That Night ¶
It was 12:43 AM on Friday, September 12, 2014. After 43 minutes of horror, I was one of the lucky few who successfully preordered an iPhone 6 Plus that night (morning). I was so excited. Finally, an iPhone with a bigger-than-4-inches screen. I imagined all the YouTubing and Netflixing I would be doing during my lunches at work, and I imagined actually using that silly com.apple.videos app (on my phone!). Conversely, I also imagined having ‘not the best’ iPhone (which was something I had done before during my brief stent with a 5C last year). That experience was one I did not want to repeat. (Don’t get me wrong, I loved the everything about the 5C—how it felt in my hand, the warmth it conveyed vs the coldness of the 5/5s, but I missed the A7 and the camera sensor).
Some thought went into my decision.
In Favor of Plus over Regular ¶
- A bigger screen meant not having to carry around an iPad, because I could watch things on my big ol’ phone.
- A bigger case meant the iPhone could house a bigger battery, so I wouldn’t have to feel guilty for not charging my phone in the car during lunch.
- OIS meant I could take better pictures.
- A design better in every way than the previous iPhones (except for the original iPhone. That thing was a beaut.) Adventure
In Favor of Regular over Plus ¶
- A bigger screen and a bigger case meant … a bigger lump of metal in my pocket.
- A bigger lump in my pocket also meant that I would have a bigger lump in my workout shorts. A bigger lump in my workout shorts means my phone could more easily fall out. Could I deal with that?
- Was OIS worth #1 and #2?
- The regular 6 looks just as good as the bigger Plus
- Familiarity
That’s it really. I decided to go with the Plus.
So, with that in mind, I thoroughly enjoyed my Plus for a couple of days. It fit fine in my work pockets, sat nicely in the cup holder in my car, and since I rarely used my iPhone for one-handed typing, thumbing on this was actually easier than previous iPhones.
When we got back from our trip, and as I was unloading the car and putting things away in the garage, I experienced the worse feeling any iPhone owner could experience: the experience of dropping the phone. I was squatting down to remove the bicycle hauler / hitch attachment thingy, and it happened. The phone only fell about two inches from the ground, but it still hurt my soul to watch it happen in slow motion. Man, I had to get a case for this thing. So I ordered one that day.
And then, on another occasion, I decided I wanted to take Smokey running. So, I put my phone in my pocket and took the dog running. About ten steps into our cadence, I noticed what felt like an iPad bouncing around in my pocket. Wow, that is so lame (and scary—don’t want it to fall out!). So for the rest of the run, I held my careless iPhone 6 Plus in a sort of Tony Death Grip whilst simultaneously handling the canine. It was kind of nerve-wracking and overly cumbersome. Because of this experience, a few days later, I had become the recent owner of what was basically a glorified fanny pack. Yes, the man borne in 1987 suddenly took a time machine back to that time, when cellular telephones were as big as Mac Pros.
A week or so later, I began to self-reflect. Why was I wearing a case around the house (when I had never been one to use a case for my iPhone?). Similarly, why did I pay money (let alone wear) a fanny pack? Why indeed.
Next, I did what any self-respecting nerdophile would do in these situations: I re-consulted with Gruber, Marco, Jason Snell, Myke Hurley, and a multitude of other technology personalities. Only, I didn’t actually consult with them. Instead, I listened to them rant on their respective podcasts (see: The Talk Show, ATP, and Upgrade).
Their Collective Voice Was Clear ¶
The iPhone 6 Plus was too big.
So they all got the regular 6.
This talk hadn’t perturbed me initially. In fact, during the time leading up to the actual launch day, I chalked up all the nerd-hate against the Plus as a sort of ‘Ah-these-are-the-same-guys-who-thought-Apple-should-have-stayed-with-a-3.5"-screen-size-forever’ mentality.
But, after having some frustrations of my own, it was easier to see where the tech peeps were coming from. And at the end of the day, for me, the cons of the big phone outweighed the pros.
It was just too big. I loved holding that phone. I have small hands, but the bigger case was never an issue. As an aside, I used (and still do) use Reachability at lot. It’s a great feature. I wish I had it whilst thumb-typing on my iPad mini (or Allison’s iPad Air).
And so, after about two weeks of ownership, I put my iPhone 6 Plus up for sale on eBay, and got myself a shiny new iPhone 6.
I love it. It’s like having my iPhone 5S again (or the 5C before that, or the 5S before that, or the 5 before that, or the 5 before that). It fits easily in my pocket, and it just feels like a screen I can manage.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.