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iPhone 6 Plus is the king of BYOD smartphones

Having spent two weeks with the iPhone 6 Plus, I'm ready to conclude that this handset is the king of BYOD smartphones.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer
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Switching smartphones is a big deal for me. I know some people who will switch between several handsets over the course of a week, but for me I prefer the consistency that sticking with a single handset for a couple of years brings. And after spending a couple of weeks with the iPhone 6 Plus I'm convinced this is not only the best handset for me, but the best BYOD handset currently available.

Big screen

The big screen means I have plenty of room to works with. No longer am I having to squint at documents, or fiddle with small user interface elements. The 5.5-inch display gives me bags of room to create, view and edit documents, keep up with emails and other communications streams, and get a clear idea of what I should be doing, and when I'm supposed to have it done by.

The bigger screen also makes room for a substantially bigger keyboard, and a bigger keyboard means improved efficiency and accuracy. I used to only want to type short notes on the iPhone, but now I'm finding the large keyboard is great for lengthy missives.  

For the past two weeks that I've had the iPhone 6 Plus, I've hardly used neither my iPad nor my Kindle Fire HDX. In fact, I've just noticed that both need recharging. Back when I have the iPhone 5 I never used to let either of them go flat.

There's little doubt that the iPhone 6 Plus in cannibalizing my tablet usage. This is interesting because it brings me much closer to the ideal of having one device replace multiple devices.

Better battery life

I've gone from a situation where I was suffering from constant battery anxiety. It seems that battery percentage points could tick off at an alarming rate, especially if I was using of wi-fi or cellular data.

Now with the iPhone 6 Plus I have a battery that easily lasts a day, even if I'm subjecting it to heavy usage. Under normal usage I can squeeze a couple of days out of the handset, and I'm sure that when I add tablet usage to the mix that I could get three days between recharges.

One of the biggest drawback of having a big battery is that charge time has increased. Using the supplied charger it can take about three hours to bring the battery up from flat to full. However, if I use the iPad charger – which is supported by the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, and endorsed by Apple – I can shave an hour or so off this time.

Another thing to be aware of is that if you use an in-car charger, you need to make sure that you have a high quality one, and one that can preferably output 2.1 Amps normally used to charge tablets. Poor quality in-car chargers don't seem up to the job and can only charge the handset very slowly.

Robust

I've heard to the stories and seen the videos, but my iPhone 6 Plus hasn't taken on a curved character by being carried in my pockets. I'm also finding that the display is highly resistant to scratches from being placed in a pocket with keys and coins.

I have put my handset into a case – I chose the Spigel Tough Armor – but that's more to do with making it easier to hold than it is about fears over its robustness.

Excellent built-in software

Gone are the days when I had to install a whole bunch of third-party apps onto my iPhone in order to get it ready for work. Now I'm primarily using the supplied apps, which not only makes setup a lot quicker, but it also means I'm not constantly finding the apps changing as the developers tweak them (something which has an adverse effect on productivity).

While I love the fact that third-party developers are constantly adding new features to apps, having to figure this out when in a rush can be frustrating. I also find the built-in apps to be more reliable, and are better integrated with the rest of the operating system.

iOS 8 security

While corporate rules will almost certainly dictate that the handset will need to have endpoint security software installed on it, iOS 8 security is so good that I don't worry about malware.

I don't feel like this when using Android devices.

The bottom line

Yes, the iPhone 6 Plus is big, and it's also expensive if you want to pick it up off-contract, but it's also a killer handset for getting real work done. 

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