The iPhone 6 Plus starts at $299 for the 16GB version. There's also a 64GB ($399) and a 128GB ($499) version. That's a $100 premium over the standard iPhone 6.
iPhone PLUS
Apple's phablet will be available in space gray, silver and gold. Pre-orders for both new iPhones begin September 12.
The bigger screen has a 1920x1080 resolution, higher than its 4.7-inch cousin. That's a welcome upgrade but not as ultra high-res as phones like the Quad HD Note 4. Apple is calling the new screen Retina HD, touting its extra sharpness.
The two phones share a new A8 processor with 50 percent faster graphics and a 25 percent faster CPU. That's less of a leap than the 5S provided, but should be more power efficient.
Bigger phones mean bigger batteries. The 6 Plus is rated at 24 hours of talk time on a 3G connection, an extra 10 hours from the 4.7-inch iPhone 6.
Another difference between the two is in the camera. The iPhone 6 Plus has optical image stabilization, unlike iPhone 6. Other phones like Galaxy Note 4 have this, too.
It also offers a one-handed mode and more apps that take advantage of a horizontal orientation.
After rumors and customer demand, Apple has finally given the people what they want: an iPhone 6 with a larger-than-4.5-inch screen. In fact, customers will have a choice of two phone to consider, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.
APPLE LAUNCHED IPHONE IN TWO VARIANT IPHONE 6 AND IPHONE 6 PLUS
Bigger screen
The smaller iPhone 6 breaks away from the 4-inch screen of models past and into larger territory, though at 4.7-inches, the iPhone 6 is still small by today's standards.
Apple is still giving the phone a Retina display (they're calling it Retina HD) with a 326ppi, by imbuing the iPhone 6 with a 1,334 x 750 HD pixel resolution.
Apple doesn't want to just give customers a larger screen without doing anything useful with it. To that end, the company touts a new horizontal view (that really reminds us of the iPad) to see messages, weather, email, and so on. The keyboard pops up with new dedicated keys as well.
Although it's bigger, Apple still wants to enable one-handed access, and it's doing this with app drop-drowns.
The phone is also slim, at 6.9-millimeters thin.
The iPhone 6's A8 processor boasts 50 percent faster graphics and a 25 percent faster CPU that should make the phone more power efficient.
Apple never gives battery specifics in mAh, but the iPhone 6 is rated to last through 11 hours of video, and 14 hours on Wi-Fi. There's Wi-Fi calling at long last, and Voice over LTE (aka VoLTE).
Look and feel
Sleek Design
How does the iPhone 6 feel to hold? Its larger body and more rounded edges make the slim form feel even thinner. While both sizes feel good, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 fits more securely into the palm. Luckily, even if it does feel massive compared to a 4-inch model, iOS 8 does allow a one-handed way to pop to the top of apps and touch parts of the screen that might normally be out of reach.
Here's another interesting phone feature: glass that curves around the edges of the phone. It isn't the sapphire screen we were hearing about, but it is a slightly different design element. The phone is also slim, at 0.27-inch, or 6.9-millimeters thin, and it comes in three colors: gold, silver, and space gray.
Camera and video
Apple's 8-megapixel iPhone 6 iSight camera may not have had the pixel boost that fans might want, but it gets a refresh with a new sensor all the same. Focus time is down, Apple says, colors look more lifelike when the flash is engaged, and the imaging chip has better ways to battle noise. HDR is now automatically applied as well, something we're starting to see on other phones, too.
Panorama mode will capture up to 43 megapixels in its five-element lens, and there's face detection, as well as blink and smile detection. As with some rival phones, the burst mode auto-pick feature uses algorithms to select the best from a string of similar photos.
Pricing and availability
In the US, the 16GB version will sell for $199 on contract, but $100 more will get you a whopping 64GB for $299. Another $100 on top of that supersizes your storage to 128GB for $399. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and US Cellular will be among the first US carriers to sell the two new iPhones. T-Mobile and other carriers have not yet announced the off-contract price.
Apple Pay is the new Pay System Introduces in U.S Only
Apple Pay and NFC
Apple Pay, a US-only system at launch, works with the Passbook app on your phone, and independently as well, to let you buy goods and services with a single touch of the phone. Like other mobile-payment systems, the merchant never sees your credit card details, and a handy feature incorporating the camera will add new credit card details to Passbook, which saves you some typing.
Starting in US with Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, Apple Pay is backed by six major banks, with more to come. Right out of the gate, you'll be able to use the service at 220,000 merchants that accept it, including Macy's, Walgreens and Duane Reed drug stores, Whole Foods, and McDonald's at all their store locations, drive-throughs included.
Apple announced the eighth major release of its iOS mobile operating system at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The latest version of iOS include improvements to the Siri voice assistant, a new health and wellness app, and revamped notifications, among other things.
With iOS 8 slated to arrive on devices in the coming weeks, now is the perfect time to ensure that your iPhone or iPad is prepared to receive the update. These tips will help make the transition to iOS 8 fromiOS 7 as smooth as possible.
IOS 8 DEVICE COMPATIBILITY
Check compatibility
If you've been holding on to the original iPad or iPhone 4, it may be time to update to a newer device. Not every one of Apple's devices is capable of being updated to iOS 8. The company has said the following devices will be receiving the update: iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C, iPad 2, third- and fourth-generation iPad, iPad Air, fifth-generation iPod Touch, iPad Mini, and iPad Mini with Retina display.
Free up some space
The over-the-air iOS 7 update package was about 700MB depending on your device, however users were required to have at least 3GB of free space on their devices in order to actually install the update. You can expect iOS 8 to have similar storage requirements, which makes now the perfect time to free up some space on your device.
Check for updates
Now would also be a good time to install any lingering software updates you have been holding off on. You will need to be on the latest version of iOS to update to iOS 8. To check for updates, enter Settings, click on General, and select Software Update.
You should also install any app updates that are available before updating to iOS 8 to ensure that your apps will work properly after the move.
Back up your device
Although you are unlikely to run into any major problems when updating, it's always a good idea to have a backup of your device. You know what they say, it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.
Destiny isn't just Bungie's first new game since making Halo. It's also an attempt to meld two different game genres: The large in-depth games like World of Warcraft and the fast-paced action-oriented shooter games like Call of Duty.
Eric Hirshberg, head of Activision's publishing arm, calls this new effort a "shared world shooter," where players interact with one another throughout the game. It was also one of the hardest technologies to build, he added.
When Bungie invited gamers to play a prototype of Destiny in June, developers watched to see what elements of the game, be that exploration or fighting, would be most popular. Hirshberg said players appeared evenly attracted to each part of the game.
"There are so many different styles of play," he said. "People were pretty omnivorous with the content, and that's a great sign."
SCREENSHOT OF UPCOMING DESTINY
One of the biggest challenges facing Destiny is the industry itself. Video games have changed significantly from when the first Halo landed more than a decade ago. Many of the best-selling games in that era, such as the theme park building game RollerCoaster Tycoon and world-controlling game The Sims, didn't have as intricate storylines, nor epic ambitions.
Fast-forward to this year and nearly every top game spins an epic story: Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed, which tells of massive conspiracies and two groups fighting over the future of humankind. Watch Dogs, another Ubisoft title, centers on a hacker out for revenge on the streets of Chicago. Grand Theft Auto V, from Take-Two Interactive Software, follows retired thieves as they get back in the game. Even Wolfenstein, a decades-old simplistic shooting game in which a World War II-era prisoner breaks free and goes on a rampage killing Nazis, gained a Hollywood-like plot in its latest rendition from Id Software.
Of course, plowing money and effort into a game doesn't always make it a hit. Star Wars: The Old Republic, a large online game from Electronic Arts, initially struggled to attract a large following when it was first released three years ago. In November 2012, EA began offering a free-to-play option, which helped make the game operationally profitable.
And perhaps the most pressure comes from the changing shape of the industry. Games made for mobile devices have become a key driver of higher game sales, with new business models of charging customers for tiny bits of a game, such as a way to finish it faster or for a different colored jacket for their character, have allowed some titles to gain considerable mass-market appeal. Strategy games on PCs have also made a comeback, in part due to the new business models that allow publishers to initially hand the game away for free.
One of those customers will be Jeremie Gregory, a 33-year old in Baton Rouge. He's devoting three days vacation time to play the game as much as he can when it's released. Gregory said he already played the game for 90 hours earlier this summer when Bungie offered the public a chance to try a pre-release version of the game for a limited time. He'll probably spend up to another 150 hours playing the game after it's released.
"I don't think I'll get disappointed, I really don't," he said. "I just have that feeling."
