Going Phablet - But Which One?

It looks like I've had yet another hiatus in blogging, but at least this time I have a good reason for it. My previous post was published two days before my daughter was born, so for the last two months the life at home has been somewhat busy :)

What comes to the new Apple TV, it's now been released and fortunately my predictions about the Finnish pricing were a little bit off and it's not quite as expensive as I anticipated even though it's not exactly cheap anyway. I still haven't got one as the input methods are currently restricted to the on-screen keyboard, which is quite incompatible with my blood pressure, so I'm hoping they get at least the Remote app updated or allow Bluetooth keyboards. My Nexus Player is running just fine while I'm waiting and seeing if Apple gets their stuff together.

But the main topic of this post is me getting a new phone. My wife's iPhone 5 broke down, so she got my iPhone 6 and as I've been wanting to try out a phablet-sized device anyway, I'm now in the market for a new phone. I actually have an iPhone 6s+ from work in my use until the next Monday, so I'll get at least some feel of that size and what it's like to use.

Currently my selection is pretty much a race between the iPhone 6s+ and the Nexus 6P which becomes available here in Finland on November 23. So let's check the benefits and downsides of each choice.

The iPhone 6s+ is a nice device, but its price in Finland is anything but nice. The 64GB version costs a whopping 969€. 64GB is a must here since 16GB on a late 2015 really expensive flagship with a 4k camera is just a bad joke, shame on you Apple. On my loaner device I also had an issue with registering taps on Safari, but that seems to be fixed by setting 3D Touch to require a firmer press. Keeping my fingers crossed for that. However, if I go with the 6s+, it means that an Apple Watch is on the list sooner or later and that's quite expensive too. I do have an Android Wear device that I can use for notifications, but the 3rd party watch support on iOS leaves a lot to be desired.

On the software front things are more favorable as the apps I use still have a slight design edge on iOS even though Android is gaining fast thanks to Material Design. There's also Ruutu.fi's service which I use for watching Finnish hockey. It does exist on Android as well, but for some reason they just can't get the live broadcasts to work on a satisfactory level on Android despite multiple fixes to their app.

On the hardware front one of the nice things is that Apple apparently has improved waterproofing of the 6s generation quite a bit, so I might not need to get myself a bulky waterproof case like I did for the iPhone 6. Those waterproof cases are also widely available for iPhones, but unfortunately I haven't seen that with the Nexus series. The 6s+ also has optical image stabilization for photos AND video, which is rather nice. The battery is a mixed case. It's much beefier than on the smaller iPhone and thanks to iOS's power management it can provide a nice battery life despite being not that impressive on paper. 3D Touch is also an interesting addition, but with the current app support its actual usefulness is still somewhat unclear.

What comes to the Nexus 6P, 699€ for the 64GB model and 50€ less for a still usable 32GB model is a clear winner here as the difference is almost 300€ when comparing 64GB to 64GB 6s+ and even more if I choose the 32GB version, but that's quite unlikely as 50€ more for much improved futureproofing isn't that much and it's basically half of what Apple charges for the storage tiers. As I mentioned, I already have an Android Wear device so I would have a fully-featured wrist companion right away. Granted, the LG G Watch is a rather old device and it doesn't support all the goodies Android Wear offers nowadays, so a watch upgrade would be on the roadmap also with the Nexus, but the models still tend to be cheaper than the Apple Watch. I also have a Nexus Player already, so ecosystem-wise I'd be more set for the Nexus.

The software side is a mixed bag, though. Like I mentioned previously, Ruutu.fi's Android app is rather horrible and I'm not holding my breath for them to provide an Android TV app, while an app for the new Apple TV is rather likely. Then again, with open NFC access software vendors are able to provide some nice solutions for e.g. mobile payments (Pivo's service should be opening for public access soon).

The hardware side has also its benefits and downsides. The camera actually beats the iPhone 6s+ especially on low light situations according to tests I've seen. It has also USB type C, which is nice, symmetrical and modern, but that also means that I need to add some extra cables to the purchase price since I need charging capabilities in my car and at the office too. I do have lots of Lightning cables, micro-USB cables as well Qi wireless chargers, but as the 6P omitted wireless charging, the only option is to get some extra USB C cables, which can be of really varying quality.

One thing that also bothers me is reports of the back glass breaking spontaneously. This seems to happen especially when the phone is subject to sudden temperature variations. When you keep in mind that I live in Finland and winter is coming, this has the potential to be a huge issue as I can easily subject my phone to 40C differences in temperature by coming in from -20C outside to +21C or so inside and vice versa.

Then again, there have been reports of surprisingly good cellular reception with the 6P, so if that is true it's a definite plus for the device.

When considering the points above, the choice won't be an easy one and I really wish I had also the 6P for a test run before investing a lot of money into either one. Well, let's see if the choice becomes clearer during the weekend.