[subego]

Unboxing!

[subego]

Feels heavier (if that's more battery, no complaints).

Decided to let Siri listen in.

Force touch is cute.

The new vibration motor can produce an interesting "insta-thunk".

Touch ID feels quicker.

[Spheric Harlot]

It's not more battery. The battery is smaller. It's the 3D Touch layer and the Taptic Engine.

[Spheric Harlot]

3D Touch for cursor positioning is perfect. HOORAY!

[OreoCookie]

I tried a 6S in the Apple Store today. 3d Touch is really amazing and I am sure that once I get used to it, I will never want to give it up!

[subego]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

3D Touch for cursor positioning is perfect. HOORAY!

Actually, that is pretty nifty. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing with that when I first found it.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

It's not more battery. The battery is smaller. It's the 3D Touch layer and the Taptic Engine.

Booooo!

[P]

The shell is slightly thicker as well.

Handled it in an Applestore yesterday, and it feels less slippery. The 6 felt like a piece of soap that I was always on the verge of dropping, and this was clearly better. Still like the 5S size better though.

[subego]

I was pretty concerned about letting the 6 go naked. For whatever reason I was lucky enough to manage the same two or three drops per year as the old models.

I preferred the size of the 5 as well. I have stubby fingers, so the 6 required conscious reworking of how I held the phone. I got used to it though and now see the 5 as cramped for space the same way the 4 seemed cramped compared to the 5.

[subego]

Good Christ, the speaker is loud. I've dropped it to half-volume to match what I had on the 6, which was usually at full.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

3D Touch for cursor positioning is perfect. HOORAY!

As much as I like it, there's something a little odd about using a touch screen like a trackpad.

[Spheric Harlot]

Two full days of use in, I'm getting used to the size. Still think it's too big. But I'll probably be used to it by the end of the week.

[subego]

There's definitely a learning curve. I could get my index finger around the top of a 5, and that would lock it in place. I can't do that with a 6, at least not without making thumb access to the keyboard difficult.

At first I tried to get my index finger around the side, but that put the center-of-gravity past my fingers, and was an accident waiting to happen. I had to retrain the index to no longer want to grip, and instead splay out to hold the phone like an easel.

[Spheric Harlot]

I rest it on my little finger at the bottom, but that means my thumb can't reach the top left corner without tilting the phone inwards. A bit of a pain. We'll see how my hand likes it in a week or two.

[subego]

Though you may be aware, if you double-touch (not press) the home key, the screen (image) slides down so you can get it easier.

[subego]

Like so...

[Spheric Harlot]

Yes. Awesome. **** things up so fundamentally that you have to add an extra two-finger tap gesture to make it operable.

So, I reach to the top left of the display, find I can't properly get there, so instead, I have to reach for the BOTTOM and double-tap, and the reach back up to hit the button. For what should be a single tap.

That's the King of Interface Design.

How I laughed when Samsung first did something similar on their idiot slabs.

[subego]

It bothered me at first as well, but I feel it was something of a stopgap. Developers have been moving away from putting interface elements at the top of the screen.

[subego]

Battery seems similar to the 6. I'm getting my standard 10% per hour drop under heavy use.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by subego 

It bothered me at first as well, but I feel it was something of a stopgap. Developers have been moving away from putting interface elements at the top of the screen.

Yeah, like Apple, with their "return to previous app" button that's the top three millimetres of the screen, top left.

But 3D Touch swipe-in from the left does the same thing.

[subego]

I was thinking more in terms of in-app UI. That corner used to be pivotal for navigation inside an app.

[P]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

Yeah, like Apple, with their "return to previous app" button that's the top three millimetres of the screen, top left.

I noticed. I chose to be an optimist and take that as a sign that the next generation of phones will be slightly smaller again. I'm not saying that 4" is the absolute biggest a phone should be, but 4.7" is not a good size. Too small to be the a two-handed device, too large to maneuver with one hand.

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

But 3D Touch swipe-in from the left does the same thing.

That is on a level with the doubletap on the home button though - zero discoverability, kinda finicky to do.

[mindwaves]

In many ways, the 6S is a greater improvement over the 6 than the 6 was over the 5S. I'm waiting for 7, however.

edit: I currently have a 6 who upgraded from a 5.

[subego]

Originally Posted by P 

I noticed. I chose to be an optimist and take that as a sign that the next generation of phones will be slightly smaller again. I'm not saying that 4" is the absolute biggest a phone should be, but 4.7" is not a good size. Too small to be the a two-handed device, too large to maneuver with one hand.

It's more workable than it appears unless you have small hands.

My glove size is medium, and have had zero problem with one-handed use once I acclimated.

[Spheric Harlot]

I'm getting there. Ask me again in a week.

[P]

Originally Posted by subego 

It's more workable than it appears unless you have small hands.

My glove size is medium, and have had zero problem with one-handed use once I acclimated.

I actually have quite large hands, in particular long fingers, so I shouldn't have problems, but to me it always feels like I'm about to drop it when I'm handling a 6. 6s DOES feel better, though.

My main problem is that I don't see the value in the bigger display, but I see many problems. Bigger displays feels like the mobile phone answer to New Coke.

[subego]

Originally Posted by P 

I actually have quite large hands, in particular long fingers, so I shouldn't have problems, but to me it always feels like I'm about to drop it when I'm handling a 6.

Interesting.

The 6+ would be utterly impossible for me to use effectively with one hand.

The 6 felt like it was going to flip out of my hand for a couple weeks after I got it. I had to consciously alter my grip for awhile. Once that new grip got into muscle memory, I didn't have problems. I'll whip up some photos of the change.


Edit: misread 6+ for 6s.

[subego]

With the 5 series, my grip was dependent on curling my fingers around the edges. The 5 was small enough I could actually curl my index finger around the top of the phone. Couldn't do that with a 6, but felt I still needed to curl my fingers to hold it in place.

This was my "natural" grip coming off the 5.



This sucked for two reasons. The first is obvious. The center of gravity for the phone is above my hand. Any loosening of the grip meant the phone wanted to flip over. Also, this grip put my thumb in an awkward place to get at the keyboard.

Here's my adjusted grip.



I don't get the security of the finger curl any more, but because the center of gravity is now under my fingers, it doesn't want to flip. I also have decent thumb position because the phone is riding on my fingertips, rather than half in my palm.

This is theoretically less secure than I was holding the 5, but as I said, I had equivalent dropsy incidents (2-3/year).

[subego]

Anyone uncomfortable about Siri always listening?

[mindwaves]

I wouldn't. I'm kind of annoyed that my 6 has to be plugged in before it is listening. I want it to remind me of stuff and it is right next to me, but not plugged in.

[P]

(Handling a 6)

I don't so much grip the 5 as rest it on my pinkie and just stabilize it with my other fingers and base of the thumb. That obviously doesn't work well with a phone as large as the 6. I would probably adapt to a 6, I just think that the size is poorly chosen. The bigger display just doesn't interest me much, so any adaptation I have to make is twice as hard because it has no upside for me.

[Spheric Harlot]

Six days in, and the size feels almost second-nature to me. And I was one of the most vocal skeptics here.

[subego]

Originally Posted by P 

(Handling a 6)

I don't so much grip the 5 as rest it on my pinkie and just stabilize it with my other fingers and base of the thumb. That obviously doesn't work well with a phone as large as the 6. I would probably adapt to a 6, I just think that the size is poorly chosen. The bigger display just doesn't interest me much, so any adaptation I have to make is twice as hard because it has no upside for me.

Totally understood. I got the 6 for better speeds and feeds, not the screen size. Had they offered the same hardware on an updated 5, I would have bought that, and at the time was kinda pissed Apple forced me to get a 6 if I wanted the best internals. I really like the form factor of the 5.

That said, I grew to like the bump in screen size, and now a 5 feels cramped.

[SierraDragon]

I have now been using the 6s since Friday morning. My observations:

1) The 6s with iOS 9 is hella fast and smooth, a huge upgrade from my 5s. And the camera is substantially improved. Journalists like those at CNet that called the s upgrade boring/unexciting are idiots.

2) In the car my phone lives in a mount just in front of the dash. The larger display size of the 6s with iOS Maps absolutely rocks in that usage.

3) Although I have XL hands the size of the 6s feels very ungainly. Not as bad as on day one, but still ungainly.

4) Due to the phone size, camera shutter release on the larger 6/6s size is particularly frustrating to me. The difficult for me shutter release substantially hinders utilization of the excellent camera capabilities. Hopefully I can find a workaround over time.

5) Always-on Siri works great on the 6s and is already very useful. No doubt it will get even better as I learn to use it. In the car I use a BT headset and while following Map directions can say "Hey Siri call John Smith" or whatever and the phone will make the call and immediately be active in the headset. Very cool, useful and safe.

-Allen

[subego]

Originally Posted by SierraDragon 

4) Due to the phone size, camera shutter release on the larger 6/6s size is particularly frustrating to me. The difficult for me shutter release substantially hinders utilization of the excellent camera capabilities. Hopefully I can find a workaround over time.

I've had this problem, too. Both with reaching the on-screen button in landscape mode, or using the hardware button in either orientation.

It can be hard to hit one side button without accidentally hitting a button on the other side. I've lost count of how many times I've tried to take a picture, and instead put the phone to sleep, or change the volume without accidentally putting the phone to sleep.

If I slide my index finger over to reach the volume, my thumb naturally goes to the sleep button.

[subego]

I still don't know how much is 6s and how much is iOS 9, but I'm still floored by being able to leave Safari or Alien Blue and not get a forced reload upon return.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by subego 

I still don't know how much is 6s and how much is iOS 9, but I'm still floored by being able to leave Safari or Alien Blue and not get a forced reload upon return.

It's iOS 9.

I'm on the iPhone 6, and Safari performance has improved markedly.
I can open multiple websites, flip between them, and even go back w/o complete refresh and many seconds delay.

Kudos to for Apple fixing this.

-t

[subego]

Wifi bump confirmed.