STEVE JOBS, the late founder of Apple, once famously dismissed the competition’s race to shoehorn increasingly bigger screens into smartphones, likening the end-products to “Hummers”, those luxury SUVs that look like miniaturized tanks—silly, unwieldy and even downright vulgar given the limited road space of any neighborhood, except perhaps in, say, Dubai.
“No one is going to buy them,” Jobs said in a July 2010 news conference.
Fast-forward to September 2014 and with millions of “phablets”—as these smartphone/tablet hybrids have come to be called—now in the hands of consumers worldwide, Apple decided to crash the big-screen party, unveiling at its Cupertino, California, headquarters not just the iPhone 6 with its 4.7-inch Retina HD Display but also the iPhone 6 Plus—a surprising piece of kit that packs a 5.5-inch screen but with dimensions that push it straight into phablet territory, rivaled in size only by Sony Xperia T2 Ultra and its 6-inch screen and, before it, the Sony Xperia Z Ultra with its 6.4-inch display.
Not surprisingly, these latest releases from Apple have found their way into the postpaid subscriber offerings portfolio of Globe Telecom, the leading wireless communications provider around these parts which forged a hugely successful partnership with Apple beginning with the release of the first-generation iPhone in 2007.
In a statement released to the media, Globe Telecom Senior Vice President for Consumer Mobile Marketing Issa Cabreira said, “Finally, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus have arrived in the Philippines and Globe is beaming with excitement to bring the latest iPhones to Filipinos. With our long-standing partnership with Apple, we are poised to provide a complete digital experience to consumers: best-in-class postpaid plans, exclusive privileges and the biggest rewards, and a complete suite of value-added services and apps.”
In its revised pricing offer particularly for the iPhone 6 Plus, which was made effective on December 22, Globe now offers the big-screened sibling of the iPhone 6 at Plan999 with a monthly cashout of P1,250 for 24 months. With the plan comes the following: unlimited calls and texts to Globe/TM and GoSURF499 with 1.5GB of data monthly. With a GoSURF499 subscription, customers get a Navigation Bundle for unlimited access to Accuweather, Google Maps, GrabTaxi, MMDA app, and Waze; 1GB of Globe Cloud; one-month access to Wattpad; a month’s access to NBA League Pass; and three-month access to Spotify Premium. The carrier’s so-called Reset program, which allows existing postpaid customers to renew or extend their existing account to get the latest babies from Cupertino, is available until today, December 31.
Globe loaned us an iPhone 6 Plus to play with during the holidays, and what can we say?
It is BIG—measuring 6.22 inches in height and 3.06 inches in width, there’s no other way to describe it. While the iPhone 6 Plus has the same screen size as that of the bestselling LG G3, the Plus is notably taller and a smidgen wider. The seemingly unnecessary height can be easily attributed to the fact that Apple can’t simply do away with that round home button that sits just below the screen of every iPhone and iPad in existence. That said, it is much slimmer—just at 7.67 mm, while LG’s flagship comes in at 8.9 mm. No doubt, some would prefer the model-thin proportions of the iPhone 6 Plus, while others would say the bit of girth the G3 provides makes it easier to use. Needless to say, mileage among users with different predilections will vary.
As in earlier iPhone generations, the build quality of the iPhone 6 Plus is exemplary. The smooth aluminum that wraps the back of our loaner unit—in space gray; gold and silver variants are available—is delicious to the touch, the sides gently rounded out to seemingly fuse with the shatter-proof glass that protects the LED-backlit IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen. It’s a sublime touch that heightens the sense of premium iPhone users are predisposed to crow about. And, yes, we have read reports and seen videos of the so-called #Bendgate, with users despairing about their iPhone 6 Plus emerging bent from their pockets, but in the couple of weeks we have been toting around the loaner unit in our pocket, we have yet to discern even the slightest warping. Knock wood.
The display has a 1,080×1,920 resolution and—401 ppi pixel density—and it is one of the best displays out there in the smartphone/phablet space, with color and clarity as such that still and moving images appear even more life-like. The display also boasts of a new polarizer that makes the screen quite viewable even under the sun, and Apple also appears to have upped up the contrast levels from previous iPhones, all these making the overall viewing experience an absolute delight.
Of course, a bigger screen inevitably impacts battery life, and we don’t need to tell you that the battery woes of iPhone users have been gleefully mocked by Samsung on several occasions. Thankfully, Apple saw the wisdom in shoehorning a powerful Li-Po 2915 mAh battery into its first offering in the phablet space, and that has given us a day and a half of typical usage that includes intermittent browsing and working email and various social media accounts on LTE and Wi-Fi, and either listening to music or watching episodes of Downton Abbey, while caught up in mad holiday traffic.
Wasn’t it such fantastic thrill to see Mr. Carson finally propose to Mrs. Hughes?!
Now, if you want to know more about Apple’s debut in the phablet realm, head on over to www.apple.com/iphone/. To know more about how you can up your iPhone 6 Plus experience with Globe Telecom, visit www.globe.com.ph/iphone6/.
