Apple’s September event announcing the next iPhone and Apple Watch wrapped up earlier this morning, and besides a few stream glitches in the early game, it was pretty smooth sailing. Here’s a summary of everything they announced. Apple CEO Tim Cook opened proceedings, cutting things short by not giving us any remarkable numbers about Apple Stores, iPhone sales, or anything…
I never stopped and wondered what size phone I might like (maybe mostly because I didn’t think there would be two!)
My first instinct is to get the biggest one they offer… but now that I start to picture it I’m realising that 5.5" might just be too big for me. I recall making fun of the brother in law and his 5.5" Galaxy Note 2 (when that was new) and it just seemed too big as a carry around everyday item. (and at 151.1mm x 80.5mm x 9.4 mm it’s slight wider but shorted than the 6Plus!).
To be fair, Monday to Friday I wear a suit to work. Shoving the phone in a jacked pocket would work just fine. It’s just all the times outside of that attire that I wonder how it would go crammed into a jeans pocket.
From what I can see so far the units them selves are 99% identical except for the Optical image stabilisation in the 6Plus (and of course the larger screen and battery).
I’ll have to see what devices I can lay my hands on between now and Friday to see how they feel. I’ve like the screen on the S5… but that’s 5.1", even the HTC One M8 is 5"
iPhone 6Plus 5.5" @ 158.1mm x 77.8mm x 7.mm1 vs Samsung Galaxy S5 5.1" @ 142.0mm x 72.5mm x 8.1mm
The problem is like screen real estate. 15" rMBP (because you can’t buy a 17" anymore) and a 27" thunderbolt display… More is more. I suppose if I buy the big one and hate it I can probably find someone with the 4.7" who wants to trade up a size. Decisions to decisions.
The Watch. It looks awesome. At US$349 if you convert based on the Verizon “no contract” rates to the AUD price the Apple Watch looks like it’s going to be somewhere in the $400 - $500 range. At AUD$349 I would likely snap one up… at $499 I’d want to think about it a whole lot more. I love the feature set and the possibilities… but I stopped wearing a watch a while ago. I’ve tried going back but keep checking the time on my phone. The health stuff looks pretty attractive and maybe all the extra functionality over an analog watch will make it more useful. Again I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard to sell a 2nd hand unit if push came to shove 
Thanks for posting the round up! It’s a shame NFC isn’t launching in Australia just yet…it was kind of the only reason I had to upgrade my 4S. Hopefully it doesn’t take too long. The iPhones are a big win in my book - I notice a lot of people not liking the bands on the back, but to me they are much more preferable than the strips of the 5/5s.
Thanks for reminding me to post something about iPhone screen sizes @The_Hawk!
Look, here’s the deal. I currently rock a HTC One M8, which has a 5-inch, 1080p display. The screen is nice and all, but it’s kinda large. It’s not ridiculously Note-sized or anything, but it’s still uncomfortable. Using it one-handed when I’m lying down in bed is nigh impossible thanks to the sheer size and weight of the thing. I don’t care what size hands you have, using that size iPhone one-handed without some kind of awkward juggling is just not something I see happening.
If my time with the One M8 has taught me anything, it’s that it’s just slightly too big — which is why I’m leaning towards regular iPhone 6, optical image stabilisation be damned. 4.7-inches would be near perfect IMHO, but if you’re on the fence, print out Ars Technica’s life-size paper cutout of both models and check it out for yourself.
Better yet, go to any telco store and check out the phone sizes in person and see if a 5-5inch iPhone is really what you want. You’ll probably find it’s larger than you think, but then again, it might not be that big of a deal for you.
5.5" is huge! (that is not what she said)
From the whole thing (which was very frustrating at times with all the cutting out streams and the multiple translators speaking over the presenters for quite some time) theres a few things im taking away from it all.
I am very happy most of all that there is a 128GB storage option, I have run out of room on my current 64GB 5S.
The 5,5’ screen is definitely for me, although its not really a one-handed phone, my thing is i use my phone constantly and I used to have an iPad too, if I get the 5.5" then I won’t feel the need to get an iPad anymore. Not to mention that I do not have the issue of putting the giant phone up to my face since I always have earpods either in my ears or draped around my neck for whenever I am on a call or listening to music.
The Apple Watch looks amazing, im a little sad that its not out straight away but im fairly certain that my wallet is breathing a sigh of relief for now, I can wait. I am trying to do a health kick thing at the moment, make some changes, I think that the Apple Watch will definitely help me keep that stuff on track.
Thanks @bennyling that PDF is just what I needed. The 6Plus doesn’t actually feel as huge as I expected! (as much as you get a sense of feel from a piece of cut out paper). I’m still not completely sure screen real estate is currently winning…
My wife is having a look but as a lover of the Otterbox she is concerned about just how big her phone might get! Mind you she has also decided that she doesn’t need an upgrade (from her current 5S) this year as she doesn’t see any major changes that effect her (or that she wants). Which saves me a pile of cash
Edit: The only thing that she likes the look of is the watch and since it’s confirmed to work with the 5S it’s all good 
I’m all in on today’s announcements. The day is approaching when wallets won’t be required anymore 
64GB 6 Plus and a base model Watch for me thanks.
So will Apple Pay on the watch work with the 5S or will you need to upgrade to the 6 for NFC ?
Unclear. There’s next to no information on the Apple website about Apple Pay (that I could find).
If you assume that the Watch has NFC as shown off in Apple press images then I can’t see why you would need the NFC in the iPhone, meaning it could work with the iPhone 5/5s, but this is Apple we’re talking about.
Thanks Benny ! I suppose it will all become clear next year !
Just read the press release and it will work on the iphone 5 , 5C and 5S !! happy days
Apple Pay Press Release