iPhone 6 - One Week In

Are we are interested in the wrong stuff? The big iPhone bends and it's not an LG Flex.. OK. Friends in love with Samsung are waiting for the EDGE/Note 4. Great! Moto X goes on sale today which has been declared the best Android phone ever by more sites than I can count (or was it one guy and then a bunch of copycats?). Ever try to use StreamBoard these days to monitor  the tweets associated with a popular event? Impossible. Everyone's got an opinion. Haters hate etc. But the proof is in the using..

I've been using the iPhone 6 as my sole device for a week now and I like the form. No case for me. Haven't come close to dropping it once. It's the right size for my hand (no reason not to try it out). I like the power button on the right side of the phone instead of the top though I'm still getting used to it. Moto X (first gen) taught me where all the buttons should be and that's on the right side of the phone (for a righty!). One hand operation is dramatically improved with the volume rocker and power buttons on the right.  I updated to iOS 8.0.2 this morning. Luckily I missed the fun with the first update yesterday morning. Seems most of the notable tech sites referenced this article if you are interested in more details and sixcolors.com is a great place to keep up with Apple and other tech news that's not tuned to advertisers. The site is written by a former lead editor at Macworld.

My experience: It is easier to enter passwords on Android with  Lastpass as your password manager. It is also easier to share/save/clip articles and interesting stuff you find to Pocket, Instapaper, Facebook, Twitter, G+, Evernote etc. It's improved on Safari for  iPhone but I'm a Firefox/Chrome sync fan. Memories of MobileMe still haunt me. I'll get over it. I really like the ability iPhone now has to respond to messages via the home screen alert and appreciate the frequent contacts that are easily accessible with the double click of the home button. The "Tips" app has taught me some nice tricks as well. Check it out. Waze works great. As does Glympse. Strava, gMail and various go-to apps are super. Screen is bright and beautiful. Like the new wallpapers...

The Android lovers are out in force saying that the new iPhone is 2 years behind Android and there is a bit of evidence to support that. So not much has changed really. I like wireless charging which seems to not be a priority these days. The new iPhone's battery, despite comments in the press to the contrary (which are maybe based on specs and not experience), has been great and I really like a Laptop/Phone/Tablet that can stay unplugged for a day without making adjustments to my performance settings. BTW the iPhone will charge faster if you use the adapter for an iPad (pro trick safe for use at home).

The iPhone is great in it's simplicity and the only glitch I've encountered has been the accelerometer is sometimes slow to adjust the screen from portrait to landscape and back. That and the inevitable issue which is that I use lots Google products (Keep for Notes, Picasa, Finance, Voice, Calendar, Maps, Mail and my default document manager is Google Docs. Rarely do I start a document with Word anymore.)  Love Google Now. Google apps integrate seamlessly with one password for all apps on Android. Google now can be used on the iPhone but not as an integrated feature. It's getting better everyday.
The issue of Apple allowing 3rd party keyboards has been noted. SwiftKey for Android was a favorite of mine and I loaded it onto the iPhone. It has limited functionality compared to it's Android sibling. The stock iPhone keyboard has been improved. It still has a way to go.

There are  a couple of great reasons to get the new iPhone. It's by far the best one yet. The camera is great. Click here for a wonderful demonstration of the iPhone 6 Plus in Iceland by Austin Mann. It has Facetime and so do your relatives. Apple will keep it simple and you don't have to fuss with it. Makes great calls, has a super messaging app now with some cool new features. Messaging has become very fragmented. I prefer Hangouts. What do you use? I get a lot of replies like, "yes. sure. who is this?" Onward.

Enjoy it and let the gang at XDA Developers and Google+ communities say whatever they want. If you are adventurous take the plunge. There are a number of great Android phones to choose from and there will be a new Nexus shortly! Got my eye on the MotoX.. Its the right size!
This new iPhone is super. Thumbs up!