Almost 8 years ago Apple released its first iPhone forever changing the mobile phone landscape.

Now iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 PLUS are released, so what did the market think about this release?

The first weekend sold more than 10 million iPhones, more than the 9 Million iPhone 5s and 5c opening weekend.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement“Sales for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus exceeded our expectations for the launch weekend, and we couldn’t be happier. We would like to thank all of our customers for making this our best launch ever, shattering all previous sell-through records by a large margin.

While our team managed the manufacturing ramp better than ever before, we could have sold many more iPhones with greater supply and we are working hard to fill orders as quickly as possible.”

Apple-Pay

Apple-pay is interesting as it comes with fingerprint payment security, making it more secure than the traditional credit cards.

Opportunistic thieves that steal the phone are unable to unlock the phone or access the credit card without the ownersfingerprint. The downside, while fingerprint security is included on all iPhone 6, the Apple–Pay feature is only available in the United States (at this stage).https://www.apple.com/apple-pay/

Health

Personally I have a Fitbit that tracks my walking, running, calorie consumption and sleep patternsevery day.

My FitBit wrist sensor records daily activitiessynchronising via Bluetooth either during or after exercise,recording my exercise statistics for my personal trainer and friends. I found that my circle of friends helps motivate an exercise routine, not the device or App.

Fitbit works well however it is not yet synced to the Apple Health App.

The Apple HealthKitand Apple watch health interface is also not yet fully operational, experiencing last minute production delays. I only hope that it allows a circle of friends will be included in the Health App.

The Apple watch,HealthKit App, and fitness monitoring will open new possibilities for doctors to monitor and alert patients real time of any serious condition, (examples include pulse high or excessive blood pressure).

Long term this has the potential to allow remote monitoring of a communities health and fitness.

Imagine the army or police force measuringeach individual’s exercise, fitness, performance, sleep patterns and medical statistics real time.

Unfortunately, it is too early to test and measure this devices effectiveness, we need to let the technology stabilise for a few months.

Dump the Android?

If you already have an android Samsung Galaxy S5, LG Nexus 5 or HTC One, all have a screen density of 445 PPI, making them incredibly sharp.

The iPhone 6 gives 326 PPI, and iPhone 6 Plus gives 401PPI, meaning the apple display is not as clear or crisp.

Plus the Android has more RAM memory, making multitasking and application performance better.

7 days after the iPhone release, Samsung announced the Note 4 and Note Edge pre-release order dates of 15th October.

I suggest you keep your Android, as the new Note phones undercut Apples prices.http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/samsung-launches-note-4-and-note-edge-smartphones-in-australia/story-fn6vihic-1227068181506

Microsoft Phones

Leaked reports from Microsoft show the Nokia brand is destined for the scrapheap. The leaked internal document revealed plans to phase out the Nokia and Windows phone brands, leaving a “two horse race”.

The mobile phone race will then only be a competition between just iPhone and Android.

http://www.crn.com.au/News/392024,has-microsoft-signed-death-notice-for-nokia-and-windows-phone-brands.aspx

Dump the iPhone 5?

I am not convinced that the larger screen and additional features are personally useful, and that the Health App is ready for market.

IPhone 6 also has consumer reports of the phone bending near the volume buttons under normal pocket storage and daily activities.

Bottom line, if your telecommunications provider plan includes a new phone then make the jump and enjoy the features, otherwise consider the option to wait until plan expiry and then take the new phone option.

Some Features of the iPhone 6

As I already use an iPhone 5 I explored the main differences between the iPhone 5 and iPhone 6wanting to discover what is behind the markets exuberance.

– Curved sides, just like the first iPhone

– Apple-Pay – Apple payment gateway (using Visa card services)

– Payment fingerprint security and unlocking

– Predictive text, suggesting the next word in the sentence. Just accept one of the three options

– Camera lighting balance is superior to the iPhone 5. Images with sunlight or lights in the background are much clearer

– Image stabilisation (reduce the shaking experienced hand-holding the movie camera)

– Health App, allowing your health statistics to be tracked directly on the phone

– Shazam built in (identification of music track, and artist)

– Speed 4G LTE – download speed of up to 150Mbps (Telecommunications providers would struggle to deliver this speed)

– Two screen sizes, bigger than the iPhone 5;

• Standard 4.7 inches at 6.7 mm thick

• Plus 5.5 inches at 7.1 mm thick

– Display resolution;

• Standard 1334 x 750

• Plus 1920 x 1080