iPhone 6 Review & Apple's Recent Innovation (or lack thereof?)
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
2,435 words · ~12 min read
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the iPhone 6 is my third iPhone with the four being the first full touchscreen
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phone I ever used so while my daily driver is usually in HTC1 M8 I
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appreciate the Simplicity and functionality of iOS and I've been known
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in the past to say I pretty much don't have a preference today that changes but
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which way does it go well I guess you'll have to watch the video no
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spoilers Corsair gaming RGB keyboards feature Precision Cherry MX RGB key
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switches for 16.8 million color per key
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backlighting for virtually unlimited customization click now to learn more
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we'll kick things off with the speeds and feeds it's got a dual core 1.4 GHz
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A8 chip with a gig of RAM 16 to 128 gigs
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of internal storage an 1810 milliamp battery and a 4.7 in 1334 x 750 display
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but don't let any of those very middling specs scare you off too much a 16 gig
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based model with no micro SD expansion at $650 is embarrassing but everything else
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is pretty much fine cores and gigahertz are meaningless without considering the
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underlying architecture in fact we'll have a video coming in the future that
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really dives into this subject so make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss
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it RAM only affects performance when multitasking or with background
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processes running and iOS 8 doesn't raise the bar when it comes to using
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multiple apps at the same time nor does it lower it when it comes to expert
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managing idle resource use so you don't need a ton of RAM and then the battery
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also benefits from that same resource management and I easily ended up with 30
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to 40% battery at the end of a medium workload day as for the resolution I'll
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talk more about that one later I think physically man if you've seen one iPhone
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you really have seen them all haven't you the back has an Apple logo two
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antenna bands that the internet seems to care about a lot for some reason but I
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think is fine a mic a dual LED flash that works stunningly well even in Pitch
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Darkness at close range and an 8 megapixel camera whose f2.0 Sapphire
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Glass Lens protrudes from the casing in a way that I thought was a big deal when
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I heard about it at first but hasn't bothered me at all when using the phone
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on the top we see nothing but the 6.9 mm thick profile of the phone on the left
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is a mute button and a volume button and another volume button I guess on the
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bottom is a headphone jack lightning connector and a speaker and on the right
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is a nano SIM tray and a lock button the first significant change one that I
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almost really like it's better than having it on the top since the iPhone is
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no longer a one-handed Affair but Apple managed to commit the sin of having a
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lock button that opposes other buttons in this case the volume rockers so it's
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easy to change volume when reaching for the lock which brings us around to the
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front at the top is a disappointing 1.2 megapixel camera love or hate selfies
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guys you got to acknowledge that people take them and I think HTC made a smart
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move here an earpiece speaker and then on the chin bar the classic I device
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button with a new trick up its sleeve Touch ID is still awesome and a just
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plain faster way to unlock your phone by apps and by regular stuff with the just
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launched Apple pay service but now you get a double touch that what moves the
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entire UI down to what more on that
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later the screen itself boasts 100% srgb
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color looks beautiful from all angles is super bright maybe even too bright for
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you when using it at night with great contrast so it can easily be used
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outdoors and it has such smooth auto brightness that I completely forgot I
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had it on and then back to the resolution which I promised to touch on
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again to me the iPhone 6 is Apple's
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statement to the world that the pixel count race something they started with
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the iPhone 4 is over and I think they're right however random
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750p might be at this size it's just
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plain good enough something I actually talk about in both my Moto X review and
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my LG G3 review I did have some complaints though while I love the extra
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screen size for watching videos compared to the 5S and 4 and 1 half to 5 in it is
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is really my sweet spot for screen size which is why you won't likely see an
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iPhone 6 Plus review from me and while the design is beautiful and so elegant
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the way the glass itself is rounded into the aluminum unibody compared to the
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Moto X's flat glass with a rounded housing this causes unavoidable
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Reflections to show up around the edge of your content something that I did
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find a little distracting but not nearly as bothersome as the general ergonomics
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and usability of the device now I already whined about the lock button the
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bottom speaker is still a relic of a bygone age but one that we I guess we
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expect from Apple but on my podcast when rumors of larger iPhones first started
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circulating I pointed out that because of the way back buttons are in the top
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left and text entry fields are top Center things that are fine for
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one-handed use on a small device Apple would need to rethink their
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navigation and this two touch thing was
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not what I had in mind it helps a bit I can search for a contact or navigate
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back in an app more easily but it doesn't work across the board even in
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apple Zone OS I mean why do I need to reach way up there to take advantage of
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the much improved Spotlight feature and even with this feature Apple's UI moves
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you around on the screen so much that combined with the incredibly light
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design and rounded sides this phone is
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one of the most slippery fish that I've ever used even with this debrand carbon
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fiber wrap on it on top of that I feel like aside from content consumption I'm
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not really getting anything extra from the bigger screen anyway most UI
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elements are just blown up and while I do get an extra row of home screen icons
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the only solution to moving my frequently used stuff to the bottom
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right is still to fill the top rows with crap that I don't use as often for shame
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apple and I guess since we've already started down this path I might as well
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do the rest of my ranty stuff now iOS still doesn't allow landscape lock on
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small screen devices this seems like such a small thing to ask for for those
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of us who use our phones in bed a lot sharing options are still very
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inflexible I know you have an email client built into the phone and you have
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your own cloud storage but I don't use them I use Gmail and Dropbox and you're
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making my life slower apple and last but
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not least I can call people people with my voice through the contact list
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through recent in a message and now even by double clicking and selecting
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favorites way up at the top of the screen or I can double click I guess but
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none of these are as fast and as versatile as T9 dialing Apple please
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just implement this back to good stuff though the camera rocks it's lightning
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fast to launch autofocuses so fast you hardly even notice it it captures great
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images without thinking about it and can even do 60 FPS 1080P and 2 40 FPS 720p
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capture the default app is still pretty limited you can take lightning fast
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Burst photos you can tweak exposure very easily but that's about it and now that
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they're adding more camera modes I really don't think the swipe to change
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modes model is that great anymore U maybe Square could take a hike in the
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next update or they could come up with something a little bit better but I mean
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part of the beauty of you know Apple's camera app is a Simplicity and the good
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news is that they now allow thirdparty camera apps so manual control gear can
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get their jollies by using those as long as they don't want to change the
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aperture which isn't supported at this time speaking of third party app support
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though iOS finally supports thirdparty keyboards which is good because I found
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the stock ones prediction just plain not useful and while I appreciate the
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forward and back arrows due to Apple's otherwise slow cursor positioning method
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the landscape layout moves everything so close to the middle of the phone that
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for me to reach it comfortably is just not that great it's just too that swift
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key iOS keyboard sucks so far it's super
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responsive and I really wanted to like it but the space bar position moves in
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certain particularly social media apps a behavior that you can't turn off and you
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can't access a secondary layer of functionality on all the keys by
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pressing and holding that feature combined with the user adjustable hold
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down delay has made swift key my go-to on Android I it's not there yet here
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hopefully they get there in time but it's still very early days I got a
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notification there are a lot of other little improvements that come with iOS 8
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as well Mac Rumors has a great list of them that I'll link in the video
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description but some standouts are these recording last location in find my
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iPhone before the battery dies using Siri to ID song so you don't need Shazam
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anymore Wi-Fi calling if your carrier supports it calling out hey Siri when
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the device is plugged in to activate what is still my favorite voice control
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method easier insertion of photos and messages sending out a randomized MAC
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address when scanning for Wi-Fi networks some health crap that I don't care about
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at all and the coolest thing of all I really did Save The Best For Last here
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Family Sharing I mean imagine that Apple
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being the one to follow valve's lead and let us share the digital crap we bought
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with the people who live with us in the same way that we used to be able to do
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with physical stuff it works with apps music books and more and I applaud
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Apple for being Forward Thinking in this regard which leads to the conclusion
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which oh sorry right first the obligatory right this thing is actually a phone uh bit call Quality on my side
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was excellent I received no complaints about the mic from the other side and
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now the conclusion it's an iPhone if you
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don't like iPhones it's not going to change your mind and if you like iPhones
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and thought they should be bigger then go buy it or the even larger plus
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version because let's face it you were going to do that anyway but for me the
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rate at which Android continues to improve and the way that iOS with the
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exception of little things like Family Sharing continues to not really take
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huge strides forward and the way that it didn't adapt correctly to the larger
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devices is a a real stumbling block
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whatever the iPhone sales figures might look like anyway when the time comes
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whether you're buying an iPhone or some other thing maybe consider getting a
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debrand skin or debrand skin excuse me to go with it they generously provided
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us with the skinned iPhone 6 that you saw in this review just so I could do
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this review and in the link in the video description you'll find details for the
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10 skins that they're also giving away to Lucky Linus Tech tips viewers so
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they're Obviously good guys all around and if them being good guys isn't enough
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for you to think about buying vinyl wraps for your controllers consoles phones and other devices from them then
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consider also the high quality of their products and the excellent fit and
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finish that you got to enjoy during all the macro footage of the phone that you
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saw in this video they really are an excellent way to Gussy up your phone and
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also protect its finish if you frequently lay it down flat on surfaces
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the way that I do I do have an affiliate link for debrand so if you want to you
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can head to De brand.com Linus techtips but I don't think I get a kickback or
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anything so don't stress about the link too much just remember they're cool guys
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and they make skins for phones and consoles and controllers and cool stuff
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like that and so you guys are cool guys too I
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think for sitting all the way through this video well over 10 minutes about
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iPhones it's amazing you didn't die thank you for watching and not falling
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asleep like it if you liked it dislike it if you disliked it leave a comment
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letting me know your thoughts on the iPhone 6 do you desperately need me to
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review the 6 Plus given that it's basically the same thing but even bigger and even more Awkward to hold and I
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think that pretty much wraps it up check the link in the video description if you want to support us you can give us a
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monthly contribution buy a cool t-shirt like this one or change your Amazon bookmark to one with our affiliate code
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whenever you want to buy an iPhone say for example and I think that's pretty much
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it thanks for watching and as always don't forget to subscribe
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he