The Apple iPhone 6s Plus (128GB) is clearly the most expensive smartphone in the Indian market, that is if you take Vertu and other such luxury brands out of the picture. You don’t really need to spend Rs 92,000 on a smartphone now, as even Rs 20,000 phones give good features and user experience.
But that does not mean, no one will buy an expensive phone these days. There is a reasonably large market for expensive or premium smartphones, driven by people who want a top-end device for its performance, dependability or just flaunt value.
Read how it was living with the Apple iPhone 6s Plus over a week
Day 1
SET UP: This was my second stint with the new iPhone, as I had played with the phone a bit in the US. But this was the time first time I did a full set up for the phone. Since I use an iPad, set-up was relatively easy. However, the one feature I wanted to try, the Move to iOS app, did not work for me and we will try and review that in detail in the coming weeks.
Also, one slightly frustrating bit in contrast to Android is the fact that you can’t set up an Apple phone without a SIM. The setup took close to 30 minutes including app downloads, as I chose to set up as a new phone and not copy from my last iPhone.
Apple iPhone 6s user review:
3D TOUCH: This is for sure the cutting edge feature, the one everyone is looking forward to in the new iPhones. My first take is that it does take some getting used to. Actually, the first press goes against your natural inclination which is to not put too much stress on anything made of glass. But you have to press and press real hard. To use an analogy that will find takers among my Malayali brethren and Bengali friends, it is almost the same pressure you exert to figure out if that fish lying
his press activates the Peek and leads to a preview on mail, opens quick options on compatible apps and gives you options when you get a link on iMessage. Push it a bit more and you have the Pop, which for instance opens the mail you were previewing. One word of caution, don’t try this pressure on the fish, the Apple front glass is much stronger. Day 2 I am moving to the iPhone after a series of Android phones that touted great cameras — the OnePlus 2, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ and Samsung Galaxy Note 5. So my expectations are generally high. So much so that for my past few trips I have kept the DSLR safely in its bag. The iPhone 6s and 6s Plus feature the cool new Live Photo option. It almost adds life to your still photos by sandwiching it with some seconds on video. The entire thing starts looking like a GIF and is brought to life with the 3D Touch. All photos are shot in live mode by default, but you can disable the same if you want to save space. My four-year-old son loves being the model for my camera tests and it is while shooting a child that you realise the power of this feature. The still is just half the fun; the flood of expressions that come before and after that split second adds so much value to the memory. But the catch is that for now you cannot view these photos outside the Apple ecosystem and we will need to wait for Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to come up with support for this new format. Overall, the iPhone 6s Plus seems to be among the best smartphone cameras. What I like best is the fact that pictures look natural in the end and not over-saturated and over-processed as it ends up being on many Android phones.
I told you about using the 4K camera on Day 2. One significant thing here is that of all the 4K smartphone cameras that I have used, this is the first that hasn’t had heating issues. The Sony Xperia Z2, the first to come out with 4K recording, was a great camera in its time, but would shut down due to overheating in a minute or so. I also managed to clip together two slow-motion videos with a 4K one to create a two minute clip complete with audio and titles. The processing was quick and the phone did not heat up.
