Adam Slobodian, a member in my Apple Community has written an excellent “first impressions” post about the new iPhone 6s. He also switched his data from the Android phone Nexus 6 to the iPhone 6s. Read his experience below.
Here is his initial impressions of the iPhone 6S
(These are my personal views and reflect how I initially feel about the device. Other peoples experiences may be different then mine. Also, I am not writing this to compare to other mobile OS’s or other phone’s on the market. There are a lot of choices out there and everyone will like something different. Use what you like and works best for you.)
Now that I got that out of the way…….
Initial startup and setup was very fast and easy. I used the “Move to iOS” app from the Play Store to switch my data from my Nexus 6 over to the iPhone 6S and it worked very well. Data was transferred over without issue and placed in the correct location on the iPhone (Photos and videos migrated over, contacts were restored properly, all my text and MMS message were migrated to iMessage, Bookmarks to Safari etc). Worked very well and it was painless.
Once setup one of the first things I noticed was how fast and accurate Touch ID is on this phone. You literally quickly tap the home button when the screen is off and it launches right into your home screen. So fast in fact that I don’t even get a chance to see my lock screen at all. In order to see the lockscreen I either use a finger that I don’t have touch ID setup with, or I press the power button. But, to quickly launch the home screen and start using your apps it’s less than a second, quick tap and you are in. Touch ID is transparent, works very well and beats having to enter a Pin ID each and every time. Saves you a lot of time in the end. It also works great when downloading apps in the App Store. Click to install app and then just touch the home button and your password is instantly verified and your download starts. Very handy.
The camera on the 6S does a really great job. Launches quickly, snaps photos fast and each and every pic I take seems to turn out with great quality. Very consistent camera. I’ve been having a lot of fun playing around with the slow motion camera with my kids and the new Live Photos which is also very cool as well. I setup a live photo of my kids waving to me as a lockscreen wallpaper. When you just look at the lockscreen you see their pic, but if you tap and press while on the lockscreen the picture animates and my kids are waving at me. I know it’s not a deal breaker or something you specifically look for when purchasing a phone. But none the less I found the feature very enjoyable and if I am having a bad day at work I can just pick up my phone and animate my lockscreen to see my kids smiling and waving at Daddy. Awesome. You can also share your Live Photos with others using iOS devices and they can view the photos as well.
3D Touch takes a bit of getting used to, but once you start using it and getting the hang of it, you notice yourself using it often. Most of the apps that come with the phone support 3D touch and more than a handful of 3rd party apps (with more to follow I am sure) currently support 3D touch. I find myself using it to quickly flip through my open apps instead of double pressing the home button. On the camera to take a quick video or selfie it’s a little faster doing it that way then opening the app then switching to the mode. Peek is cool while in iMessage to get a preview of a website for example that someone sends to you and it will load in the preview window and you can decide if you want to go to the site. If you don’t want to, just release your finger and you are back to the message. If you do want to go to the site then just press harder and it will pop open and show you the content. Will have to wait and see what developers can do with the technology when implementing their apps, but I’m optimistic.
Although the battery on the 6S is small in mAH (1715) it doesn’t feel like I am strapped for battery during my day. While using the phone I notice it does drop a little quicker than other phones I have used in the past. But when it’s idle and not being used it takes a long time for the phone to drain any battery. So I still need to do more testing and see what it will be like after a full week of use. But so far I’d say on a day to day basis, with my use, I will be able to get through a day without issue. If it’s a heavy use day then yes you will need to charge. My use usually consists of 8 hours at work (where my phone is sitting idle) then I use it in the evening. So in that case I think it will work out to about the same as what I have experienced with my other devices that had a lot larger batteries. But again, have to do more testing.
Performance on this phone is really quite impressive. The A9 chip is just a powerhouse and I haven’t experienced any lag or stutter whatsoever. Everything is smooth as butter. Booting the phone up is very quick, loading of applications takes no time at all. Once you are in the applications scrolling is smooth, app switching is quick and instant. I don’t have any real technical words or testing to confirm the performance. But if I had to sum it up to the everyday average user. It’s extremely fast, very smooth, no issues with lag or jitters at all. It’s a really nice experience navigating around the OS on a day to day basis, just flies through everything without issue.
There are other things I can talk about such as iMessage and Facetime. Those services are new for me, but since they aren’t new for most people I won’t talk about it. Most people know what they do and what to expect from the services.
Overall I’d have to say I am very happy with my purchase. The experience using the device has been great to this point and I am excited to see how it will improve in the upcoming weeks and months.
If you have never used an iPhone before and were wondering if the 6S is something you would enjoy using. I’d say give it a try and you may be surprised.
Great phone and experience overall. Peace