Today marks the one-year anniversary of me switching away from Android to my iPhone 6s. I’ll be writing about how well it has held up over the past twelve months…
The iPhone 6s replaced the Samsung Galaxy Express Prime 2 I had, which was my first AT&T Prepaid phone. The Galaxy lasted just over a year, which is about normal for low-end Android phones. The Express Prime 2 suffered from the same problems that I had with my other low-end Android phones after six to nine months of use: being really slow, poor camera and horrible battery life. The Express Prime 2 also had display issues and was dropping calls regularly.
I was an Android user since I got my first cell phone back in 2012 – an LG Optimus Elite. The Optimus Elite actually lasted the longest out of all of my Android phones, as it was in use until June 2015. In June 2015 I took a short hiatus from Android by buying a Windows Phone (Nokia Lumia 635 – horrible phone), which was a horrible mistake. I quickly hopped back on the Android train and rode it until May 2019.
Tired of the rather short lifespan of Android phones, I decided to try an iPhone. The iPhone 6s, despite being the oldest model still sold, was at the very top of my price range. But I was willing to pay extra and see where it took me.
Many of my thoughts have not changed since the three-month review of this phone. This phone has remained a stellar performer, despite being introduced in 2015 and being the oldest model Apple still supports.
Unlike the low-end Android phones I’ve had before, this phone still works as good as it did on day one.
Probably the best feature of this phone is the camera. I love to take pictures, especially on my bike rides. While not as good as the cameras featured in newer iPhones and other high-end phones (Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy flagship models), the camera on this phone is still amazing and puts the cameras featured in the low-end Android phones to shame. While no phone camera (at least in my opinion) can’t compete with a DSLR, I’ve actually had people comment on how good the photos turn out from the 6s.
iOS runs buttery smooth on this phone, as does all of the apps I have installed. I’ve also been using Strava to track bicycle rides, and I use social media apps (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) quite often with this phone. It does a pretty good job with all of those apps.
Before the TaoTronics headphones broke, I was also using the 6s to stream my Spotify playlist while doing chores like cooking or laundry.
Battery life on this phone has slipped somewhat, but is still miles ahead of the low-end Android phones – especially one-year in. If I don’t use the phone much through the day, I usually have 50-75% of the battery left when I go to bed. In heavy use, the battery lasts approximately a day, though I have had times in really heavy use where I’ve had to charge the battery mid-day. (In comparison, most of the low-end Android phones couldn’t even last through the day even with modest usage past their nine-month anniversary.)
Despite only having 32GB of storage, I haven’t had the storage issue that I faced with Android phones. Most of my work is in the cloud, and I’m able to automatically offload my photos onto Google Photos before I tell it to remove the local copies.
I have even started embracing TouchID with this phone, which I also use on my iPad and MacBook.
I do have one complaint about this phone, however. It has dropped a couple calls randomly. I’m not sure if this is more of an issue with the phone itself or AT&T, but it happens every once in a while.
So, it’s a year in and I still love my iPhone 6s. Will I upgrade?
I’ve been contemplating upgrading to the iPhone SE and giving my 6s to my dad, but I’m likely going to wait another year or so. Rumor has it that the next version of iOS will likely maintain compatibility with the 6s, and it’s still running strong. But we’ll have to wait and see.