7 things you need to know about the iPhone 6
Everything you need to know about Apple's latest superphone
The iPhone 6 is finally here.
Forget the rumours. Forget the speculation. The iPhone 6, alongside the iPhone 6 Plus phablet, is now official.
Here’s everything you need to know.
1. It has a bigger screen
Apple’s bumped up the 4in screen size of the 5s and 5c to a substantially larger 4.7 inches. Naturally, the resolution has increased to 1134 x 750 to compensate, providing a ppi count of 326, with a wider overall view.
The display is ion strengthened as opposed to sapphire. While that means it’s not unscratchable, it’s still toughened glass and should hold up well against the occasional loose change in your pocket.
2. It’s got a newer design
The iPhone 6 sees the biggest design change since we saw the 4s evolve into the 5. Despite its larger body to accommodate the bigger display, the overall design is rounder and smoother, borrowing from the iPad school of design.
The power button has also shifted to the right, presumably for easier thumb access. The volume buttons have also adopted the iPhone 5c’s elongated pill shape.
Apple has also somehow managed to shave the thickness of its latest iPhone down to just 6.9mm, making the already svelte 7.6mm iPhone 5s sound fat in comparison.
3. It’s more powerful than ever
The iPhone 6 is more than just a pretty face. Beneath its sleek exterior beats the powerful heart of Apple’s new A8 processor, which Apple tells us is 25% faster than its A7 predecessor.
The graphics chip also has 50% more grunt, and overall the A8 is 13% smaller, thanks to a 20nm manufacturing process.
The M7 motion co-processor has also been upgraded to an M8 affair, which is clever enough to not only distinguish between running and cycling, but can also track elevation, letting you know how many stairs you’ve climbed.
4. It’s the best iPhone camera yet
Contrary to the rumours, Apple has stuck to its 8MP guns, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t made a few key tweaks.
The sensor itself has bigger pixels, along with an f/2.2 aperture and dual-LED flash for more realistic colour reproduction.
Apple also went to great lengths to explain the benefit of its phase detection autofocus system, which makes use of pixels located on the image sensor to let you focus and snap photos faster than ever, apparently.
Panoramic photos have also received a 43MP size bump, and an improved gyroscope will apparently produce panoramas with more seamless stitching.
In the video department, the iPhone 6 is also capable of shooting 1080p at 30/60fps, and it can now record slow motion videos at an impressive 240fps, for even slower slow-mo action.
Sadly the iPhone 6 Plus’ optical image stabilisation didn’t make it into the iPhone 6, presumably due to space constraints.
5. It’s running iOS 8
iOS 8 makes its fully-finished debut on the iPhone 6, bringing with it a slew of improvements, catching up with Android in many areas including app-to-app communication and keyboard customisation.
It also surpasses Google’s offering in some ways by hooking up to your Mac for seamless messaging, and it’ll even let you answer calls on your connected Mac, which will come in handy if your phone’s charging in another room.
READ MORE: iOS 8 preview
6. Finger-scanning Apple Pay NFC payments
The Touch ID home button is back, with excellent finger-scanning security smarts in tow. This time around, thanks to iOS 8’s app integration which lets developers access the Touch ID SDK, you’ll be able to use your fingerprints in other apps too.
Presumably this will mostly involve logging into third-party apps with a quick scan, but we could see games make use of it too.
That’s not all however. Combined with NFC (an Apple first), you can use the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to make contactless payments, using your Touch ID fingerprint encryption as a security measure. Welcome to Apple Pay
If you lose your iPhone then you can suspend payments from it if it’s lost or stolen, without having to cancel your card.
Naturally Pay will be a US-only feature for now (boo), supported by American Express, Mastercard and Visa.
7. It can be yours on 19 September
The iPhone 6 can be yours in gold, silver and grey, and it’ll hit shelves on 19 September from US$200 for the 16GB model, and US$300 and US US$400 for the 64GB and 128GB versions (on contract) respectively. UK prices are to be confirmed, so stay tuned.
Update: UK SIM-free prices confirmed
16GB – £540
64GB – £620
128GB – £700
Esat Dedezade
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