Bigger is better with new iPhones

The new iPhones aren't groundbreaking but they're what one expects from Apple: stylish, intuitive and excellent at the essentials.

The iPhone 6

The new iPhones are what one expects from Apple: stylish, intuitive and excellent at the essentials. (AAP)

Another year, another two iPhones.

Are they better than what came before? Absolutely.

Should you drop everything and rush out to get one? Not necessarily.

Like most smartphones these days, neither the iPhone 6 nor its bigger brother, the 6 Plus, are especially groundbreaking.

Instead, Apple has done what it does best: ramped up the sexiness and focused on boosting the essentials, such as processors and the camera.

The most obvious change is the screen size, which has been boosted to 4.7 diagonal inches on the iPhone 6 and a whopping 5.5 inches on the iPhone 6 Plus.

The 5s, by contrast, measures a meagre four inches.

This move is overdue. Competitors such as Samsung recognised long ago that people are hungering for bigger screens to browse the net, play games, and watch movies.

Apple is playing catch-up, yet it's doing it well.

The display remains sharp with vivid colours, managing to cram more pixels into every inch than the human eye is able to detect.

To offset the bigger screens, Apple has managed to squash the phones down, making them slightly slimmer than the iPhone 5s.

They've also opted for smoother, rounded edges, which feel much nicer in your hand and slide more easily into your pocket.

Meanwhile, the smooth aluminium casing gives them a more premium feel than plastic competitors.

Apple's also boosted an already excellent camera - not by upping the megapixel count, which remains at eight, but by overhauling the sensor, lens and aperture.

Autofocus is faster and you can control exposure, meaning better photos in low light.

You can also take much more detailed panoramas and smoother high-def videos. Better slow-mo video and timelapse features are also fun to play with.

One slight disappointment is the middling battery. It seems to last about a day on the iPhone 6 with standard use, and a little longer on the 6 Plus.

As for which to get, it depends entirely on your size preference.

The iPhone 6 is big enough without being unwieldy, while the 6 Plus feels more like a niche model for people who hunger for a massive screen.

Owners of previous models needn't upgrade immediately, and people comfortable with Android alternatives needn't switch.

But the phones are what one now expects from Apple: stylish and excellent at the things most people want a phone to be excellent at.

And Apple's major selling point - its intuitive software and massive ecosystem of apps - remains as powerful as ever.

* iPhone 6 costs $869, $999 and $1129 for 16GB, 64GB and 128GB models, respectively.

* iPhone 6 Plus costs $999, $1129 and $1249, respectively.


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