Initial impressions of the iPhone 6s & 6s Plus

So the day has come, if you pre-ordered one you are waiting by the door or courier dock for the van to pull in and hand over that cardboard box with your thousand plus dollars of goodness inside.  If you’re lined up at an Apple store, well – good for you.

Having spent a few hours playing around, setting up the devices, I’ve got a few immediate observations.  Some may be related to iOS 9 as a new phone but generally they are things I see as different or interesting.

4 digit passcode not the default

When you setup an iPhone it will be default ask you for  a “passcode” – this is the code used to unlock the phone at any time.  And yes, you should have one – it offers greater security for your device and your data.  Until now you’ve popped in a four digit code.  The default from this point seems to be a six digit code, greatly increasing the security.

Finger scanner is FAST – super fast

Once again during the setup process, you can register a finger print.  The process of registering the fingerprint is much-much faster than before.

This is down to the sensor being smarter and better.  So unlocking the phone is much faster too – a great improvement.

Its heavier

Crazy right? For some reason, that 14 grams is noticeable.  Very slightly, but, perhaps its the mind playing tricks given I know its heavier!  But really, not by that much:)

It fits!

All the existing iPhone 6 cases I had on hand last night to test – worked fine.

3D Touch

Takes some getting used to.   You’ll find yourself touching and holding which makes the icons wiggle so you can delete them – it takes a new mindset to actually push in on the screen.

The options in camera, messaging, phone and maps are excellent as basic shortcuts.  The Peek and Pop in emails is a real benefit which will get a genuine workout I think.

The Camera – Live Photo

Well, I’ll test the quality over the coming weeks, but let’s talk Live Photo.  At the keynote and in demonstrations, its beautiful.  Really nice photos that “come to life” when you press them.

Great news, you can send Live Photos to other iOS users even if they don’t have an iPhone 6s.

But, today is my son’s 4th birthday.  What does a parent do – take lots of photos.

In this digital age, we don’t take one photo.  On Birthday day I don’t want burst mode, but I am taking lots of snaps.  With Live Photo – which is enabled by default, you’re actually taking 3 second videos, 1.5seconds each side of the photo.  So it’s not ideal.  I can see that to take a single photo at a moment in time its an amazing way of capturing that moment.

The photo previews are cool, but the Live Photos are cut off because I took another picture or moved the camera.  I understand Apple will update the software for Live Photo to trim the time or save only a photo if it detects movement of the phone after the shutter.

Performance

It’s a whole load faster.  Certainly the fingerprint unlock being faster helps, but all apps are certainly snappy.  Though, to be fair, I’ve gone for a fresh build, not a backup of all my apps and data:)

That’s just the start

There’s a lot to see and learn about these new features, at this stage, I see this as I did before, a great upgrade for anyone with a 5 series or 4 series iPhone.  iPhone 6 users, don’t sweat it, something better will come when you’re due for a new phone.