With the launch of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus yesterday, Apple launched two new models that are much larger than the current iPhone 5 and 5s form factor. Since I’m eligible for upgrade, I’m planning to preorder one of the devices on Friday when they go on sale.
So that begs the question, which iPhone 6 model should I get? The iPhone 6 has a 4.7 inch screen and the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5 inch screen. For comparison, the iPhone 5 that I have has a 4 inch screen. I am accustomed to the iPhone 5 screen size, so I have some concern that the iPhone 6 Plus will be just too massive for my hand, my pocket, etc. But if I plan to preorder, I’ll have to decide without actually being able to handle either one of the devices in my hands. How can I get a sense of the size of these devices and see how they would fit in a pocket?
Foam core to the rescue! Today I printed out a PDF with scaled models of the devices that I simply cut out and glued to foam core board. I had to borrow the kids glue stick to assemble my models. As you see in the photo above, I created one for each, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. It seems like the foam core might actually be a good approximation of depth of the device as well. So I’ll be carrying these foam core models around and playing with them a bit to see how they feel before making a decision in the twilight hours of the morning on Friday. The iPhone 6 seems like it fits very nicely in my hand and is very manageable. The iPhone 6 Plus is huge. Will the extra screen size and a couple other features like optical image stabilization be enough to make a case for the iPhone 6 Plus?