I’ve had the iPhone 6 for a couple of hours now, so I thought I’d jot down my first impressions. I’ve also had a small amount of hands-on time with the 6 Plus, which we ordered for work.
Size
The big questions (pardon the pun) are around the new sizes. At unboxing, I thought the 6 felt fine, but also thought the 6 Plus wasn’t quite as ludicrously oversized as I thought when I originally saw the Samsung Galaxy Note and friends. Maybe I’m just getting used to seeing them. However, when I started using the 6, it was just too big for me to get my thumb up to the top corner to hit the standard back arrow for navigation. I’ve since started to hold the phone a little differently to compensate, but it’s still not right. We’ll see how it feels after a few days.
The Plus just feels like there’s no way you use it one-handed. Its so large that you’re almost rewarded by holding it in landscape. It’s not for me.
The Screen
The screen on both models is gorgeous. They’re clearly sharper than my iPhone 5. The Plus is noticeably sharper than the regular 6, but not enough to make up for the size issue, in my opinion.
Touch ID
This is my first phone with Touch ID–I skipped the 5S–and I love Touch ID. It’s great that iOS 8 has opened Touch ID to apps; it’s wonderful that 1Password has integrated it. (Also, much love to 1Password for its new ability to fill passwords in Safari!)
Bottom Line
So far, I like the phone a lot, except the size. I wish I could have bought a 4-inch iPhone 6 (iPhone 6 Classic?) with all the benefits of the 6, but without the size increase. We’ll see how I feel after a week or so.