Battery and camera give iPhone 6 Plus the edge

FRIDAY October 24 was like Christmas for many Apple fans in South Africa when the new iPhone became available.

Two years ago, during the Christmas period, I was one of many who queued in the iStore, waiting for the iPhone 5.

At that time it was the coolest and best phone available.

Blackberry was out, leaving the cellphone war to be waged between Apple and Samsung.

I will admit, Samsung has very cool phones and the S5 is the most soughtafter phone this year. But all that may change. The people at Apple were smart when they designed the iPhone 6.

They needed to make a phone that targets Samsung or LG users, and by that I mean a phone with a bigger screen display.

That brings us to the two versions of the Apple phones — the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. What is the difference? I was lucky to test both phones before I bought one.

First, size is the difference:

iPhone 6: Curved aluminium, gold or light/dark silver, 6.9mm thick, 129g.

iPhone 6 Plus: Curved aluminium, gold or light/dark silver, 7.1mm thick, 172g.

The screens are also different. The iPhone 6 looks like the Mini-Me of the iPhone 6 Plus; it’s like the equivalent of the Samsung S5 and the S5 mini. Some say the iPhone 6 Plus is a smaller version of the iPad mini. Both phones are slim. Most people will go for the iPhone 6 because it is a comfortable size, but before you do, I have to share a few other points to ponder.

The iPhone 5’s weak point was the poor battery life and you needed a car charger to make it last through the day. The iPhone 6 is slightly better, but I can vouch for the iPhone 6 Plus. It lasted a whole day with frequent use, including social media and e-mails.

If you have settled on an iPhone 6, don’t read any further because the details might depress you. This is how they differ: iPhone 6: 4.7-inch 1334 x 750, Retina HD LCD.

iPhone 6 Plus: 5.5-inch 1920 x 1080 LCD, optimisation in landscape.

So the iPhone 6 Plus comes with a much bigger screen.

The 6 Plus also has a better display, but you have to look hard to notice.

E-mails and social media look amazing.

Both phones come with an 8 megapixel camera, but there is an important difference between them.

The iPhone 6 Plus comes with optical image stabilisation — no more shaking or blurry pictures.

The storage space for both phones range from 16 to 128 gig.

Both are available in the colours mentioned above.

Choose a phone you need. If it’s for business, I suggest you go for the 6 Plus. But the iPhone 6 will never disappoint.