Like many, I jumped on the new iPhone the morning Apple opened up pre-ordering. After some consideration, I chose to go with the larger 6 plus model. I placed my order and didn't give it much more thought until I actually saw one in-person at the Apple store a couple weeks later. Woah! The sucker's huge! I also started seeing my friends' Facebook posts joking about the enormous plus-sized phone and I began to worry about whether I made the wrong decision.
Last Friday it arrived. I pulled it from the box and listened to my kids' reaction: "How are you going to carry that around in your pocket? It's a surf board." I had to admit, I wasn't 100% certain I made the right choice. I played with it for the evening, even considered driving to the Apple Store and trading it in for it's younger sibling, but ultimately decided to keep it and withhold any further judgment until I lived with it for a full week.
What a difference a week makes! I'm so glad I gave it a chance. Since I'm neither young enough nor hip enough, I don't wear skinny jeans and it actually fits in my front pocket pretty well. If it were much bigger, I would say it was too big for the pocket but after a week of carrying it around, I'm very satisfied with the size. As far as "bend gate" goes, I've owned several iPhones and have never subjected them to the stress that would come from sitting on my beloved device, this will be no exception. It's lose enough in my front pocket that i can sit without putting any pressure on it at all.
The 5.5" screen is AMAZING! As a designer I carry my portfolio with me everywhere I go on my iPad. The size of the screen on the iPhone 6 is actually large enough for me to show my work when I've left my bag behind.
The larger battery capacity is worth the upgrade as well. I get a full day of use on a single charge--something I haven't achieved with previous models.
Even with the smaller iPhone 5, I never found myself typing with one thumb, so the two-thumbed typing thing isn't an issue for me either. I actually like the larger keypad. I've noticed far fewer errors when it comes to hitting the wrong keys.
If you think you'll look like an idiot holding it to your head to take a call, you get over it pretty quickly. After using it for a few days the size factor becomes very familiar. I did pick up a bluetooth earbud set (Plantronics Backbeat GO 2) which allows me to take calls when I'd rather leave the phone on my desk or in my bag. I'm very happy with the quality of the earbuds--they sound pretty amazing when listening to music as well.
If you are on the fence, I highly recommend the new 6 plus with one caveat--if you like the tight jeans and plan to carry your phone in your pocket (ladies, hipsters) you should definitely stick with the smaller model. Either way, you can't go wrong, Apple designed a worthy upgrade in both cases.