This is how one does a new iPhone review isn't it? But really, do you need a review to tell you that Apple has the ability to make iteratively better products at this point in time?
Other than a forcefully branded "S" on the back of the device, you are not going to score any points playing spot the difference. The thick antenna lines on the back still stands out like an ink stain on your favourite white shirt.
The rounded edges still feels pretty slippery especially on the smooth metal finish, something you're going to notice A LOT if you have the bigger Plus model, but more manageable on its smaller counterpart.
The camera still protrudes out slightly, but amongst the current crop of smartphones, it suddenly doesn't feel that bad anymore. A simple thin case fixes this easily. But really, I rather they make the phone thicker, and squeeze in a bigger battery.
Build quality is still superb, something we have come to expect from Apple. It is however slightly heavier, and thicker, something uncharacteristic for a new iPhone considering the diet it has been on for the past 7 years or so. But you're probably not going to notice that unless you have them both side by side.
The weight gain comes from mostly the display assembly instead of the more durable 7000 series aluminium. So, you're going to have to try harder if you're trying to bend it. I am not about to do a drop test, but from the 1 or 2 videos I have seen on Youtube, it seems pretty promising.
So if Apple is going to let the iPhone gain a bit of girth it must be for a good reason, and it is. While the resolution of the display has remained unchanged, what caused the weight gain was the hardware required for
You can use 3D Touch in a number of ways.
Press harder on an app icon to get a list of quick shortcuts into apps.
When you're in an app, you can long press to activate a "Peek" feature. Be it an email, a link, or a photo in Instagram. There, you can swipe up, down, left, or right to trigger more quick actions. If you want to see the item, just press harder to "Pop" into it, if not just let go.
Press harder while using the "swipe to go back" gesture, and you'll be brought to the app switcher. Do a full swipe to switch into the next app quickly, or a half swipe and let go to stay in the app switcher.
While typing, pressing hard will activate a trackpad which lets you move your cursor around for easier text-editing.
Being pressure sensitive, you can make use of the improved Notes app to do drawings. More pressure creates thicker lines, and less creates thinner ones.
Some of the features are genuinely useful, like using the keyboard as a trackpad, or quickly accessing a function within an app on the home screen. Others, like pressing harder to get into the app switcher does improve the experience on iOS too, but it is still not easier than say... lightly tapping on a button on Android.
Peek and pop is one of those that I am still on the fence about. Sure it might be faster, but I am not sure if pressing harder is actually easier than actually just tapping into the item, and then swiping from the left edge to go back a page.
One thing is for sure though, as more and more developers makes use of 3D Touch (especially games), it will make the technology a whole lot more useful. As of now, most of the apps (Google apps) I use does not support 3D Touch just yet, which means I have very little chance to actually use it.
Quick tip: If you find 3D Touch too hard to activate, you can go into Settings > Accessibility > 3D Touch, to change the sensitivity to "Light". I personally found it make using 3D Touch a lot easier.
The screen is not the only thing that got an upgrade on the front. The Touch ID sensor is said to be improved too. In my time with it, it does indeed feel faster than previous iPhones. Though speed isn't the most impressive trait of the sensor, it's the accuracy.
When comparing to the Note 5, the speed differences are negligible to me. But in terms of accuracy, Touch ID wins the round.
Those are 2 very very beefy cores we are talking about. In fact, when it comes to gaming performance, the iPhone 6S was smoother when playing Need for Speed: No Limits, and faster at loading the game. The same story goes for the operating system as a whole. The iPhone 6S is a very very speedy device, and the specs should be the least of your concerns with the exception of the smaller battery. The iPhone 6S finally comes with Cat 6 LTE capable hardware too, which means faster network connectivity as well.
Oh yeah, did I mention that the iPhone 6S has smaller battery pack compared to the iPhone 6? From 1,810 mAh to 1,715 mAh to be exact. While improvements in battery efficiency means that you're going get similar battery performance as the iPhone 6, it is still cringeworthy to see battery capacity go down. Apple is not the only culprit this year though. For a phone that is a year newer, I would prefer if there were improvements in usage battery life.
Actual battery life might differ depending on how you use the device. I personally have no trouble making it last a day with plenty of juice for spare at the end of the day. Helped by the iPhone's frugal standby battery use.
Onto the software side of things, iOS 9 is as expected, the best version of iOS yet. There are some refinements, some additional features, but really nothing that really jumps out to me as being majorly different other than the ones mentioned above like "Live photos", and "3D Touch". Others like a new Notes app, a smarter Siri, Transit in Apple Maps, Apple News, etc, are all pretty minor stuff that I rarely use, or services that aren't even relevant for the Singapore market. A lot of the changes are actually under the hood, or more to do with improved hardware like the camera for example.
On the rear of the device, you'll find a 12 MP shooter instead of an 8 MP camera like the past 4 generations of iPhones. With the upgraded resolution, we finally get 4K video recording. It comes at a price though. While the iPhone 6's 8 MP camera packs a 1/3" sensor, giving it a larger pixel size of 1.5 microns. On the 6S' 12 MP camera though, you have the same sensor size of 1/3", which mean you get smaller pixel size at 1.22 microns. Remember the iPhone 5S launch? Oops.
The good news is that I haven't seen any indication of poorer performance in low light, and the photos still looks pretty good. The camera UI is still dead simple to use albeit limited functionality. When you have a camera as good as this in auto mode, who need pro mode? Though jokes aside, if you want to get creative, there are 3rd party alternatives to let you tweak settings to your heart's content.
The bad news? The iPhone 6S still lacks OIS (optical image stabilisation) unlike its Plus size brother.
In lowlight conditions, there are a bit more details as expected on a sensor with more resolution to play with. Shutter speed in auto mode was kept at a good level to maintain a relatively sharp image. There are times where I had to retake a shot or 2 due to camera shake though, situations where OIS would have definitely helped.
Images taken indoors looks pretty decent too.
Overall, the photo quality is great as you would expect from an iPhone. The thing is this though, a few years back if someone were to ask me which is the best smartphone camera, I would say the iPhone without a moment's hesitation. It was the easiest smartphone camera to use to capture great looking images, and it does so at a remarkable consistency. Today if you ask me though, I can name you a few Android device that could do the job just as well, if not better.
A quick mention to the 4K video recording, while I don't have any nice samples to share, in my testing the 4K video quality was excellent. Don't believe me, watch this video.
Full resolution images for comparison here: iPhone 6S, iPhone 6, Note 5, S6, G4, Xperia Z3+
Though of course Apple did throw in Live Photos as well in the mix this time round. It's nothing we have not seen before on other devices or services, but being Apple, they made it dead simple to use. The feature is on by default, and when you capture an image, the camera record a little bit before, and after you image capture, compiling it into a "Live" moving photo. You view the photos by using "3D touch" and pressing it a little harder on the screen.
When you are expecting to capture motion, it can create really decent "Live Photos". But a lot of time, I'm just seeing myself lowering the camera. It is something that is fun to use, but has very little practical use.
"I used Mac OS X's Image Capture app to import the photos onto my laptop, and the Live Photos exported as a .mov file. So I guess if you want to make .gif out of them, you sort of can if you're willing to jump through hoops."
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Apple's tagline for the iPhone 6S is "The only thing that's changed is everything", but that's not exactly true is it? It's more like "The only thing that's changed is everything inside". While there is a new colour, the design is exactly the same. The processor is amazingly quick, 3D Touch is sort of useful, and the camera has been great too. It's the best iPhone yet, and probably one of the best smartphone money can buy right now.
If you are in the market looking to buy a new smartphone running iOS, there is little to no reason not to get the 6S/6S Plus. If you're coming from the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, then it's a bit less straight forward. While the improvements are nice, I'm not exactly sure they warrant paying extra to upgrade to just yet. 3D Touch is nice, but its uses are still a little limited just yet while developers figure out how to make full use of it.
Like I said at the start, this is the best iPhone to date. But whether it's the best smartphone for you, is an entirely different question altogether.
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