5 Great Alternatives To Clicksure for Affiliates

By: Unknown on 10:24 AM

This post is in response to questions that I usually get about making money with Clicksure.

I’m guessing in some way, people are introduced to the highly profitable world of affiliate marketing through that affiliate network and aren’t aware of their other options.

And if you’ve read my blog before then you know that I’m not a big fan of Clicksure. They’ve already racked up a bad reputation by allowing outright scams and inferior products in their network.

There are many, many other affiliate networks and stand alone programs that will pay you commissions for promoting their products. In this article I’m going to give you five alternative networks that I use regularly and get paid from.

1. Clickbank

Clickbank is kinda like Clicksure but with more legitimate vendors that you can promote. In fact, Clicksure started operation one week after Clickbank tightened up on their approval process for merchants.

This meant that a lot of merchants using shady marketing, fake screenshots, fake testimonials and blind sales presentations would not get approved by Clickbank. So these merchants packed up and moved to Clicksure.

Clickbank itself has been around since 1998 and is typically the starting point for new affiliates because of their ease of approval for new affiliates, their on time payments and ease of use. This is the first network I used when I got started and where I made my first affiliate sale.

Further reading: How to Make Money With Clickbank

2. Amazon Associates

Everyone knows about Amazon. Chances are you’ve probably shopped there yourself and you trust this website.

While not your typical affiliate network, Amazon let’s you choose from the millions of products on their website to promote so it doesn’t matter what niche market you’re in, there’s probably something on this shopping site to promote to your audience.

There are a couple of drawbacks though. For persons in the United States, Amazon isn’t available for affiliates in every state due to tax laws. Another drawback is that the commissions start at 4% which is very low but depending on how many items you’re selling it can get up to 8% for most items and even up to 15% on select items.

Amazon pays by bank deposit (which you can get on your Payoneer card) when you reach just $10 in commissions and by check when you accumulate $100 in earnings.

You can get started with the Amazon Associate program here.

3. CJ Affiliate

A lot of big companies and major brands have their affiliate programs on CJ Affiliate.

This is the great thing about using an affiliate network like CJ Affiliate over using one like Clicksure. People trust brands they know about and will rather spend their money on something they need which makes it easier for you to get commissions. They don’t need some dubious software from a guy in a video they never heard of.

Some of the brands that you can promote on CJ Affiliate are Match.com (dating), Sears, K-Mart, Home Shopping Network, At&t, Verizon, Weightwatchers and a lot more.

Most of these brands will accept you if your website looks great and has good content tailored to their target market. If that sounds tough to you, it’s not. You can make sure that you have what is needed by building your website with SiteRubixand following the training at Wealthy Affiliate.

4. ShareaSale.com

ShareaSale.com is a bit like CJ Affiliate. Big brands that you know and trust.

This network has been around a long time but I only got started with them last year due to them not having my country in their list so I didn’t know how I was going to get paid. When I got a Payoneer card, I was able to use the network because I didn’t have to worry about where they would mail my checks.

The site usually pays around the 20th of every month once you’ve reached the payout limit of only $50.

One thing I love about ShareaSale.com that seems to be unique is that you can get a 2nd tier affiliate link from some merchants. You can then refer other affiliates to promote that merchant and get a one time bounty or bonuses on whatever sales your referred affiliate sends. This is a great way to earn some money without really promoting for sales.

5. Linkshare

Linkshare (also known as Rakuten Linkshare) is another good affiliate network with big trustworthy brands that people know about which makes it easier to get a sale.

They operate similar to CJ Affiliate and Shareasale. Although I haven’t promoted a lot of merchants using Linkshare, I’ve earned a lot of money promoting just one particular merchant. They pay via check and bank deposit but I haven’t found a way to link my Payoneer card so I still have to settle for paper checks in the mail.

There’s More…

These aren’t all the networks that are better alternatives for Clicksure. There are lots of other affiliate networks and depending on which niche market you’re working with you can also find independent affiliate programs (no network) by searching on Google.

These should provide you with a great start though as you can make your efforts a lot easier promoting brands people know and trust rather than promoting some scammy offer from Clicksure.

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Apple iPhone 6 Plus: My next phone

By: Unknown on 7:01 AM

Summary: The hoopla is over and Apple's newest products have been unveiled. The two new iPhones don't have ground-breaking features, but are solid entries to Apple's product line.

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are Apple's latest efforts in the profitable product line. Both are similar in design with curved lines all around. The iPhone 6 has a not-too-large 4.7 inch display while the iPhone 6 Plus is rocking a 5.5 inch screen. The bigger iPhone is going to be my next phone.

(Image: Apple)

I skipped the iPhone 5 generation and kept using my iPhone 4s until the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 became my daily phone. While I don't have a problem with iOS I like Android, and the big screen on the Note 2 appealed to me.

Both the iPhone 4s and the Galaxy Note 2 are getting old and it's time to dump both of them. My contract is up and it's time to get a sleek, modern phone. The iPhone 6 Plus ticks all the boxes on my wish list, so that's what I will be getting soon. I will wait until it has been available for a while before I pull the trigger, as I don't like getting involved in lines in the store or dealing with artificial inventory shortages at launch.

The iPhone 6 Plus display

I'm looking forward to using the 5.5 inch display on the new iPhone. It isn't the biggest on the market, but is a decent size for doing online stuff. I can imagine how well web pages will look in Safari on that big screen.

There are a few features that Apple has produced to make one-handed operation of a big phone easier.

Apple has adjusted iOS 8, the next version that will ship with the iPhone 6, to take advantage of a larger screen. The familiar home screen will rotate appropriately in landscape orientation, something I imagine I will be doing regularly. I dislike phones that lock the home screen in portrait orientation when the phone is rotated into landscape. It's jarring and not very efficient.

The home screen rotation is another reason pushing me to the bigger iPhone and away from the smaller iPhone 6. Information I've received indicates the iPhone 6 will not rotate the home screen like the bigger one, and that's a no-go for me.

Additional features on the iPhone 6 Plus

The auto-rotation of the home screen in landscape is not the only new feature to handle the larger phones. There are a few touches that Apple has produced to make one-handed operation of a big phone easier. These include making the screen elements slide down toward the bottom of the screen on demand, closer to the hand holding the new iPhone.

It's hard to tell how effective this will be without trying it, but it sounds like a good thing and worth having, and it should add more value to the iPhone 6 Plus than the smaller handset.

The landscape advantage isn't resigned to just the home screen. As part of iOS 8, other apps will be able to display more effectively in landscape than in portrait like on the iPad. The 5.5 inch display of the iPhone 6 Plus is better suited for such display tricks, giving it one-up on the iPhone 6.

Big feature behind choosing the iPhone 6 Plus over competition

All other reasons aside, the biggest one for buying the iPhone 6 Plus instead of a phone on another platform has to do with a new feature in iOS 8. The ability to link the iPad Air with the iPhone 6 is big for me.

This may not sound like much to some, but hands-on experience with this feature in webOS years ago proves it is valuable. The ill-faited TouchPad could link to the Palm Pre, and it was magic. Calls could be taken on whichever device was in hand. Text messages could be reviewed the same way, and responses sent.I regularly use the iPad Air for my work, and the ability to see text messages and get incoming calls to the iPhone is huge. The iPhone can stay in my bag or pocket, and I can deal with them on the iPad if I choose.

iPhone 6, and super-size it

The bigger iPhone 6 is the one for me, and I will probably get the 64GB version. That's how much storage I have on my iPad Air and other tablets, and it's plenty for my needs. I'm not sure which color I prefer for the iPhone 6 Plus, to tell the truth it's not that important to me. I just want my phone to do the things I need, not to impress people.

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Hands on: Oculus Rift review

By: Unknown on 6:33 AM

Dev Kit 2 ships to developers with improved specs, but is it worth the price?

Our early verdict

"Intrepid developers are receiving Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2, which includes worthy upgrades like a 1080p virtual reality display and motion tracking. But it's still meant for early adopters and is not a consumer product."

For

• 1080p display
• Positional head-tracking
• Less motion blur
• More immersive than ever

Against

• Not yet a consumer product
• Still some lo-fi visuals

Update: Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 is on its way to game makers and it's being used for by movie studios. We revised our hands-on review and added facts about its Galaxy Note 3 screen and Mac support.

As Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 starts shipping to pre-order customers, we got more face time with the virtual reality headset at PAX Prime and Comic-Con.

Codenamed Crystal Cove, the updated Oculus Rift DK2 costs $350 (about £207, AU$373). That's $50 (about £30, AU$53) more than the first-generation developer kit.

However, the improved specs make it well worth the price bump if you're a developer with a passion for cutting-edge technology and the patience for beta hardware.

The face-worn display outfits developers with an HD screen that's 1080p or 960 x 1080 per eye. It finally meets our next-generation gaming needs.

Believe it or not, the Oculus Rift DK2 display actually uses the 5.7-inch Super AMOLED panel from the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Behind its rubber casing is same exact front panel, "Samsung" logo and all.

This makes sense. Oculus was rumored to be working with Samsung on the South Korean electronics giant's own virtual reality headset. Whether or not that pans out remains to be seen.

Despite both the physical and theorized Samsung ties, Mac compatibilityhas been added to the Oculus Rift DK2, making good on the start-up company's promise to support Apple machines. All five OS X game developers are rejoicing right now.

Oculus Rift DK2 drops the first interation's control box in favor of integrating the guts into the headset itself. Only a single cable - HDMI and USB woven together - dangls from your face.

The new kit also comes with a motion-tracking camera, which allows for greater movement within the world of the Rift. It looks a bit like a webcam, and a lot like a PlayStation Eye camera from the PS3 days.

It features a blue "on" light and an Oculus logo, but its true power isn't visible to the naked eye. It uses forty infrared LEDs on the headset to track your head movements and integrate them into the game. These LEDs were visible on the version we tried at CES 2014, but not anymore.

The new Crystal Cove, looking less spotty than before

In the demos we saw at GDC 2014, this meant players could lean in for a closer look at in-game objects and characters. These were the same demos we saw at CES, with the exception of a new one by Epic Games, which integrated the player into the game a unique way.

The game was a one on one battle between two sword and shield wielding avatars. It takes place in a living room, where players can see representations of themselves seated in the room, controller in hand. To keep an eye on the fight we had to swivel our head and crane our neck.

Still no support for in-game limbs

The Rift was a surreal experience as always; when our opponent turned his head or leaned forward it gave his neck a stretched, snake-like appearance. And when one of the battling avatars leapt up onto your lap, you half expect to feel his little feet on your legs.

The camera is key to the Rift's head tracking

If you've used the previous Rift, know that Crystal Cove is a night and day difference. The higher resolution makes all the difference in the world; it's like going from Skyrim on a four-year-old PC to one from last year.

Finally, a wearable that tracks more than your heart rate

Note that we say last year; the Oculus Rift still isn't sporting visuals that you could call next gen. There are still jaggedly rendered objects, but the immersive nature of the experience trumps graphics any day, and is one you need to see to believe.

Step into the super mind of the X-Men's leader

Movies come to Oculus Rift at Comic-Con

Comic-Con 2014 provided a different sort of experience - with entertainment at the forefront - and maybe one we can expect more of now thatFacebook owns Oculus VR.

Both Twenty Century Fox and Warner Bros. were backing new Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2 units at the cosplay-filled San Diego convention with demos for their X-Men and Into the Storm films.

The X-Men Cerebro Experience provided the more surreal experience as attendees slipped into the wheelchair and saw through the eyes of mutant leader Professor Charles Xavier. He, fittingly, donned the just-as-snug brain amplifying mutant detector Cerebro on his own head.

The concept involved seeking the shapeshifting mutant Mystique by looking 360 degrees in any direction. She was hiding in a Comic-Con crowd that was fictitious and barren - it would have been cooler if it used augmented reality here.

The actual hunt was automated and fairly boring, but Professor X's replica wheelchair at the Fox booth provided developers with the opportunity to predict the location of our limbs and torso. It accurately overlayed his body onto our own.

Obviously, this demo didn't call for much movement and that worked to the movie studio's advantage. It could easily trick your mind into thinking that the Professor's subtle finger tap on the armrest was your own with a "Wait, I didn't just do that!"

Into the Storm featured 4D weather effects

Into the Storm upped the energy level with simulated tornado winds inside a small glass both built by Warner Bros. Through the first-person perspective, we saw three characters hunker down behind a gated sewer entrance, truck-sized debris smash against its ironclad bars and pipes burst with gushing water.

It didn't have the advantage of a stationary wheelchair-bound character to map our bodies and there was no interaction whatsoever, but Warner Bros did aptly demo its new disaster movie with this terrifying scene recreation. It also messed up our hair.

Both X-Men Cerebro Experience and Into the Storm also gave us insight into how big-name movie studios intend to use Oculus Rift to invent new ways of enjoying theatrical experiences. Video games were just the beginning.

Hands on CES 2014

Oculus Rift gets more impressive every time we see it, and the futuristic virtual reality headset's appearance at CES 2014 was definitely no exception.

Since E3 2013 Oculus VR has gained impressive talent and raised an extra $75 million in funding, and the result is the Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype (named for a state park in southern California). It's significantly easier on the eyes than older versions of the headset and, by extension, closer than ever to the Rift's final, fully functional, consumer-facing form.

The two game demos Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell showed us in a private meeting room at CES were designed to showcase two new features: positional head-tracking and low persistence, both of which help make the virtual reality experience more immersive and address some users' complaints with the headset, including motion blur-induced nausea.

The head-tracking is the most obvious improvement. The new white studs on the Oculus Crystal Cove prototype's face are indicators that communicate your head's position to a new external camera, mounted near your monitor. As a result the full movements of your upper body, not just the sideways and up/down movements of your head, are detected and translated to the game world.

That means you can lean forward while playing CCP Games' extremely impressive 3D space-shooting game EVE: Valkyrie, bringing your in-game face closer to your space ship's various monitors and switches so you can better read their warnings and instructions. Since the very first demo Oculus Rift has inserted players into virtual worlds, and with this addition it's a more immersive experience than ever.

Get low, low, low, low

Second and more subtle is the low persistence, which makes the Oculus Rift's somewhat notorious motion blur a thing of the past. Now the graphics remain more clear and sharp even when you move your head around rapidly. There's still a tiny amount of blurring, but it's a massive improvement over the previous version of Oculus Rift.

To prove it Mitchell turned low persistence off and then on as we moved around, and although the image became darker with it on, it almost totally alleviated what was previously one of the Rift's biggest issues.

The tech behind the low persistence is somewhat complex, but Mitchell explained the gist of it. Essentially the new "Crystal Cove" Oculus Rift's OLED display has zero latency, so it takes the pixels no time at all to change color.

Even then, Mitchell said, there was some blurring, but Oculus alleviated it even further by programming the pixels to consistently but imperceptibly flicker on and off, only turning on when they have "good" data to display.

That new OLED display is also full HD 1080p, just like the prototype Oculus showed off behind closed doors at E3 2013. That of course helps as well.

Wizard Chess

We played EVE: Valkyrie at E3 2013 as well, though on the older, lower-resolution Oculus Rift. In 1080p, and with minimal motion blur and the new positional head-tracking, it was even more immersive now than it was back then - and that's saying something, because even that first time it was totally mind-blowing.

Piloting a space ship with an Xbox 360 controller while you look around the cockpit and target enemies with the motions of your head is one of the most impressive gaming experiences ever created. It feels like the first time you played Super Mario 64, or Halo, or Wolfenstein - completely fresh and like it has the potential to change the world of gaming. And right now it's only a demo.

The other software Oculus had at CES was a very basic defense game built by Epic Games in Unreal Engine 4. It's an evolution of one of the original Oculus Rift demos Oculus showed around - the one where users simply walked or floated around several beautiful but interaction-light Unreal Engine 4 environments, including a snowy mountain and the lava-filled lair of a scary-looking demon lord.

Now, that demon sits on his throne across from you, the player, he being your apparent opponent. Around you is his cavernous, fiery lair, and before you is something like a 3D board game with moving pieces. He sends tiny dwarves marching inexorably toward your goal, and you press buttons on the Xbox 360 controller to fire arrows, cannonballs and flamethrowers at them.

There are two views: one overhead and one from closer to the game's level, almost like you're leaning down toward it to put on your thinking cap. And thanks to that positional head-tracking you can actually lean forward to peer into the game and examine the little dwarves up close. You can look into their faces as they're pinned with arrows and crisped with fire.

The experience of playing a game inside a game world is not unique to Oculus Rift. This little game, though still very basic, could conceivably be a mini-game within some epic, sprawling RPG. But like with everything else, playing it on Oculus Rift makes you feel like you're really there.

Early Verdict

Mitchell said the camera that enables the positional tracking may be only a temporary solution. But whatever Oculus settles on to make sure the final version of Oculus Rift features full six-point head-tracking will be included with the unit, whether that means bundling a camera in or something else.

There's still no projected release date or final pricing for the consumer product that the Oculus Rift Crystal Cove prototype will eventually become, despite rumors of a Christmas 2014 goal that Mitchell would neither confirm nor deny. And the conspicuous indicator lights on the Crystal Cove's front aren't final either, Mitchell revealed, even if they do look kind of cool.

Mitchell and his colleagues at Oculus VR seem to think the Rift still has a long way to go. That may very well be true, but the fact is the Oculus Rift is the coolest product in the world right now, and it gets better every time we see it.

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Hands on: Apple Watch review

By: Unknown on 6:13 AM

Apple finally attacks the wrist

Our early verdict

"Probably one of the best smartwatches on the market - but still not enough to convince us this is a real category."

For

• Clever interface
• Multiple sizes

Against

• Slightly chunky
• Could be expensive at higher models

Most of us expected the Apple Watch to appear in 2015, but it's made a (semi) surprise launch with the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

It sadly won't be seen until next year though, which means this is a deliberate ploy by Apple to make sure you're not buying a Samsung, LG or Moto 360option in the run up to Christmas.

But there's a pretty good reason for most to hang on – this is a very stylish wearable indeed.

Apple's clearly aiming this at the fashion market as much as the person who loves to be an early adopter – given the smartwatch market is still yet to take off, it makes sense to focus further afield in terms of consumer targeting.

It also packs NFC, allowing it to be used as part of the new Apple Pay system - something that's either going to be really helpful or a big turn off to some.

But essentially this is a product that defines a new chapter for Apple. Well, that's if it's any good, of course.

Design

The Apple Watch is coming in six different versions: there's the Apple Watch, the Apple Watch Sport and the Apple Watch Edition. And each of these comes in two sizes, for those that like a larger or smaller device for their wrist.

You can't call it a lady or man's watch, but there will be those that do, and it's opened Apple up to a new market in doing so.

While I expected it to be rounded, the fact is the Apple Watch looks like a small fusion between iPhone 6 and iPod Nano. It's not unattractive, but it is on the chunkier side of things.

It's rounded at the sides, which works in its favour, and the very-slightly curved back makes it feel nice, if a little heavy (depending on the band) on the wrist.

The Edition... edition is a properly heavy device on the wrist. It's one that will look great but feel like you've spent a thousand dollars on it. Actually, given we don't know the price of this 18 carat gold and sapphire watch, that might not be too far off.

The interface is curious, but I really think Apple has done better than most with the way it's approached interacting with a wrist-dwelling device.

The Digital Crown is essentially a scroll wheel that lets you zoom in and out of the interface, so for apps (with a fun new home screen that looks NOTHING like the iPhone's version, more a spherical look at all the apps available on the watch) it's a new way of doing things.

The spherical interface is going to take some getting used to. The demos I saw showed a slightly tricky method of hitting the right area to open the app you want, leading to needing to use the Digital Crown more often than not.

It's got a very smooth action, where I expected it to be a clicking feel (just because that's what you get with a watch). It will be interesting to see if this becomes embedded as a way of using the Watch, but anything that takes away from having to touch the screen will be a good thing.

Tapping the crown inwards sends you back to the home screen, but you can also use the touchscreen on the Watch to to interact with apps.

The button below the Digital Crown serves two functions: one to take you to your contacts, and the other to work as a way into activating the Watch as a payment vehicle.

The contacts app is interesting, as it allows you to send things through to your friends that go beyond the normal messaging paradigm.

That said, the Apple Watch is adept at doing the basic smartwatch things: you can make and receive calls from your wrist (with mic and speaker) and it will scan messages coming in to work out if it can generate an easy response for you to tap.

So if someone asks 'Fish or Chips for dinner?' the Watch will ask you to tap Fish or Chips as a reply. Although if it's really smart, it will offer both as an option.

Beyond that though, you can send some really weird things. For instance, you can draw pictures and send them over (although let's be honest, you're going to be getting lots of pictures of male genitalia from your friends sent to your wrist when you're presenting) or a vibration code that you've predefined with a pal.

Or you can even hit the screen with two fingers to send over a heart rate image, which vibrates on that person's arm. The graphic is kind of intense - but it doesn't explain why Apple has offered this.

The Apple Watch is neither a fitness band, watch or fashion accessory though, despite taking a bit from each of those camps. It's hard to define what it really is, which means that users may struggle to justify the purchase.

I think its greatest chance of success is in the health market, as Apple has made this a decent choice for people looking to get a little bit healthier.

Not just checking steps or heart rate once in a while, the watch will be able to help you be a bit less sedentary as well as noting when you run around and how hard the exertion is.

Of course, it needs an iPhone to work really effectively, but it works very well autonomously too in terms of tracking the above.

This partly explains why Samsung has teamed up with Nike to make the Gear S a running companion – but at least Apple has got its own internal system to allow for it.

As a smartwatch, the Apple Watch is a pretty nifty device too. Its discreet dimensions mean that while it's obvious when it lights up, most of the time most won't know you're wearing a smartwatch.

It's annoying needs to be flicked upwards to turn the screen on – unlike the Android Wear devices which are visible when in standby mode – and I wasn't able to test this function during my limited hands on time.

The Apple Watch will also come with the ability to pay for things with the aptly-named Apple Pay – however, this wasn't available for demo, and therefore I can't work out how the security aspect will be handled.

With the phone you'll need to hold the TouchID element to confirm it's you that's paying, and without that on the Watch it's hard to see how you'll manage it.

If you have to press it on your phone, it kind of makes it redundant as a mechanism on the watch.

Apple has confirmed that you'll need to charge this device every day, which is a bit of a shame - with the lack of GPS I was hoping that it would at least match the competition and only need to be plugged in every 48 hours.

At least the charger is attractive: it's an inductive option that clasps to the back of the Watch through magnets. It looks the business, although it doesn't look cheap to replace if it breaks, unlike a Lightning cable.

Early verdict

The Apple Watch is a device that many will want to own with the iPhone 6, as the stylings match really well, and let's be honest: people like buying wholeheartedly into the Apple ecosystem.

It's annoying we don't know the price or the exact release date then, as it's hard to say how successful the Apple Watch will be as a result. The battery life is a shame, but then again it's not unexpected.

One thing's for sure – now Apple has brought visibility of wearables to the wider market through the Apple Watch, everyone will benefit through higher consumer traction.

Will we see everyone wearing one? Probably not, but then again not everyone owned an iPad or iPhone at the start. This is phase one of a much longer product game – but the Apple Watch One is a quite good start.

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iPhone 6 vs iPhone 6 Plus: The Differences Between The New Apple iPhones

By: Unknown on 5:44 AM

Apple AAPL +3.06%’s much heralded September 9 launch has come and gone and as expected we have two new iPhones: the ‘iPhone 6’ and the ‘iPhone 6 Plus’.Also as expected they come in two new, much larger sizes: 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches. But their differences are far more than skin deep so let’s break them down:

Design – Curves And An Aluminium Unibody

The leaks were on the money. Both new iPhones ditch the hard angles and glass backs of their predecessor, the iPhone 5S, in favour of a more rounded, unibody anodized aluminium chassis available in silver, gold or ‘space gray’. The Apple logo on the back will be in stainless steel.

One area of concern for some is the confirmation of a protruding camera (more later), but on the whole the new chassis promises a significant step forward in durability. There is also a sensible evolution with Apple moving the power button to the side to make it easier to reach (HTC take note).

Size And Weight – Bigger But Not Monstrous 

Once again the leaks were right. I discussed the fact the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 would have virtually identical dimensions to the 5-inch Nexus 5 and that is also true of the weight.

The iPhone 6 measures 5.44 x 2.64 x 0.27 inches (138.1 x 67 x 6.9mm) and weighs 4.55 ounces (129g) – a weight increase that is roughly proportional to its 16% volume increase compared to the iPhone 5S.

A Nexus 5? 5.43 x 2.72 x 0.34 inches (137.9 x 69.2 x 8.6 mm) and 4.55 ounces (129g).

Meanwhile the iPhone 6 Plus clearly has the 5.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in its sights. The Plus measures 6.22 x 3.06 x 0.28 inches (158.1 x 77.8 x 7.1mm) and weighs 6.07 ounces (172g).

For reference the Galaxy Note 4 comes in at 6.04 x 3.09 x 0.33-inches (153.5 x 78.6 x 8.5 mm) and 6.21oz (176g).

Ultimately those with big hands may just get away with using the iPhone 6 one handed but, even though Apple has done well to keep their respective weights down with the move to aluminium, both models will take some getting used to for long term iPhone owners. Below are some tips.

Display – 4.7-inches and 5.5-inches

The size of the display for the new iPhones was never in doubt, but both theirresolution and materials remained in doubt. Now we can clear up both and it is a mixture of good and bad news.

First the good: the iPhone 6 Plus will have a standard 1920 x 1080 pixel native resolution which is significantly higher than the 1704 x 960 pixels that had been widely mooted. Video will be the big winner here with the resolution being Full HD, though it falls behind the recent trend for ’2k’ 2560 x 1440 pixels displays as seen on the Note 4 and LG G3.

On the flip side the iPhone 6 Plus resolution delivers 401 pixels per inch (ppi) – significantly ahead of the 326ppi Apple claims constitutes a ‘Retina Display’ (where the naked eye can no longer distinguish between individual pixels) – so there are unlikely to be many complaints.

iPhone 6 owners on the other hand may feel slightly aggrieved. The 4.7-inch display’s 1334 x 750 pixel count is a step behind the 1080p displays we have become used to seeing on similar sized phones (the original HTC One delivered a 1080p 4.7-inch display in early 2013). As such the iPhone 6 just hits the 326ppi measurement, but it is no improvement on the pixel density Apple has offered since the iPhone 4.

Of course there is more to a display than just pixels and here Apple has done well. Both iPhones have strong contrast ratios (iPhone 6 – 1400:1, iPhone 6 Plus 1300:1) and brightness ratings (500 cd/m2) despite Apple stating that it slimmed down both phone’s display backlights.

Alleged sapphire iPhone 6 display leak – image courtesy of Marques Brownlee

Sapphire Goes Missing

Perhaps the biggest shock of the event was Apple made no mention of either handset having a much touted sapphire display. Instead Apple spoke of “Ion-strengthened glass” and even Apple’s formal specifications don’t mention sapphire by name.

Of course it could still come to pass that sapphire is a core component or layer within the new screen, but having written that evidence supporting sapphire displays was anecdotal it would be a shame to be proved right. Unless Apple offers up more details in the near future it seems only chemical analysis will confirm or disprove it once and for all.

One Handed Use – Apple Makes Concessions 

While not the smallest of phones, the iPhone 6 obviously has an inherent advantage over the larger iPhone 6 Plus, but Apple has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. Most logical is its extension of the swipe-to-go-back gesture seen in Safari to the rest of the UI. Repeating this gesture over and over may become tiresome, but it is a neat solution.

In a more surprising move though Apple has also commandeered the home button double tap command to enable what it is calling ‘Reachability’. This is a fancy term for just moving the whole UI halfway down the screen to make it easier to tap the navigation buttons in the top corners. I warned this would be a problem.

That said one handed use, whether by swipes or Reachability will at least make both handsets technically friendly for one handed use. How practical or enjoyable they prove, only time will tell.

Image courtesy of Apple

Apps – Better Scaling

If size and one handed use are the downsides of a bigger display, the good news is Apple plans to use the extra real estate wisely. Apple demonstrated this with the iPhone 6 Plus which – like an iPad – can display its homescreen in both portrait and landscape modes and apps themselves get a touch of the iPad about them with additional functionality when horizontal.

Apple has already adapted a number of its own apps to take advantage of this and it shouldn’t be long before third party developers get in on the act. Samsung has long worked on additional functionality for its Note phablet and this change sees Apple bring its iPads and iPhones much closer together (curiously Apple didn’t name drop the iPad all night).

As for existing apps, Apple is keen to stress both iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus owners should not worry. The company said iOS 8 will integrate a ‘desktop class scaler’ which should be a lot smarter than the old ‘zoom’ that hit the iPhone 4 when the Retina Display was introduced or how iPhone apps are still handled on the iPad to this day. Apple didn’t state whether the scaler could also be used to improve the iPad’s display of iPhone apps, but it would seem a logical extension.

Performance – Surprisingly Inseparable 

Typically this is a big one with new iPhones, but Apple made much less noise about it than in previous launches. Like the A7 chip in the iPhone 5S, the A8 within the new iPhone 6es will be 64bit and Apple is claiming 50% and 20% better graphics and CPU performance respectively. This is a long way off the gains Apple has touted in past generational step ups (the iPhone 5S doubled the CPU and GPU performance of the iPhone 5, for example) but gaming should take another leap forward and no-one could accuse the iPhone 5S of feeling slow in the first place.

Interestingly during the event Apple was less focused on raw performance than refinement of performance. What this translated to is greater sustained performance with far less heat build up. Fingers crossed Apple has pulled this off because numerous red hot rivals need to take note.

As for the A8 chip itself Apple stated that it is 13% smaller than the A7 and built using the 20nm fabrication process, but the company made no differentiation between its performance on the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. I remain convinced the iPhone 6 Plus will run at a higher clock speed, but if not the iPhone 6 could prove the more powerful phone as it is driving considerably less pixels. Benchmarking will solve this as it is the sort of nitty gritty Apple is never happy to divulge.

In addition to the A8, both phones also get the new M8 motion coprocessor. Like the M7 it is primarily aimed at fitness applications and can now distinguish between running, cycling and elevation. The latter thanks to the well leaked inclusion of a barometer.

Lastly we come to connectivity. I’ll deal with NFC in a dedicated section so aside from that the big news is the integration of 150Mbit capable LTE on both models. Neither gets LTE Advanced (capable of 300Mbit+ though yet to widely roll out) but arguably more useful is both phones’ compatibility with no less than 20 LTE bands. This should make the new iPhones work with 4G services almost anywhere in the world, so your roaming bill can get bigger faster than ever before!

Interestingly both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will also sport VoLTE (Voice over LTE). Like LTE Advanced this is also something not many networks offer, but Apple said it is working specifically with T-Mobile in the US and EE in the UK to make it happen and it enables far higher quality voice calls. Meanwhile the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will also offer 802.11ac WiFi just like the iPhone 5S.

Image courtesy of Apple

Camera – Same Resolution, But iPhone 6 Plus Comes Out Ahead

Apple has never been one to join the megapixels race and it resisted once again keeping the count on the iPhone 6 and 6S the same eight megapixels as seen on the iPhone 5S, iPhone 5/5C and iPhone 4S.

More surprisingly the sensor itself on both new iPhones  is not improved from the iPhone 5S and it sports the same f/2.2 aperture. On the upside there is an upgraded ‘True Tone’ flash for more realistic flash lighting and new ‘Focus Pixels’ which Apple claims will halve autofocus times and enable faster face and smile detection as well as continuous autofocus in video.

Another benefit – and where the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus differ – is their image stabilisation. Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS) has become a mainstay of most premium smartphones (it moves the lens around to minimise camera shake that causes blurred shots) and it comes to the iPhone 6 Plus. Strangely though the iPhone 6 has to do with digital image stabilisation, a cheaper software-based alternative. Apple may have worked miracles here but I expect the iPhone 6 Plus to take the better shots, particularly at night where a steady hand for longer exposure times is crucial.

As for the front facing FaceTime Camera, it is a disappointing tie. Both iPhones’ front cameras take in 81% more light, gain HDR, improved face detection and a burst mode for better selfies (actually name dropped by Apple) though the resolution itself remains a measly 1.2 megapixels. Apple may not be playing the megapixel game, but it could do better here.

Video is also a tie. Both iPhones offer 1080p video recording at 30fps and 60fps (frames per second) as well as 120-240fps in slo-mo. A lack of 4k video recording is more of a shame for the spec sheet than in reality, but you can betSamsung, LG and Motorola (who have all released 4k capable smartphones) will use its absence from both iPhone 6es to attack Apple from now on.

Memory – Finally 128GB

At long last Apple has made the step up to 128GB and with solid state memory prices having crashed in recent years hopefully it will see rivals follow suit.

Of course Apple’s philosophy of shunning expandable microSD storage makes the capacity boost particularly pertinent, though the company’s decision to still offer a 16GB edition as its baseline rather than increasing it to 32GB (a capacity which has been ditched altogether) is a shame.

Battery Life – iPhone 6 Plus Scores Big

With battery leaks hinting that the iPhone 6 may offer little improvement over the iPhone 5S, it was welcome news to find improvements have been made. Audio, video and WiFi browsing increase 10% to 50, 11 and 11 hours respectively while 3G browsing increases 20% to 10 hours. These are fairly subtle improvements, but 3G talk time gets a 40% bump to 14 hours even if standby time remains the same at 10 days. LTE-based browsing unfortunately doesn’t improve staying at 10 hours.

By contrast (and as we have seen from other phablets) the 6 Plus uses its extra size well to push iPhone battery life to a whole new level. The big winners are audio (doubling to 80 hours), video (a 40% boost to 14 hours) 3G talk time (from 10 to 24 hours), 3G browsing (8 to 12 hours) and standby (up to 16 days). Arguably the most pertinent ratings – WiFi browsing and LTE browsing – only increase 20 per cent to 12 hours, but it remains the biggest generational leap in iPhone history.

Image courtesy of Apple

NFC And Apple Pay – The iPhone 6 And 6 Plus Ace Card

I won’t go into great detail on iOS 8 here as that is an article in itself, but where the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus stand out from their forebears is in iOS 8’s debut in the world of mobile payments.

Dubbed ‘Apple Pay’ it combines the Touch ID, Passbook and – in the case of the new iPhone 6es – NFC to bring a truly digital wallet and touch payments to the company’s handsets for the first time. Furthermore adding NFC to both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus should help the wider payment industry as Apple’s rivals have been waiting for Apple to adopt the standard for years.

The good news is Apple is aboard in fine style. Apple Pay launches with the backing of American Express, MasterCard and Visa along with Citibank, Bank of America, Capital One, Well Fargo and Chase giving it access to 80% of the US market.

There are 22,000 retailers at launch as well such as Whole Foods, Staples, Starbucks, Subway, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Groupon and McDonalds (including drive throughs!) and third party apps can offer the ability to use Apple Pay to process external payments. For example, OpenTable restaurant bookings.

As you might have spotted these partners indicate Apple will launch Pay first in the US and we await news of its wider international plans. That said with chip and pin and touch payments increasingly common in the rest of the world, and in the UK in particular, it should be an accessible market when Apple does expand.

In short: should Apple Pay take off it could well prove one of the biggest drivers of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales.

Price And Availability – No ‘Budget’ Option

So what will all this cost you? The good news is if you’re a fan of smaller handsets the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C have just got much cheaper ($99 and free respectively on two year contracts) so get them while you can. The bad news: the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus do not replace those two handset’s original price points.

On a two year contract it will cost $199 upfront for a 16GB iPhone 6, $299 for 64GB and $399 for 128GB. Meanwhile the iPhone 6 Plus adds $100 onto these prices coming in at $299 for 16GB, $399 for 64GB and $499 for 128GB, again on a two year contract. Contract-free pricing has yet to be announced.

As for availability, you won’t have to wait long. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will launch in the US on September 19 with pre-orders starting on September 12.  Apple says it will release the new phones in a remarkable 115 countries before the end of 2014.

Meanwhile existing iPhone owners will get iOS 8 on September 17. It will be compatible with the iPhone 4S, iPod touch 5th generation, iPad 2 and above.

Read more: Why Apple Made Massive New iPhones

Image courtesy of Apple

Bottom Line

The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus represent Apple’s biggest ever iPhone redesign . Key selling points will be the larger screens, anodized aluminium chassis, improved battery life, enlarged memory and the NFC-enabled Apple Pay.

The handsets were not without their disappointments though. Sapphire appears to be a major casualty, the iPhone 6 has a disappointingly low native resolution and OIS really should have been offered on the iPhone 6 not just the iPhone 6 Plus.

Meanwhile the ‘Reachability’ workaround for iOS 8 feels like a stop gap until Apple works out a better way system for reaching the key navigation buttons it still positions in the top left and right screen corners.

Despite this a lot more could have gone wrong when Apple super sized its iPhones, but it is fair to say for the vast majority Apple has nailed it. The iPhone 6 is likely to be the bigger seller, but for me the iPhone 6 Plus is the more complete handset.

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