Introduction
For my first review I’m going to take a look at the new iPhone 6s in Space Grey (Gris sidéral). The model I have is the 128GB as my previous phone the iPhone 6 was also 128GB and was pretty full.
I’m going to break down this review in to several sections: Unboxing – Look and feel – Performance – Experience and Features – Battery Life – Final Thoughts and Rating
Some of these will be added to this review at a later date. Let’s start with the unboxing.
Unboxing
Unboxing an iPhone is becoming a very familiar experience but remains as enjoyable every year. There is something about the vacuum sealed box slowly revealing its long-awaited contents which always makes me feel like a child on Christmas Day.
The box is much nicer on the outside than last year’s plain white affair and shows off the new live wallpapers – what you see is what you get so each colour has a unique box and wallpaper:
The box contains everything you’d expect from the iPhone:
- Wall Adapter (The two-pronged French one for me)
- Short Lightning Cable
- Apple EarPods (my 4th set as my iPhone 5 EarPods are still serving me well)
- Sim Ejection Tool
- Useless paperwork
- The iPhone 6s (duh!)
- The most important thing – Apple Stickers!
Look and feel
The iPhone 6s could easily pass for an iPhone 6 were it not for the big S on the back. However, if you owned an iPhone 6 before you’ll feel the extra few grams of weight in the hand and your case may fit a little more snugly. This is the tradeoff for using 7000 series aluminium in these new models, and I think it’s worth it. These phones feel solid, and from drop tests and bend tests that have been carried out so far they are far more robust than their predecessors.
I’ll address the elephant in the room. Yes, it also comes in “Rose Gold” – and it’s pink, very pink. I’m not a big fan of pink so I picked up the Space Gray model. However, I have to say that I’m sure some men could pull a Rose Gold iPhone off and I don’t like to draw gender lines, I just don’t like pink myself.
The screen remains a fantastic display, yes it isn’t Quad-HD but we can wait for battery technology to catch up before we move on to that in an iPhone. The Retina HD Display serves its purpose as your window into iOS and its apps with fantastic viewing angles, vibrant colours and plenty of detail.
Overall, if you liked the design of the iPhone 6, you’ll like this. If you didn’t…you’ll have to wait until the design refresh next year for another chance.
Performance
First impressions: this is a very, very, very fast iPhone. iOS 9.0.1 flies on this A9 in a way the iPhone 6 and certainly the 6 plus don’t quite manage on their “ancient” A8 chips. Apps fly open, the camera takes photos at lightning speed and every app runs without any lag whatsoever. It is obvious the team at Apple have been working to make the experience on these new flagships supremely smooth and it has worked, perhaps at the expense of older devices, but that’s another debate.
iOS 9.3 has been in testing for a couple of months now and it is now nearing completion and it brings performance improvements across the line and fixes a few performance gripes.
The performance of the 6s is superb and one of its strongest selling points, this is device to last a few years at least.
Experience and Features
3D Touch:
Initially written off by many as a gimmick I find myself using 3D Touch all the time for quick access to app features. It may not be a game-changer, but it does improve the iOS experience and make my life slightly easier. I find myself missing it on the iPad.
Live Photos:
Live Photos represent a cool idea but the implementation is sadly flawed. The video portion of the Live Photo is just too low quality to be an enjoyable experience, I hope that this is fixed with the next generation of devices.
Faster Touch ID:
It’s super fast. That’s really all you need to know.
Battery Life
The battery life is certainly nothing to write home about and I wish it were more impressive. I often find I get through the day with mid to heavy use but only just.
Final Thoughts and Rating
I’ve been using the iPhone 6s for almost 6 months now as I like it very much, but I don’t love it. This generation of upgrades wasn’t as impactful as Siri on the 4s or Touch ID on the 5s. I’m looking forward to the iPhone 7 release already. Don’t get me wrong this is the best iPhone ever made but it’s also the first generation of iPhone I’ve owned that hasn’t impressed me in a noticeable way.
I still feel iOS 9 and the iPhone 6s represent the best smartphone experience but I really hope Apple push the boat out come September to make me fall in love again.