New Delhi: Though the wait for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus is over for the US, Indians will have to wait till October 17 to grab the slimmest phone that Apple has ever made. This is in line with Apple’s announcement that the devices would be available in at least 115 countries by the end of the year.
The iPhone 6 has a screen measuring 4.7 inches, while the iPhone 6 Plus measures 5.5 inches. This is quite bigger than its previous version, iPhone 5S which had a screen measuring 4 inches.
With the launch, the iPhones won’t just have bigger screens, but will have a new, horizontal viewing mode to take advantage of the larger display. Apple says app developers will be able to design apps that can be viewed differently when the phone is held horizontally.
One of the most criticised features of the last iPhone, the 5s had a shorter battery life than much of its Android competition. The 5s is good for 10 hours of chatting before it needs a charge.
Despite its increased power and screen size, the iPhone 6 is at least 50% more efficient than iPhone 5S.
The company has teasers of the new iPhones on Apple India page with the prices expected to be announced closer to India launch.
For the US market, iPhone 6 will start at the same price of existing iPhones at $199, while the iPhone 6 Plus will be at $299 with a two-year contract. The contract free version of the iPhone 6 starts at $649 and iPhone 6 Plus starts at $749 (for 16 GB version). That’s close to Rs 40,000 and Rs 45,000 for the two versions without taxes.
Let us look at the some of the important features of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Retina HD
Apple has outdone itself in the buzzwords game. The new Retina HD display is an ultra thin IPS display with 326ppi pixel density for iPhone 6, capable of wider viewing angles. The iPhone 6 Plus gets a 1334×750 pixel display, and for the first time on the iPhone, a full-HD 1920 x 1080 display on the iPhone 6 Plus.
Processor
Apple pioneered the 64-bit concept with mobile processors and it continues to push the technology with the iPhone 6. Opting to avoid big power-draining quad-core units, the chip inside is a brand new A8 processor. Apple says it’s up to 50x faster than the original iPhone. The unit is Apple’s second-generation 64-bit setup. It is said to feature up to 50% faster graphics performance than original offerings.
Battery Life
Battery life on both handsets has also been upgraded though the larger iPhone 6 Plus clocks in with the more impressive numbers with a supposed 16 days of standby, 80 hours of audio playback, 14 hours of video playback and 12 hours of Internet use.
The iPhone 6 claims up to 10 days of standby time, 50 hours of audio playback, 11 hours of video playback and 10 to11 hours of Internet use (depending on the type of connection).
Ion Strengthened Screen
No, it’s not Sapphire screen as rumoured. It’s a brand new ion strengthened screen. This means the display glass has undergone a chemical process which causes sodium ions in the glass surface to be replaced by potassium ions which strengthens the glass.
M8, Motion co-processor health chip
Apple’s M8 health chip has gotten better, with the ability to measure relative distance and elevation, and can tell the difference between cycling and running. While elevation helps in tracking the amount of steps you climb, the Nike+ app was shown displaying relative elevation on hikes by using the barometer too.
iOS 8
The iPhones will run on iOS 8, which brings in a host of new features. These new features include Health, HomeKit, and Handoff among others. Additionally, Siri too will get certain improvements like support for hands-free activation and music identification using Shazam. The update also sees an improved keyboard with predictive text feature. The device search bar Spotlight also gets smarter on iOS 8 and considers things like context and location to give you comprehensive results.
Rear Camera
The all new iSight camera comes with an 8-megapixel sensor, a true tone flash and an even faster aperture. The iPhone 6 has digital image stabilisation, but for serious photo nerds, the iPhone 6 Plus uses optical image stabilisation which will make it even better at capturing photos in low light.
Slow motion is also improved, doubling from 120 fps to a full 240 fps. That means even smoother slow motion that, when demoed to us, looked amazing. Time lapse video is also built into iOS 8 (operating system), which will help you get Hyperlapse-style footage from the iPhone.
Burst selfie front-facing camera
The selfie has bought the front-facing camera into the limelight. The iPhones have a Facetime HD camera with unknown megapixel count. However, it’s capable of beautiful selfies, with improved face detection. The most important feature is burst selfies, which takes a bunch of pictures in one shot, allowing you to never miss a moment.
3X faster Wi-Fi
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus support 802.11ac, the superfast new Wi-Fi band that’s all the rage. Apple claims the new iPhones can browse up to 3x faster on Wi-Fi which is good if you happened to have put down a lot of money on one of the first 802.11ac modems.
Apple Pay
Apple’s two new iPhone will also support a new mobile payment system called Apple Pay, which lets users pay their bills on retail stores by simply tapping their smartphones on the payment terminals.
Meanwhile, Apple also unveiled its long-anticipated smartwatch on Tuesday that will combine health and fitness tracking with communications.
Starting at $349 – $50 more than the cheapest version of the iPhone 6 with a contract – the lofty price tag of ‘Apple Watch’ may also keep some consumers on the sidelines. It could go up to more than $1,000 for higher-end editions.
The Apple Watch can receive phone calls and messages, play music, serve as a digital wallet to pay for goods and monitor heart rates via special sensors. The watches will come in three collections, including a sport edition and an upscale line coated in 18-karat gold.
The watch which will go on sale in early 2015, comes in a variety of styles and straps, with a choice of two sizes. The device will require one of the new iPhones or an iPhone 5, 5s or 5c.
With the launch, Apple promises to revamp its market share that continues to hover around 40% to 41% which it has been doing since July last year.