Tuesday, 24 May 2016

iPhone 6S review

iPhone 6S long-term review

Summer is always a strange time to buy an iPhone. You’ve got much newer phones out like the HTC 10Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5 – there’s even a new phone from Apple, the iPhone SE. And most people know there’s probably going to be an iPhone 7 coming in a few short months.


But the iPhone 6S is still a great phone and one that I’m happy to recommend. It’s the middle iPhone size-wise, and in my mind feels the most comfortable to hold. The SE is limited by its small size, while the iPhone 6S Plus is often ungainly. The 4.7-inch display, which sits above a 720p resolution, is soundly beaten on paper by the Android rivals but it’s compact and still looks good. 

Buying an iPhone now also means you’ll get all the goodies that will come with the next version of iOS, which is most likely going to be called iOS 10. Expect to see this announced at Apple’s WWDC which takes place in June, with a release later this year.

Even though it’s been on the market for well over six months, the iPhone 6S has aged well. The A9 CPU and 2GB RAM is still a potent combination that feels as snappy as it did last September. The phone still easily handles all the games and apps I throw at it. 

Battery life hasn’t seen a dramatic downturn either. So far, the 6S keeps up with my workload fine. I normally hit 5% by around 10pm on a normal work day, and that’s without using the Low Power mode – that’s around 12 to 14 hours a day.

3D Touch, a headline feature at launch, has slowly been improving without really setting the world alight. More apps use it now, but it’s still limited and lacks a real function. Hopefully the iPhone 7 will take it to the next level. I like ‘3D Touching’ app icons to bring up shortcuts, but beyond that I don’t use it that much.

The truth is that there are better phones out there, but if you’re a staunch iOS user and you simply can’t wait for the iPhone 7 then the 6S is still a great choice. It looks good, performs well, still has one of the best cameras on the market and you know you’ll get iOS 10 as soon as Apple lets it out the door. 

You can read our original iPhone 6S review below.

Related: iPhone 7 release date

What is the iPhone 6S?

For all its “fast moving innovation” the tech industry is a predictable thing sometimes. Every other year Apple puts an ‘S’ on the end of its last phone, buffs it up with a few tarty new features and delivers it to splendid applause.

That’s a horrific simplification, of course, but the general point stands. The iPhone 6S is that phone this year, and it adds some clever new ‘taptic’ features, camera improvements and a radically faster processor to last year’s iPhone 6. 

You can get it in Rose Gold now if you fancy a change. But whatever your feelings on the matter, rest assured this another excellent phone from Apple.

Related: iOS 10 release date

Watch our iPhone 6S video review:

iPhone 6S – Design & Features

All ‘S’ phones look like their forbears and the iPhone 6S is no different. Even the screen is the same. It’s not the very best there is – Samsung’s OLEDs are in a different league in this respect – but it’s excellent for an LCD. 

Contrast is great and colours are natural. Some might argue its 326 pixels per inch (ppi) isn’t sharp enough, but that argument doesn’t hold water with me. It’s plenty sharp enough.

Before I move onto the interesting stuff, however, it bears repeating what a successful design this is. Not only does the iPhone 6S look great, it’s naturally comfortable. Everything just fits. 

Related: 13 Best Smartphones and Mobile Phones 2015
image: http://static.trustedreviews.com/94/00003569f/0244_oq80_orh234w417/P1150827.jpg
iPhone 6S 17

Having lived with the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ recently, it’s a pleasure to return to a phone that’s comfortable to use in one hand, and which has volume buttons I don’t jog accidentally in my pocket.

Beyond the flashy new features and new Rose Gold option, Apple gets the basics right. That matters.

  1. image: https://assets0.uswitch.com/s3/uswitch-assets-eu/mobiles-web/networks/vodafone-regular.png
    Apple iPhone 6s 16GB Rose Gold 
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See all Apple iPhone 6s 16GB Rose Gold deals


But what is flashy and new? After all, if something isn’t new enough, then it’s rubbish, right? The undoubted highlight is 3D Touch. Like Force Touch, which Apple introduced on the Apple Watch, 3D Touch detects how hard you press on the screen, opening up new interactions for app developers to explore. 

There are effectively three levels of pressure – the regular tap, a slightly harder press and one further level beyond it. Each one, depending on the context, will trigger a different action.

But the pressure is “analogue” in nature – 3D Touch doesn’t just detect three levels of pressure, but all the points between. This opens up some interesting potential, particularly in games, which I’ll expand on in a moment.

Read more at http://trustedreviews.com/iphone-6s-review#uDZjVrApxRtR9kwJ.99

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