Living with the iPhone 6 Plus

As everyone scrambled to pre-order their iPhone 6 and 6 Plus’, I sat back quietly, amused at the lengths people will go to in order to get themselves a new Apple ‘insert product here’. Lining up for 2 days before release? No thanks! That might sound like someone who gets on the Apple hate bandwagon, but I am actually a pretty big Apple fan having owned every iteration of the iPhone to date, along with the odd iPad and iMac at home.

I’m not entirely sure who all the people are that are buying the iPhone 6 Plus, after all it is a really big phone. It is sold out everywhere however. For a typical user, I can’t imagine they would be very keen on the idea of carrying such a large device around in their pockets, even if it does fit perfectly find in any typical back pocket (just don’t sit down on it). The additional real estate is likely not a strong enough reason to buy one. That said, the 6 Plus eliminates the need to constantly pan and swipe around your screen; no matter what you're working on, you can simply see a lot more of it. 

I wouldn’t be surprised, and in fact I have seen already, many people regretting the choice of the plus and wanting to switch to a regular 6 due to its size. Certainly, if you have small hands you will find the Plus difficult to hold and use, especially one handed. For me it’s not a problem, and the advantages far outweigh any potential issues with the overall size. Personally I love the new iPhone 6 Plus and I think it’s the first phablet which will significantly increase the number of Phablet users. It would seem that Apple has caught up to the phablet trend set by Android phones.

Apple is now showcasing how bigger is better for screen size and for processing, photography and battery power. Personally the Plus has two clear advantages over its smaller sibling — a bigger, clearer screen and a larger, significantly longer lasting battery — that in itself provides a significant benefit. As a Project Manager working in Web Design, I use my smartphone for several hours each day and find that it’s the perfect choice. Whether I am critiquing the latest responsive website design or emailing on the go, the additional real estate and iPad like landscape format has clear advantages.

After two weeks with the iPhone 6 Plus I can tell you that an average-sized individual will find the 6 Plus perfectly usable with one hand. If you’re web browsing, reading a book or watching a video, you can easily manage and the experience will be all the better for it. Responsive Web Design is only becoming more and more relevant and it will result in websites being more adaptable to the multitude of display views available.

At the end of the day, the iPhone 6 Plus is too big for everyone to love it, but it's Apple's best phone to date and provides some real noticeable improvements for web browsing. If you can deal with the size and some annoying software limitations (that’s for the Android fans), the Plus might be Apple's most productive smartphone yet.