The only thing that’s changed is everything – Screen Fixed finds out if the S is worth the upgrade
For Apple, the iPhone 6 was the hit it needed. With better design and battery, it was one of, if not the phone of 2014.
However there were whispers about the new model – ‘they’ were saying that Apple might go straight for the iPhone 7. Sadly this turned out to be one of the thousand rumors that were circling at the time and all that turned up was the ‘s’ for stop gap model.
But Apple tried to convince us differently, using the tagline: ‘The only thing that’s changed is everything’.
Everything is being overly generous, on the outside, it looks almost exactly the same, same design, same battery, same interface…. Under the hood though, things are a little different. But are, 3D touch, Harry Potter style photos and a really fast processor among a few other, enough to warrant an upgrade?
Faster then light
One of the big changes Apple has made is to its processor, this year the A9, is a staggering 70% faster when it comes to general use, and 90% more powerful when it comes to Angry Birds.
On that note, year after year our phones get more powerful, the A9 is more powerful then most laptops from a few years ago (it’s more powerful then the iPad Air 2), and yet we complain if we don’t get a days worth of usage from it with that tiny little sliver of battery jammed onto the back…
Is the processor worth the upgrade, perhaps. It’s a good way to future proof your phone for the next few years, especially as companies begin to concentrate on the mobile game market more and more.
Death by design
‘S’ is for stop gap, I used that earlier, but on occasion it’s felt like it, the outside of these phones don’t change (noticeably) and the insides get a bit of a tickle.
And, surprise, surprise, the iPhone 6s is no exception: it looks just like the 6, and apart from the option of Rose Gold (come on, it’s pink), and it’s a hair larger.
It’s also put on weight, a solid 20 grams in fact (in the 6s model), and something you can really notice, the 6 always felt light, this has a better weight to it. The extra weight, by the way, has come from one of the new additions, the 3D touch function, apparently it requires a layer of sensors behind the screen (don’t worry, Screen Fix will still be able to repair them just as quickly) to detect the difference between a poke and a smash.
After last years ‘bend-gate’, Apple are using the much stronger 7000 series aluminium alloy. To look at it, you wont notice a difference, but it’s a good deal harder to bed now – that being said, I never had any bending problems, or knew anyone that bent their phone, but should you sit on it one drunken night, you should be right.
In terms of design, everything else is the same to look at, the Touch ID home key, the metallic lock and volume buttons all look and feel well made. With the good also comes the bad, the antenna bands and the protruding camera lens are still present. This isn’t all doom and gloom though, the S model should fit your old 6 case, I do emphasise ‘should’.
Lights
For the most part the display has remained the same, it’s a 4.7-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 750 x 1334 pixels.
This means pixels are packed at a rate of 326 pixels per inch. Which is way below some of the competition (some reaching pixel densities of 577 pixels per inch at times), but to be honest the differences in numbers result in only a tiny difference that, to be fair, will be evident when you stare at your phone up close, but for the casual user, will be completely missed.
Brightness has taken a bit of a dip in brightness, it now only reaches 550 nits, while the the straight 6 could reach as high as 600 nits. This will end up with some slight differences for outdoor use in direct sunlight. More importantly though is the fact that the 6s’ screen can now reach 6 nits (the 6 was only ever able to reach a level of 7), what that basically means is that the 6 can display at lower levels (a lot dimmer), not blinding you at night, and 6 is quite a respectable level.
If you ask anyone, it’s the colours that are the most important aspect of almost any display. The straight 6 display was always a little bluish, but for everything else was an amazing display,something that most phones on the market have been chasing for years. The screen in iPhone 6s doesn’t disappoint, it’s even managed to slightly improve upon it (although it’s still slightly bluish), with colours across the whole range, now being a lot more accurate.
The iPhone 6s really does have one of the best displays on any phone current phone in the market, sure, it won’t win any awards for brightness or sharpness, but it’s the sum of the parts when you bring them together, and of course, if you happen to have an accident and destroy that great screen, your friends at Screen Fixed Brisbane, Screen Fixed Logan and Screen Fixed Toowoomba are here to help.
Camera
Let’s start with the rear-facing camera. You’d expect that with 12MP (the largest ever for an iPhone) on offer pictures would appear sharp, clean and full of more colour.
That’s not quite the case though, there’s an issue that all camera manufacturers come up against, packing in more pixels makes it harder to capture bright and clean photos.
HTC tried to combat this by going the other way and use a 4MP sensor, with the aim of capturing better, brighter and cleaner pictures, but it couldn’t convince the public that fewer megapixels were the way forward.
Apple seems to have bowed to the pressure of numbers to bring a higher number sensor to the 6S, and the thing is it really doesn’t perform any differently to the 8MP one on the iPhone 6.
To be fair, it’s impressive that Apple has actually managed to improve low light performance in the 12MP sensor on the iPhone 6S. And the front facing camera redesign is genius.
The Retina flash, which boosts the screen to three times its normal brightness to illuminate your face, works fantastically and gives you options for all sorts of photos and the extra sharpness is also much, much better, in short, if you’re a selfie fiend, you need this phone.
Action
New camera, 4K video, 3D touch – you would think they might have tweaked that battery. Apparently not, in fact we got a slightly smaller one (in the 6s, the plus is fine).
Sadly the battery seems to be collateral damage from the largest change, the 3D Touch. The pressure sensor needed extra space, so the battery was reduced.
But maybe this is offset by improvements in i0S 9, I hear you ponder…. No, so far everyone has complained that it’s actually worse, that may change with updates, but as it stands it really does hobble the phone.
Verdict
If you’re stuck on the iPhone 5 or 5S, then now would be a great time to make the jump. The new iPhone 6S has loads of great upgrades, with 3D Touch easily being the pick of the bunch.
Its 12MP camera does offer a slight jump forward, and you’ll at least get half an hour’s joy out of Live Photos.
However, owners of the iPhone 6 may want to wait for the iPhone 7. Reduced battery life for 3D Touch isn’t appealing just now. Give it a year for developers to know what to actually DO with 3D Touch, then things will be different.
Me, I’m going to upgrade my 6 plus, but that’s me, it’s a sickness, I would find it hard to recommend an upgrade to casual 6 owners, but no doubt you’ve made your mind up already.
That’s all for now, just remember Screen Fixed for all your iPhone and Samsung phone repairs.
Cheers
Stephen Batchelor
Admin
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