trust (like Apple, Griffin, Otterbox, Grovemade, & Cygnett) and also included a wide selection of different products from hard to soft, plastic to aluminum, and wallets to gun-style holster cases. We’ll add more to the list below as we find more iPhone 6 and 6 Plus cases.

Head below for the full list:

Expand
Expanding
Close

Today we’re taking a look at Apple’s iPhone 6. Anxious fans queued up at Apple Stores across the world to get their hands on the latest and greatest from Cupertino. Apple has bumped up the display size to 4.7-inches on the iPhone 6 and also added a 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus model for phablet fans. For a closer look, be sure to check out our first impressions video…

Expand
Expanding
Close