After spending the past few days toting around my new iPhone 6, I have finally decided that it may have potential to replace my beloved iPhone 5. I did not rush out to get the iPhone 6 because I do not consider myself anything close to a “Techie,” but I figured I should take the leap and pre-order it after Verizon let me know that I had an upgrade. I went to the Fifth Ave Apple Store, waltzed right past the line of people who had not pre-ordered the phone, down the swirly staircase and right up to the iPhone pick up. Setting it up is really a simple process for most people, but it took a little longer for me because I was having some iCloud trouble. Even though the line was out the door of the store, I was so impressed and appreciative with the amount of time the Apple employees spent with me making sure to answer all of my questions about iCloud so that I knew all of my information would be transferred seamlessly to the new phone.
During my long conversation with my Apple Genius, she mentioned to me that customers were astonished when they saw the large size of their new iPhone. I had a similar experience, but it happened before I went to the Apple store. Like most Barnard girls with a mild online shopping addiction, WITS notification emails are nothing out of the ordinary. Last week, I went to go check my Altschul mailbox and, when Christian handed me an envelope, I was not entirely prepared for what I found. Inside the envelope was a Speck case that I had ordered for the new iPhone. When I opened the package, I honestly thought that Speck had accidently sent me an iPhone 6 Plus case. After looking it over further, I realized that Speck had not made a mistake. They had sent me the regular sized phone case, and I realized that the iPhone that I had ordered was actually going to be really massive. I feel like there was a lot of media around the size of the iPhone 6 Plus, but I felt like the keynote and advertisements did not stress the noticeable size difference between the 5 and the 6. The 5.44 x 2.64 inch phone is definitely something to get used to in your hands, but I have not had a problem fitting it into anything. The phone is so surprisingly thin and light that it almost fits into pockets, wallets and small bags better than the iPhone 5 does.
So what does the iPhone 6 do differently? To start, the battery life is impressive. I used to have to charge my iPhone 5 a few times a day, and I can go practically a day and a half without charging this one. Additionally, the screen is beautiful. The resolution is 1334×750 for the regular size and 1920×1080 for the Plus, which makes your friends’ Instagrams of food and sunsets look so clear that you can see each shred of parmesan, each rainbow sprinkle and every single fiery sky with ease. Additionally, the 8MP iSight camera with focus pixels is impressive. In addition to having a bunch of new built-in editing features, the pictures come out crisp and colorful even before you Afterlight/Camera+/Whitagram them.
iOS 8 Messages is a little different. Messages now offers “QuickType,” which suggests words to you as you type. It is a little annoying, but you can turn it off and there are a ton of other new things you can do with voice messages, group chats and more. It is also faster and easier to send pictures. iCloud Drive is like Googledocs but easier to access on your phone. You can open any document on any of your devices. Whether it is a presentation, spreadsheet, PDF, picture or something else, you can always have access to it. For those of you with FitBits and Jawbones, get ready to see how the Health app can organize your information even better. I have also always been a fan of reading my Nook nooks on my iPad because I do not like to carry around heavy books, and with the size of this new phone, I have actually enjoyed reading on the iBooks app in the past week. In the past I have used some ebook style textbooks, and I would be interested in seeing how easy it is to navigate textbooks on this phone. Another feature I have not really used yet, but that looks cool is Apple Pay. Finding out that AppleTree takes Level Up made my life a lot easier, and so I am looking forward to Apple Pay making my life just that much easier. They say the Apple Pay is a way to pay using the Touch ID sensor in your phone, and Apple has included many behind the scenes security features so that all of your credit and debit information stay safe even when programmed into your phone. Lastly, if you are impatient, I can assure you that I have never seen the Diana WiFi run faster on any other device.
The Apple brand cases are really protective and seem like a good option if you want a simple case and are not looking for many color options. Personally, I have always been a fan of Speck cases because no matter how many times you drop your phone nothing will ever happen to it. Also, they put out some pretty cool high resolution graphic design cases for the iPhone 6. However, because the white phone now comes in gold and silver, some people might want to show off the back of the phone as well. In this case, I would recommend one of the “Tough Frame” cases from Case Mate. This minimalist design approach to protection features a clear case with a colored bumper so that the color of the phone can show through but the bumper offers some neon protection. One last note, skip the overpriced screen protectors in the store and stop at your local tech guy on the street for a new one. The secret to putting on a screen protector without bubbles? I do not know. Go to the closest RadioShack and ask them really nicely to do it there.