Tech Guide’s hands-on look at the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus

Tech Guide went hands on with the highly-anticipated iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus minutes after the launch in Cupertino today.

The first thing that you notice when you pick up either device is how much thinner they are when compared the current iPhone 5S.

The iPhone 6 is 6.9mm and the iPhone 6 Plus is 7.1 – down from the iPhone 5S at 7.6mm.

Holding the iPhone 6 in your hand you can feel the rounder edges to give it a nice feel in your hand.

Of course it is the larger screen sizes that are going to get the customer’s attention. It certainly got our attention.

The larger displays – 4.7-inch on the iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch on the iPhone 6 Plus – are crisper and clearer.

Screen resolutions are 1334 x 750 and 1920 x 1080 with 326ppi (pixels per inch) and 401ppi respectively and you can appreciate every pixel when you hold it in your hand.

There might be other smartphones out there with higher pixels per inch but the screens on the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were among the best we’ve laid eyes on.

The back of the iPhone was a solid colour except for two white lines across the top and bottom of the panel.

It felt a little unusual to look at iPhone with a larger screen – we’re so used to seeing the smaller 4-inch screen and only seeing Android on this bigger scale.

Seeing those extra rows of icons and much more screen real estate to use your favourite apps was refreshing and gave us a sense of luxury.

The bigger screen is something iPhone users have been craving with many attracted to leave the iPhone for other larger devices.

Now that excuse that has had some turn their back on the iPhone has been taken off the table.

Apple is still very conscious about users still being able to use the device one handed.

They’ve taken this into consideration with the Safari browser with a double tap of the home button to bring the top of the web page halfway down the screen to easily access it.

The sleep/wake button has also been relocated from the top to the side of the product to try and maintain one-handed access.

While we were using the 5.5-inch iPhone Plus we were able turn the device on its side – even on the home screen and the display adjusted to the landscape view like it does on the iPad.

Apps like messaging, email, stocks, the weather and many more have all been adapted to work in landscape. And not just spreading out across a wider space but with added features and intelligent use of the space.

Email, for example, had your inbox on the left and the active message taking up all of the space on the right. It was the same thing for your text messages.

There’s also a faster processor, a better camera with image stabilisation for pictures and videos and NFC (near field communication) to power a new secure Apple payment system.

These features will be covered in our complete review of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the coming weeks.

But after our initial first look – we are certainly very impressed and expect customers to be camping to buy the new iPhones on September 19.

Pricing for the iPhone 6 is $869 (16GB), $999 (64GB) and $1,129 (128GB). The iPhone 6 Plus is priced at $999 (16GB), $1,129 (64GB) and $1,249 (128GB).

* Stephen Fenech travelled to Cupertino as a guest of Apple

Related Stories

Apple enters the wearable market with Apple Watch

Apple unveils larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus