iPhone 6: 10 things you should know

The much-awaited event is finally over. And here is what you need to know about it!

Apple has been credited with various products which created niche markets and other companies followed suit.

But for many, the wait for big screened mobile phone from Apple was getting too long, an area which has been pioneered by Samsung, Apple's biggest rival of late.

So naturally, the expectations were high when news started to trickle in that Apple finally is ready with its own 'phablets' in the September of 2014.

The day came and many were not entirely disappointed.

The products were not really as ground-breaking as is generally expected from Apple camp, but putting the focus squarely on the iPhone 6, let us take a closer look as to what Apple has to offer with their annual update.

1. iPhone 6 doesn't comes alone. It has itself for company.

Apart from the regular iPhone 6, there is the iPhone 6 PLUS as well alongside this time.

The former comes with a screen a 4.7-inch display, the iPhone 6 Plus packs a 5.5-inch screen.

Both the iPhone 6's display have been dubbed as the new generation of Retina

Display. Resolution respectively being 1334x750 for 4.7", and 1920x1080 for 5.5".

The resultant pixel densities are 326ppi and 401ppi respectively.

2. Horizontal viewing mode

Apple has also incorporated a new horizontal viewing mode for the big screened iphones, which basically takes advantage of the increased real estate on the viewing area.

In both cases of the new iPhones, app developers will be able to design apps that can be viewed differently when the phone is held horizontally, providing a whole new perspective.

3. These two are dubbed as thinnest ever iPhones

With dimensions being 6.9mm & 7.1mm in terms of thickness respectively, both have been trimmed from the previous iphone. (The iphone 5s is 7.6mm thick)

Both the models are sporting a round edged design, and an oleophobic coating.

Individually speaking, weights of the two phones are a bit different, with the iphone 6 weiging 129gms, and iphone 6 plus clocking 172gms.

4. Under-the-hood improvements

The new iPhone is carrying the Apple's new M8 motion co processor, which is a dedicated chip for motion tracking and health monitoring.

Carrying with it an array of sensors like accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, digital compass, and altimeter, it enables the iphone 6 to measure the user's movement and return the data for fitness based calculations.

The inclusion of barometer itself is pretty interesting, as the phone now can indicate how many steps have been climbed by the user instead of just the usual distance calculations.

Combined with health kit apps, Apple seems to have taken up the health related department big time with this release.

As for the processor, the iphone 6 is carrying the new A8 processor, which when compared with the last year's A7, is supposed to provide an improvement of 25 per cent.

5. Improved camera sensors

Although the megapixels on the camera remains 8MP as before, Apple has claimed to ramp up the sensor in the new iPhone to bring about better
results.

The iphone 6 features a true tone dual LED flash to go along with the improved setup.

The phone features rapid continuous focus while taking videos.

The focus pixel in the new sensor uses pixel pairs to accomplish fast focus.

One of the biggest improvement with the new iphone will be the ability to capture better slow motion video by grabbing footage at 240 frames per second.

For reference, a normal video is captured at 60 frames per second. The phone will also come with Video Stabilization feature.

6. Apple pay

Perhaps the tag for the most interesting feature for the iPhone 6 will go to Apple's new payment system, which the company is calling as Apple Pay. And NFC antenna plays a major part in here.

The user will be able to make payments by using their iPhone.

All the user has to do is to add a card detail either via itune or take a photo of the card, and Apple will verify with the bank at their end, and once verification is successfully done, the details will be added to user's passbook account. Then the touchID takes over at the time of payment.

At the counter, the user holds their respective phones in front of a reader, and will have to place their finger over the fingerprint scanner. For final confirmation, Apple pay is to be selected and confirmed in an app.

Apple claims cashiers will no longer see details like name, credit card number or security code etc.

The actual card numbers are not stored on the device nor on Apple servers.

This should prevent cases of fraud in the future.

Apple has claimed that several merchants are onboard this new feature, namely Apple stores, Staples, McDonald’s, Subway, Disney stores and Walt Disney World Resort, etc.

7. Seamless cellular to Wifi network call transfer (VoLTE)

Apple bring Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) with iphone 6.

There are cases when the cellphone service provider's network might not be the best in particular areas, and a call over wifi network seems to be a better option.

The iphone 6 is enabled to seamlessley transfer the call over to wi fi network without making the callers feel any dip in quality or breakage.

The feature will initially be available via T Mobile in the US, and EE in the UK.

8. Battery Life

Apple has claimed the new iphones to be having equal or better battery lives than the 5s.

This means iphone 6 is capable of pulling in ~13 hours of talktime, 50/80 hours of music playback experience, and 10/12 hours of LTE.

The iPhone 6 claims to be able to stretch itself to 24 hours of talktime. Exact battery capacities for the phones has not been released.

The iPhone 5s has a claimed battery life worth 40hrs of music playback, 250hrs of standby, and 10hrs of talktime.

9. Connectivity and misc for iPhone 6

The iPhone 6 is 4G, LTE compatible. Supporting 20 LTE bands, the iPhone 6 also brings support for VoLTE.

There is the good old bluetooth 4.0 and Wifi as well onboard.

For the first time, NFC chip makes an appearance on the iPhone.

The handset requires a Nano-SIM. The bundled accessories includes a pair of Apple EarPods headphones, and a Lightning charger.

10. The iPhone 6 will go on pre-order on September 12, and will be released on September 19 in select markets.

The Indian availability has been enlisted as September 26, which depicts a significant tilt in Apple's policy, treating India as a major market now with an early release.

Although the Indian pricing hasnt been revealed, the iphone 6 models go on sale with the following rates:

iPhone 6 (with a two-year contract):
$199 for the 16 GB model
$299 for the 64 GB model
and $399 for 128GB model

For iphone 6 plus, the pricing becomes dearer by $100 for every model in comparison:
(2 year contract schemes):
$299 for the 16 GB model
$399 for the 64 GB model
and $499 for 128GB model

Photographs: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images