CUPERTINO, CA- Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPL) Five days ago Apple unveiled the ninth iteration of its iPhone line-up; the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus smartphones.
In terms of design, both devices might be identical to their predecessors though as far as technical specs go, Apple managed to do a rather solid job this year. Before making up your mind regarding if you should upgrade or not, you should definitely take a look at the good and bad aspects of the devices that we will be reporting in this piece.
Good
Camera
The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are the first handsets of the line-up, since the 4S, to feature a camera with a bigger number of megapixels compared to the last gen.
Starting from the 4S up until the 6, the back camera was an 8-megapixel, with the only difference in between generations being the size of the lens, which Apple was increasing year-by-year thus capturing more light. The resolution was being enhanced as well.
Finally though, the iPhone 6S has a brand new camera embed on its back and front.
The rear shooter is a 4608 x 2592 12-megapixel one with 4K video recording capabilities- no more teasing from Android user about the lack of 4K.
Apple did some magic with the front camera as well, upgrading it from 1.2-megapixels to 5, including full HD 1080p video-rec, which will definitely come in handy for FaceTime and Retina Flash. Retina Flash in your conventional camera flash, it is actually a gimmick that uses your display by making it flash for a split-second, that way brightening the picture.
Processor
As aforementioned, every S iPhone receives a significant upgrade in terms of CPU and GPU performance compared to the last year’s device, so the 6S processor upgrade shouldn’t be that exciting, right? No, it is actually very exciting. Apple’s new A9 chip houses two cores each clocked at 2GHz with an M9 motion coprocessor embedded on it. According to the company itself, the A9 will be delivering 70% faster CPU performance and 90% faster graphics compared to last year’s A8 chip. So in a nutshell, it is 70% faster than a processor that was already incredibly speedy.
In addition to the above, the technology behind the A9 chip allows it to bring these whooping results while consuming less power, thus saving a substantial proportion of your battery’s lifetime. Kudos Apple.
3D Touch
Apple decided to bring its Taptic engine that we have seen in the Apple Watch Sport and MacBook line-up as Force Touch, to the iPhone 6S with the moniker 3D Touch.
The 3D Touch feature allows users to make “peek and pop” gestures on the screen to access shortcuts or preview content, including text messages, bank information, calendar appointments and more while it gives extra contextual to apps, depending the pressure you apply.
Bad
Storage capacity
For yet another year, Apple decided to go with the inefficient 16GB base storage option, which practically is around 12, since 4 gigs are captivated by the operating system.
The aforementioned 4K video capability is indeed a fantastic feature though the bigger the resolution, the more space you need. One minute of uncompressed 4K video footage is at least 600MB, hence if you opt for the 16GB option, then you will be unloading your gallery on your PC much more often than previously.
Fortunately enough, the camera software on iOS 9 allows you to reduce video quality to full HD, which can definitely save you some MBs.
Battery
For a second consecutive year, Apple has decided to go with a non-removable 1715mAh battery, which like in the iPhone 6 so in the 6S it is inadequate.
The A9 might be a more eco-friendly chip than the A8 as it consumes less processing power, though the 750 x 1334 pixels 4.7-inch display is not. Moreover, 4K video playback will be a problem as well.
Even in the case of the 6S Plus with its humongous 5.5-inch display, the 2915mAh brick is not enough to run the juice.
The iPhone’s battery has been non-removable since the inception of the line-up and for a good reason, since unibody design offers much more premium quality than a removable back plate. Though, regardless of the painstaking process that requires in order to access the interior of the iPhone, they should have found a way to make the battery hold tight in there, by using a clip for instance, and simultaneously make it easy for the owner to replace it.
Taken the fact that consumer technology has reached to the point where our phones feature a personal digital assistant, I think this is a child’s play.
Verdict
The iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are overall two very sophisticated devices. Especially now that Apple has made iOS extremely practical and multifunctional, they are worth even more.
Instead of pre-ordering, we would definitely recommend you visiting your local Apple Store and have a look on both devices thus being very definite about your investment. Nevertheless, if you are a US-based resident, you won’t have to wait more than two weeks to get your hands-on them.
