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The first reviews of the iPhone 6S are in — critics love it, but say you should only buy it if you have an older iPhone
(AP)
Apple's new iPhone 6S and 6S Plus goes on sale Friday, and Apple has let a few reporters play with it before it launches.
The iPhone 6S will have a 4.7-inch display and the 6S plus will have a 5.5-inch display. It's offering a new "rose gold" model that uses an entirely new aluminum than prior phones.
With contracts, the 6S starts at $199 for 16 GB and the 6S Plus starts at $299. Pre-orders started on September 12 and they go on sale in-store on the 25th.
In general, critics said the new iPhone is much faster than the iPhone 6. The camera is a lot better, too.
But, some reviewers, such as The New York Times' Brian X. Chen, noted that you should only upgrade to the iPhone 6S if you have an older model. If you have an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus, the improvements might not seem substantial enough to justify the purchase.
Here’s what critics had to say about the new iPhones:
3D Touch is going to be a huge game-changer. The Verge's Nilay Patel calls it "by far the most aggressive and interesting step in this direction anyone has ever taken." Patel also calls the iPhone 6S Plus the "best iPhone ever made."
But while it generally works well, there's a little confusion at first with 3D Touch, and it takes some getting used to. Bloomberg's Sam Grobart says: "If you don’t press hard enough, you activate the old-fashioned “jiggle mode” whereby your apps shake, inviting you to move them around the home screen. But Apple has added haptic feedback to guide your actions. Press until you feel a crisp click under your finger, and you'll know you’ve done it right.
The iPhone 6S's Live Photos feature is "enjoyable," though it has its setbacks. You take a photo as regular, but Apple captures 1.5 seconds of additional content on either side. So, even though it doesn't take up as much space as a regular video, you're essentially getting little videos, so you can make your photos animate. Brain X Chen from the New York Times says Live Photos "quickly became an enjoyable, integral part of shooting photos with an iPhone," though he didn't like 3D Touch.
The iPhone 6S' camera is phenomenal. TechCrunch's Matthew Panzarino calls "the most impressive camera and image processing feats in a smartphone, ever." He says the iPhone 6S's 4K video mode is its "crown jewel."
The new iPhones are more durable. They're made from higher-grade, stronger aluminum alloy and have new glass for the screens, which Apple says is the strongest used in smartphones these days. The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern says she felt "far less flex" than with the iPhone 6, so you hopefully won't have to worry about another Bendgate.
The new iPhones are a lot faster too, but you still only get 16GB of storage with the base model. The Verge’s Walt Mossberg said the new iPhone 6S is speedier than the previous model with compromising battery life. He even called it the “best version ever of the best smartphone on the market.” It’s not just that the phone runs more smoothly, Mossberg said that TouchID is faster too. He did, however, say that Apple should have increased the amount of storage in the base model of the iPhone 6S. The new iPhone, like Apple’s previous phones, starts with 16GB while competitors double the amount of storage in their entry level models.
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