I’m going to cut to the chase. This device isn’t for everyone. Users who have a preference for one handed use will not like using this period. As I noted in other posts, I’ve normally used my iPhones with two hands anyway; the 6 Plus isn’t an issue for me.
The larger display is a godsend when it comes to content. Reading e-mail and viewing web pages was ok on the smaller displays but it’s now much less of an eyestrain (more so if using zoomed mode; though that disabled multi-pane views for landscape mode in apps). Watching videos (especially 720P and higher HD clips) is also a much better experience now.
The auto focus capability of the camera is incredible (rarely does a scene go out of focus) as is low light performance. I’ve been using a now decade old mid-range DSLR (Sony F-828) for most of my non-casual photography; I can see less of a need now to pull that out.
I still don’t get why developers don’t start putting in an optional setting to allow the camera sensor to take landscape photos/videos while the device is being held in it’s portrait orientation. For video taking, its far easier to hold the phone in that orientation but you end up with portrait type/sized videos.
Touch ID also works a lot better for me. I’m one of those who has extremely dry skin (including my fingers) and the sensor has always been hit/miss registering my prints even after I’ve setup multiple scans. It got to the point where I stopped using it on my 5s. So far, the 6 Plus has had far less issues, but I expect I’ll need to add in a few more scans for those times I do have some oil buildup.
The placement of the power/sleep button directly opposite the volume button is probably one of the worst decisions ever though. Like many people, I use the volume button as the shutter release. And there has been several times now where I accidentally hit the power/sleep button when test shooting pictures (requires a slightly offset grip that isn’t necessarily ergonomic to avoid accidental shutoff).
Likewise, there have been times where I just simply grabbed the phone and hit the power/sleep button. There needs to be an optional software setting (like how the mute button can be configured for either that functionality or used as a screen orientation lock on the iPad) that allows disabling it during camera use (or increasing the amount of time it needs to be held to register as a sleep request).
Processor performance wise, there really is no discernible difference coming from a 5s. Probably only those coming from a 4s and earlier iPhone, will see a very noticeable performance boost when launching and running most apps. As far as some of the WiFi issues some users are seeing, that hasn’t been an issue for me (but I also use Airport base stations which seem to reduce some of these problems). I have noticed my LTE data performance worse after the 8.0.2 update (max of 30Mbits/sec down and 3 Mbits/sec up to 5.8 Mbits/sec down and 2 Mbits/sec up).
Battery life as expected is far better due to the larger battery. As of this posting, I’m still at 60% battery remaining after 8 hours of continuous use (playing streaming video from twitch). My house is also a Faraday cage since it has aluminum siding as well as aluminum paneled roofing. As a result, the battery drain is higher due to the increased power usage of the cellular antennas having to maintain contact with the cell towers through these signal blockers.
The biggies that I’m waiting to really test though are NFC payments, Handoff/Continuity with my other Apple devices, and the real world reliability of having this thing in my pockets; both the 4s and 5s went through some pretty demanding environments and both look brand new (though the 4s was housed in an overkill Otterbox Defender and 5s in a far more reasonable, Spigen Tough Armor case sans screen protector).
So is this going to be an iPad mini killer? This depends. Right now, there are many apps that still act like iPhone apps (they don’t take advantage of the landscape mode). Furthermore, there are also apps that are iPad only which would work perfectly well on the 6 Plus. Two examples that come to mind are Tapfolio (a stocks app) and Hearthstone (Blizzard’s card game). But since the 6 Plus is still identified as an iPhone, there is no way to run those apps unless the developers make them 6 Plus compatible.
Right now though (at least for myself), there really is no longer a compelling reason for me to get another iPad ever unless it can really do things that a 6 Plus would be incapable of doing (and/or not having the optimal screen real estate). The iPad mini (mine is non-retina) as primarily a consumption device was a far more perfect fit for me compared to my 1st generation iPad for example. This 6 Plus though is turning out to be a capable replacement even with the loss of 2+ inches of diagonal display space. An unlocked 6 Plus carries a very small cost premium over the equivalent storage WiFi+Cellular Data models of the mini (the cost differential is much larger when compared against the WiFi only models).
If anything, the 6 Plus will force Apple to re-think the iPad product line a bit more (as being the entry level laptop replacement). Interestingly enough, rumors still persist of a 12.9″ iPad “Pro” (something that would be the screen size of the 13″ MacBook Pro). I dunno, but even the current iPad Air is a large enough device. The only thing I can think of is that Apple might be considering some cross pollination of OS X (desktop) and iOS apps. Continuity and Handoff are going to be test cases of this where we can move seamlessly between devices and their respective apps.
Apple to date has kept the lines very distinct, but it doesn’t take much to see some overlap also occurring. I still believe that it will be a very slow transition for those lines to reach that inflection point where it will be feasible for some kind of merging to occur in lower end (it will never be fully feasible to replace desktops at the higher end when it comes to the keyboard/mouse user interface though).
Digressing back to the 6 Plus though, I know Apple doesn’t like the term phablet; the 6 Plus is just that though. Going back to my 4s, it just feels way too small. Going back to the 5s, it feels really nice because you can grip it one hand and easily use it that way. This is why I mentioned before that the 6 will be the optimal size for many. But it also made me realize there is still a place for something like a 4.2″ iPhone. I guess time will tell if something like that will fit the product line.
Finally, the iPhone 5/5s design (with the diamond cut bevelled edges) gave that phone, a very unique feel. The 6/6 Plus design is nice but it sort of has this more generic feel to it compared to the 5/5s design. With a case on, the point becomes moot; I’m just speaking about the actual form factor and how it feels in the hand out of the box without a case. For myself though, going back to a 4″ screen is a non-starter after having used the 6 Plus.
