e-News® | The NEWS Company… : The super-slim iPhone 6 has Apple fans purring, even if investors are nonplussed by the new device, There were few surprises last night as Apple unveiled two new phones – the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus – as well as its long awaited Apple Watch.
Images, video and detailed specs for the iPhone 6 had been so thoroughly leaked and widely discussed that Apple investors barely reacted to the event, sending the share price down by 0.38 per cent.
But among Apple fans – and the tech press assembled in California – there was no such disappointment.
“Apple’s Tim Cook told the whooping crowds at the Flint Center in Cupertino that the new iPhone 6 is ‘the most beautiful phone ever made’,” writes Matt Warman in the Daily Telegraph. “I’m trying hard to be objective, but I think he’s right.
The iPhone 6 at a glance:
- It will come in two screen sizes, 4.7 inches for the iPhone 6 and 5.5 inches for the iPhone 6 Plus. That compares with the four-inch screen of the iPhone 5S.
- The frame of the iPhone 6 will be 6.9mm thick, and the iPhone 6 Plus 7.1mm thick.
- The design is a departure from recent models, with rounded sides replacing the sharp-edged, flat-sided iPhone 5S.
- The iPhone 6 screen resolution will be 1,334×750 pixels, which Apple describes as Retina HD; the iPhone 6 Plus will feature a full HD resolution of 1,920×1,080 pixels.
- The screen will be protected by ion-strengthened glass (but not the much-discussed sapphire crystal)
- The iPhone 6 has improved camera specs. Although the sensor remains at eight megapixels, a new focusing and exposure system should improve image quality. The iPhone 6 Plus also has optical image stabilisation.
- Both models can take slow-motion video at 240 frames per second.
- The larger screens will allow multi-tasking, allowing the user to see an email inbox and message at the same time, for example. The app dock can also be moved to the side of the screen, instead of the bottom.
- As expected, the handsets will come a Health app that will integrate with Nike’s fitness app.
- They will also include a built-in barometer.
- Both iPhones will be available from 19 September in the UK,
- British prices are yet to be confirmed, but the Daily Telegraph says the iPhone 6 will cost £539 for the 16GB model, £619 for 64GB and £699 for 128GB.
- The iPhone 6 Plus will cost £619 for the 16GB model, £699 for 64GB and £789 for 128GB, the paper says.
The revamped design met with near unanimous praise.
“The first thing I noticed was that it feels a lot thinner than the 5s and 5c, and its rounded edges suggest you’re holding a very small iPad mini rather than a larger iPhone,” writes Nate Lanxon, the editor of Wired.co.uk. “The chassis has a satisfying curvature as the rear shell folds around to the front, and meets the glass of the display in a way that feels nearly seamless.”
Lanxon is also impressed by the sharpness of the “Retina HD” screens on both phones, but particularly the larger model. “The 6 Plus’s pixels are so tiny they’re hard to see no matter how close you get your face,” he says.
As well as raising the pixel count, Apple has improved the displays in other ways too, says The Times. “The screens are brighter, have crisper colours and are covered by stronger glass,” the paper says. “They have also been designed for easier navigation using one hand.”
However, there was no sign of the super-tough sapphire crystal screens, which some commentators had expected to see in the new phone. The camera also remained at eight megapixels, but reviewers were impressed with the improved functionality it offered.
“The main improvement seems to be the Focus Pixel feature, which is Apple’s take on phase-detection autofocus,” reports Engadget. What that means is that if you’re training the camera on something in the foreground and it moves away from you, the lens will refocus automatically.
“This was demonstrated in Apple’s stage presentation,” Wired’s reviewer says, “and I was pleased to see it works exactly as well when I tested it.”
The new operating system, iOS8, also allows for greater camera control. “Until now the only way to adjust the exposure of a photo before taking a shot was to tap on the screen to tell your device from where to take the exposure reading,” says the BBC’s Mark Blank-Settle. “In iOS 8 the camera lets you adjust the exposure much more precisely: tapping on the screen now brings up an icon of the sun and, by moving a slider up and down, the image will get brighter or darker.”
If technology journalists had any complaints, they focused on doubts about the battery.
“Both iPhones will be powered a new A8 processor that is 25 per cent faster than the previous iPhone and 50 per cent more power efficient for increased battery life,” The Guardian reports.
But on stage, Apple had only promised that battery life would be at least equal to its current models – which are frequently criticised for their lack of power reserves.
“Take your phone out for a busy day of GPSing, mobile browsing, texting on the go and whatnot, and you can drain an iPhone to zero in just a couple of hours,” writes Forbes’s Mark Rogowsky. And Apple “basically told the world that experience will be the same with the iPhone 6”.
He blames the company for prioritising form over function, leaving limited room for the battery by cramming all the components into a slim frame with rounded edges.