iPhone 6S+, or, iPad Micro

Not sure what to call it – phone or phablet? But it’s going to have to go just about wherever I go for the next 2 years, at least…

Pictured here: my outgoing iPhone 5 (early 2013 vintage) and new iPhone 6S+, both entombed in Otterbox Defender cases. My iPad is shown for an additional reference point.

Here’s my frame of reference for a phone this size. I’m a bari sax player. When you scale something up this much, in the picture, it seems like just a bigger version of the same thing, but it’s not, exactly. Watch this extremely random video of two talented young saxophonists and maybe you’ll see what I mean.

So how is this working out for you? I can (sorta) hear you asking:

• I like it! Some of the love is undoubtedly due to the fact that I also splurged for the 128 GB (128 GB for marketing purposes; came out of the box with something like 112 GB available) storage. This allowed me to add my entire music collection to the phone, something I’ve only been able to do with one other portable device, my beloved but now aging iPod. The processor is also ridiculously fast (or so it seems for now; mobile is an amazing arms race).
• It’s about as big as it needs to get!(?) Screen sizes are also an arms race. This isn’t the first time cell phones have been this big, but where older phones headed toward a practical limit on the small side because fingers couldn’t get any smaller, we’re now, I think, heading toward a practical limit on the large side because hands can’t get any bigger. This infographic below from Dan‘s post about designing for different screen sizes at www.mycleveragency.com tells the story.

used with permission – mycleveragency.com

• This phone (which does sport a reachability feature in deference to its extreme height, to which I hope they add an ability to contract left/right) is hard to use one-handed. That’s a tradeoff I decided to accept; as I get out and about and actually try to use it I’ll have to see what it’s like wearing it, using it, etc. As a frame of reference I’m 6 feet tall, built kinda large, wear gloves in the M/L size, and can comfortably play a bari sax. There are those for whom the 6S, not the 6S+, is definitely going to be the upper limit. There is actually a shoulder carry option for it (this company also makes them for other phones, and… this may be a little nuts, but to each their own). Here’s a significant dimension for you – the length of the 6S+ equals the width of the iPad…
• It’s going to change how you use it. Again the bari sax analogy – it’s not just a big alto. It plays a different role and has different strengths and weaknesses. I decided to try it (the phone, not the bari sax) because in my current job I have fewer voice calls to make, I sit at a desk more, but when I’m away from the office I am more likely to absolutely need to get on an email. I’m going to need to use bluetooth more. It’s going to tempt me to get some kind of smart watch (pretty sneaky, Apple!). On the plus side, I will have more occasions when I can leave the iPad behind.
• And about that iPad – the first time I ever saw a cellular-enabled iPad I thought – someone is going to use that thing for a phone. I think we’re reaching that convergence.
• Another brilliant idea on convergence – the cell phone paradigm has been one device per phone number/SIM. With the increasing digitalization of the cell phone world, it would seem that the next step would be the ability to have a secondary phone. Maybe a simple feature phone that can share the number when all you need is – a phone.