iPhone 6 is still the best phone a kidney can buy
Rs 53,500 is a lot of money, and that's only a starting point for the iPhone 6. The top of the line model, which has 128GB of memory costs Rs 71,500. Think about it, for that kind of money one can get a MacBook Pro, a bike, a trip abroad or even possibly make a downpayment for a new car. Yet, still here I am saying that it is the best phone in the world.
Of course, my testimony is tainted. I have already bought the phone, and in my review on India Today Tech (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/technology/) I have deemed it the best phone in the market if money is no bar. But hey, I want the best for myself, and that is why I bought it.
It is too simplistic to view the new iPhone 6 as Apple playing catch to the Android armada. That's a given and anyone who has owned an iPhone or used one knows that it is not the most feature rich device in the market. Apple is brilliant at nailing the implementation of new features. That is what separates it from the rest.
The big deal about the new iPhone is, well, the larger 4.7-inch screen. Android phones have had such big screens for years, but on the iPhone the screen has smaller borders than most Android phones diagonally and the glass is curved in subtle way facilitating the sideways swipes for navigating the operating system. Of course, this is nothing new, Nokia pioneered the curved glass on its ill-fated N9 back in 2011.
The curved glass also blends seamlessly with the main chassis of the phone making the facia aesthetically pleasant unlike any another phone.
At 6.9mm, the iPhone 6 is not the slimmest phone in town, that crown goes to the Gionee ELife S5.5, but boy, it is sexy.
The only blemish is the ugly plastic antenna lining, but that too, on the silver model blends with the design. The phone feels incredibly balanced at 126 grams and is neither top heavy. It never feels too big. Android phones on the other hand feel unwieldy. The iPhone 6 just feels sublime in the hand. I also feel the phone will age better than its predecessor as Apple has done away with the diamond cut chamfers.
And yes, it does not bend. Any gadget will bend if the right amount of pressure is put on it and that's just a no-no.
Its screen is gorgeous. It does not appease geeks with mind boggling numbers with its 1334x750 pixels screen, but to my eyes it is as good as any screen out there. In fact, the viewing angles off-axis are just incredible. For all intents, it has a beautiful screen.
The camera on the back is stunning. The new 8-megapixel snapper pulls way ahead of competing phones like the Samsung Galaxy S5, HTC One (M8) and the Sony Xperia Z3. It just takes clearer and sharper photos with more details in both low light and brightly lit conditions. It locks focus in a jiffy and many times I did not even realise that it had locked focus. It is so fast. It defines the meaning of point and shoot.
For video, it has some really cool features like a time-lapse and a 240 frames per second slow-motion video mode. The 240FPS mode is spectacular and is quite hypnotic to view.
Selfie addicts will appreciate that the new 1.2-megapixel camera on the iPhone 6 absorbs more light and has a wider field of view. This makes for clearer selfies, but Apple still needs to improve the front camera more as there are Android phones which take selfies almost as good as the rear camera.
Apple has addressed the battery life on the iPhone 6. The battery has improved by 6 to 7 hours. This means that the phone lasts for an entire day on a single charge. Android phones and the BlackBerry Passport are vastly better, but the iPhone 6 is good enough for most.
The performance of the iPhone 6 is sublime as it can handle anything. Games on the iPhone 6 look better than any other phone in the market. Suffice to say, it is perhaps the fastest phone I've ever used.
Software wise, iOS 8 borrows some tricks from Android. So apps can now talk to each other, Siri understands the Indian accent better much more like Google Now on Android and now one can have third party keyboards and the built in stock keyboard also is vastly improved. There are some new features too like Continuity - which adds synergy with other Apple products like the iPad and the Mac, HealthKit which collates all the fitness related data pulled from various apps and the M8 co-processor.
Apple has added a cool new feature it calls 'Reachability' which makes the phone easier to use with a single hand. One just needs to gently tap the home-button which also houses the Touch ID scanner and the entire content on the screen collapses to the bottom half of the screen.
Even the call quality is superb on the iPhone 6. It's funny because the iPhone 6 is perhaps the first iPhone which performs brilliantly as just a phone. Its loudspeaker is also loud and crisp and it supports the 4G networks of India. Even the Wi-Fi is faster on the iPhone 6 thanks to the new 801.11ac MiMO standard. It has it all.
Yes, it has borrowed many features that have been on Android phones for years, yes it does not have speciality features like water resistance or a heart rate monitor, but whatever the iPhone does - it achieves it with practised excellence and simplicity.
If money is no bar, this is the phone to buy. It is the one worth exchanging a kidney for. It is the Rolex of phones, but at the same time it is as functional as a Casio watch. Geeks will still gravitate towards Android, but for the masses ( who can afford it ) the iPhone is the one.