The Process That Makes Me Thousands of Dollars Per Month Online
Unless you’ve read Cloud Living, you probably have no idea how I make money online. I do make a great living from the internet, but I’ve never wrote about how. Until today.
I’m not going to claim my process is anything new, because there were
people using similar methods for a long time before me. I am however
going to take you through the steps I follow in order to build
profitable websites that allow me to live my location independent
lifestyle.
My first major website made money through
contextual advertising (Google Adsense) and selling ads on a CPM (cost
per 1,000 impressions) basis. I was running a community site at the time
and besides premium memberships, they aren’t that easy to monetise.
I’ve started websites from scratch, quickly built them to 50,000
visitors per month, and then sold them on for an easy profit. I’ve hired
programmers to create scripts that I later sell to niche communities
for a great return and I’ve also built and sold popular blogs.
There are many more ways to make money online, but the process that generates most of my income is simply this: I direct search engine traffic to landing pages, and then send that traffic to product pages as an affiliate.
If someone buys a product on the site I sent them to, then I make a
commission. The product is obviously relevant to what they were
searching for, and this strategy results in a win-win for both parties
(I only promote the best products / services I know of).
Although this method makes me thousands of dollars per month, it’s
still a very simple process. Nobody said making money on the internet
was difficult. In fact, I think it’s very easy; as long as you take right action.
I’ve just given you a quick overview, so let’s get into the specifics.
I Write Down My Passions, Fears, and Problems
Most people online are looking for something to fill a need. People
playing games might just want to avoid the school or office work they
could (should?) be doing. People reading weight loss blogs may be doing
so because they want to attract members of the opposite sex.
Some people really want to quit their day job and leave the rat race,
so they read sites like this one. Generally, everything anyone does
online is to help them personally, whether you like how that sounds or
not. This is probably why Seth Godin refers to eMail as Memail. We care
about ourselves, naturally. To understand what other people might be interested in online, I look at what I’m interested in.
What are my passions?
DJ’ing
Internet marketing
Driving
Reading useful, non-fiction books
Socialising with friends
Going clubbing (I think my record is around 36 nights out in a row, mostly with Diggy)
After I have these written down, then I’ll do the same for fears and
problems I have in my life, or I’ve had in the past. Things that I know
about. Generally I don’t need to write down these things as I know what I
like, fear, and have issues with. However, it’s useful to have a
written record for the next step of the process.
I See If There Is a Market with Similar Interests
As I’m relying on search engine traffic to drive new visitors to my
affiliate site, I need to if there’s a decent market size with similar
interests or problems. To do this, I use the Google external keyword tool. The tool gives you a good idea of how many people are searching for X (X being anything) in Google.
When I first started building websites, I would pick keyphrases that
received around 5,000 exact searches per month to decide that a market
was large enough for me to enter. Generally, the lower the figure, the
less money you can make. 5,000 searches means that I can make a decent
amount of money if I get on the first page of Google for a relevant
keyphrase.
However, now that I’m doing well with this process, I’m happy to go
for keyphrases with 100,000+ monthly searches. This means that I’m going
to have to work a lot harder and the process is going to take a lot
longer, but the reward is much greater.
Once I’ve ran my terms through the keyword tool and found something I
know about that has a decent audience size, I’ll also check Google Trends to give me an idea of whether the audience is growing, declining, or staying at a steady level.
If something is declining sharply, then I’ll generally stay clear.
Finally, I’ll then run my keyphrases through Google and perform backlink
checks on top ranking results to see how hard it is going to be to
rank. If the sites in the top results have thousands of links and the
market size isn’t that large, I generally won’t waste my time.
However, for small industries, the sites that rank rarely have an unbeatable backlink count.
I Find a Relevant Product I Can Promote
There are times when this step and the previous step swap position,
but generally I find products around what I love, rather than just
promoting something because it’s popular (like most affiliate
marketers).
I know for a fact that I could make a lot more money online by
promoting things I’ve never used that I know convert well, but that just
doesn’t align with me internally. We only have one shot at life, and I
like to spend my time doing positive work. I don’t judge others who just
promote things for the money, but it’s simply not for me.
There is the odd occasion that I will fall in love with a product or service and then test the market to see if there would be interest in it, but most of the time I pick the products afterward.
To find products I use companies like Clickbank, Commission Junction, Motive Interactive,
and a few other niche companies that only have one or two specific
products. If I can’t find something to promote around a keyphrase then I
will either:
Search Amazon and try their affiliate program (though commissions are low)
Create my own product in that niche
Search Google for things like “niche affiliate” or “product affiliate” (substituting niche and product for relevant terms)
Pick a different industry
Companies like Clickbank allow you to promote digital products
(usually eBooks). A lot of products will offer up to 75% commission on
what a user spends. For example, if you sent a search visitor to a
product page and they spend $47, you’ll receive a $35 commission. The
product creators can offer such high commissions because digital items
like eBooks are free to duplicate.
In Cloud Living
I talk more about the criteria I use to pick certain products but
generally, I just pick things that interest me, rather than worrying
about how much money I’ll make. Maybe I’m not the greatest businessman,
but I jump out of bed each morning looking forward to doing what I do.
I Build a Website Around That Product
Once I have chosen an industry and found a product I want to promote,
I then go and build a website around that product. These don’t have to
be professional and they don’t have to take that long, but I prefer to
build an entire site around something, rather than just putting a link
on a blog post or adding a page to an existing site.
To start with, I choose a relevant domain. If you can get the .com for your keyphrase (like I did for a keyphrase
which now gets 135,000 exact searches per month) then take it before
you realise how lucky you are. Generally you’ll have to add words to a
domain such as ‘mykeyphrase.com’ or ‘keyphrasehq.com’ or even
‘key-words.net’. My favourite extensions in order are:
.com
.net
.org
I would rather have keyphrasehq.com than something like
key-phrase.info. I then either use a CMS like WordPress to build my site
or build a simple 5-10 page static site in HTML. There’s a great
resource here which gives
you a lot of free templates you can use for your site. You will have to
customise them with call-to-actions in order to get people off of your
website and onto the product page.
The pages I have on the site are usually:
A homepage, which talks about the topic / product and then links to the product page as an affiliate
A contact page where people can ask you questions. This also makes your site more legitimate
A privacy policy which also adds to the legitimacy and is
recommended if you ever advertise via PPC as it will increase your
quality score
5 – 10 unique articles on the topic that fill out the site and show search engines that you are a decent resource
Building a website around the product is not enough to start making
money though. We need traffic, and the method I use is to rely on search
engines to send it to me, for free.
I Work on Getting Search Engine Traffic
While on-site optimisation is important to increase the relevance of
your site to the keyphrases that you’re trying to rank for in Google,
the main thing that determines search engine rankings is links to your
website from other websites, otherwise known as backlinks.
Not all links are created equally, so it’s far better to get links
from quality, relevant sites rather than spamming blog comments or
asking your friend to put a link on the sidebar of his blog which is in a
totally different industry.
Benefits of This Process
As I mentioned earlier, there are thousands of ways to make money
online and I’ve made money in lots of different ways. However, I really
like this process for a few reasons:
Low Start-Up Costs – There are a number of business
ventures you can pursue online which don’t require much of an
investment, and this is one of them. If you can afford the $9 for a
domain and $5 for monthly web hosting then you’re good to go.
Work In Your Spare Time – Unlike blogging where you
really have to keep some form of consistency in order to be successful,
your affiliate site is happy to wait until you’re ready to work on it.
Just a couple of hours per week are all you need to build the site and
start working on building links.
You Can Make Money In Your Sleep – One of my friends is
a professional poker player and another is a freelance writer. Both
love what they do, but for both of them, work = income. The great thing
about this process is that even when you sleep, the internet doesn’t.
Once an affiliate site is ranking, you can generally leave it and it
will make money for months or even years to come with little to no extra
effort on your part.
don’t build many sites like this anymore, simply because I’m putting
money into buying a lot of profitable websites instead (if you’re
selling a site that makes at least $1,000 per month, please email me).
However, I am still actively working on my $1m case study website and have hired an FHM model to create videos to help me with universal search (videos in search results) and to make the website more legitimate.
I spent as long as the very, very polite Apple staff at the iPhone 6 event would allow trying out both the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
today. I tried them multiple times each and I tried multiple apps and
as many new features as I could on both of them. So, how did they feel?
The iPhone 6 didn't really feel much bigger than an iPhone 5. It is,
of course, 4.-7-inches to 4, and 1334x750 to 1136x640, but because it's
so thin — which makes it so light — and so rounded, it was very similar
to transition from two years ago. Almost unreal. I have no doubt that,
just as I look back at the
original iPhone as an iPhone mini now, the
iPhone 6 will feel absolutely normal in a week or so.
The iPhone 6 Plus is another story. 5.5-inches with a 1920x1080p
display at 401ppi, it definitely feels bigger. Not tablet big, but
bigger. The reachability mode, where you double-touch the Touch ID
sensor to literally pull the screen halfway down, making everything from
the messages app icon to cancel buttons easier to reach is goofy to
look at but really instinctive after only a few tries.
If more pixels aren't your thing, you can switch to Display Zoom mode
and get the iPhone 5-sized screen scaled up to the iPhone 6 dimensions.
Meaning, instead of seeing more stuff on the new iPhones, you get to
see the same stuff as the old one, but bigger. That'll be great for accessibility.
Thanks to its bigger screen, the iPhone 6 Plus gets the added benefit of adaptive UI-powered,
iPad style two column interfaces in landscape mode. So you basically
have a big iPhone in portrait and a small iPad in landscape. That'll be a
huge boon for productivity and I really like it.
Thanks to the larger size, the iPhone 6 Plus also gets optical image
stabilization (OIS) for the iSight camera. Basically it "floats" the
lens to eliminate hand shake so it can keep the aperture open longer and
bring in more light. That leads to better photos in darker conditions. I
didn't have a chance to try it out but the samples looked great.
Both iPhone 6 models have faster, powerful, more efficient Apple A8
processors and barometer-equipped Apple M8 motion coprocessors. Both
have NFC and secure elements for credit card payments. Both have
802.11ac Wi-Fi and LTE Advanced cellular.
iPhone 6 starts at $199, iPhone 6 Plus starts at $299. Sizes include
16GB, 64GB, and 128GB. Colors include gold, silver, and space gray. And
they both ship on September 19.
The iPhone 6 would be an easy upgrade since it feels so much like an
iPhone 5 or iPhone 5s. Within a few days I don't think I'd notice the
difference anymore. The iPhone 6 Plus, however, might be an even more
compelling one. What you sacrifice in pocket-ability and manipulability
you make up for in productivity and low-light photography.
WWDC
once again came and went without any new iPhone announcements,
re-affirming that that 2011 hadn't be a fluke. Fall was the new summer.
So it was that Apple announced another iPhone event for September 12,
2012. There Apple SVP of worldwide marketing announced the biggest thing
to happen to the iPhone since the original iPhone. Big as in in thinner
and lighter. Big as in screaming fast LTE. Big as in a taller screen.
Big as in the iPhone 5.
iPhone 5: Loving it was easy
iPhone 5, codenamed N41/N42 and model number iPhone5,1, was the
fourth major redesign and the second major improvement to the iPhone's
display. It went from a 3:2 aspect ration to a more cinematic 16:9. The
density stayed the same, at 326ppi, so that resulted in a size increase
to 4-inches and pixel count increase to 1136x640 to fill up all that
extra space. It allowed for an extra row of icons, an extra message, and
extra everything in general. Apple also switched to in-cell technology,
which let them combine the touch sensor and LCD into one layer. If the
pixels previously looked like they were painted beneath glass, the
iPhone 5 made them look like they were painted inside the glass. It also
reduced reflections. Somewhat. Apple had succeeded in once again making
the best, if not the biggest, display in the business.
The iPhone 5 also debuted Apple's first custom processor. Previous
Apple A-series processors had been based on existing ARM reference
designs. For the Apple A6, Apple licensed the ARM v7s instruction set
and made their own design -- a 32nm CMOS dual-core Apple CPU that can
run from between 800MHz and 1.2GHz. And they topped it off with a
triple-core PowerVR SGX543MP3 GPU and 1GB of RAM. It was roughly twice
as fast. Again. There was no new storage option, however, so 64GB
remained the max. The battery did creep up again, though, to 1440mAh.
That, along with new efficiencies, increased useful battery life.
The Apple A6
image signal processor (ISP) added spatial noise reduction as well as
increased speed. Because of the 25% thinner body, Apple wasn't able to
include a better physical camera (cameras love depth) but they somehow
managed to squeeze a camera into it that was just as good as the iPhone
4S. Re-branded under the old "iSight"
name, Apple did add a new, dynamic low-light mode which they claimed
was up to 2 f-stops better. Apple also claimed the 5-element lens has
been aligned with even greater precision for even greater sharpness.
Also, the surface of the iSight was switched to sapphire crystal to make
it more scratch resistant. The front, FaceTime camera went 720p,
becoming FaceTime HD.
In their efforts to save space, Apple once again went to a smaller
SIM card. This time, the nanoSIM. They added 4G LTE support, thanks to
Qualcomm MDM9615 and RTR8600 chipsets, with a maximum theoretical speed
of 100mbps. Because of the thinness and their obsession with battery
life, however, they didn't add dual radios. Since LTE doesn't support
simultaneous voice and data, the GSM iPhone 5 had to drop down to HSPA+
while talking. Since EVDO Rev. A also doesn't supported simultaneous
voice and data, the CMDA iPhone had to drop data entirely. For areas
without LTE, Apple added DC-HSPA+, and it's still impressive theoretical
42mbps capacity. Wideband audio was added for the few carriers that
actually supported it. Bluetooth was already maxed out at 4.0, but
thanks to a Murata Wi-Fi module, which included the Broadcom BCM4334
chip, the iPhone 5 gained 802.11n on 5GHz as well.
Apple also added a 3rd mic for better noise cancellation and
beamforming not just for phone calls, but FaceTime, Siri, and other,
newer technologies.
The iPhone 5 was also a turning point in another major area. After 10
years of 30-pin Dock connector, Apple swapped it out for the smaller,
more flexible Lightning connector. 80% smaller and offering 8
all-digital signals to be precise. It caused a lot of pain for a lot of
people who'd accumulated a lot of Dock connector-based accessories over
the years, and Apple dropped the ball in a major way by not having their
adapters on the shelves in anything approaching a reasonable amount of
time. It was a necessary and good change, however, and over time the
changing pain diminished.
Pricing was unchanged at $199, $299, and $399 on contract.
iPhone 5: Bored all the way to the bank
The iPhone 5 launched in the US, Australia, Canada, France, Germany,
Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and the UK on September 21, 2013. By the end
of the year it was available in 100 countries on 240 carriers. Apple
also launched iOS 6 with it. They sold 5 million the first weekend.
Competition for Apple and the iPhone had never been more fierce. Some
in the media and in the markets began to run with the "Apple is doomed"
meme, and Apple's ability to innovate and excite was called into
question. At WWDC 2013, however, Apple began to strike back. iOS 7 was
coming. But what would come with it?
Android™ delivers a complete set of software for mobile devices: an operating system,
middleware and key mobile applications.
Open
Android was built from the ground-up to enable developers to create compelling mobile
applications that take full advantage of all a handset has to offer. It was built to be
truly open. For example, an application can call upon any of the phone’s core
functionality such as making calls, sending text messages, or using the camera,
allowing developers to create richer and more cohesive experiences for users. Android
is built on the open Linux Kernel. Furthermore, it utilizes a custom virtual machine
that was designed to optimize memory and hardware resources in a mobile environment.
Android is open source; it can be liberally extended to incorporate new cutting edge
technologies as they emerge. The platform will continue to evolve as the developer
community works together to build innovative mobile applications.
All applications are created equal
Android does not differentiate between the phone’s core applications and third-party
applications. They can all be built to have equal access to a phone’s capabilities
providing users with a broad spectrum of applications and services. With devices built
on the Android Platform, users are able to fully tailor the phone to their interests.
They can swap out the phone's homescreen, the style of the dialer, or any of the
applications. They can even instruct their phones to use their favorite photo viewing
application to handle the viewing of all photos.
Breaking down application boundaries
Android breaks down the barriers to building new and innovative applications. For
example, a developer can combine information from the web with data on an individual’s
mobile phone — such as the user’s contacts, calendar, or geographic location — to
provide a more relevant user experience. With Android, a developer can build an
application that enables users to view the location of their friends and be alerted
when they are in the vicinity giving them a chance to connect.
Fast & easy application development
Android provides access to a wide range of useful libraries and tools that can be used
to build rich applications. For example, Android enables developers to obtain the
location of the device, and allows devices to communicate with one another enabling
rich peer–to–peer social applications. In addition, Android includes a full set of
tools that have been built from the ground up alongside the platform providing
developers with high productivity and deep insight into their applications.
iPhone 6 hands-on: Curved edges, 4.7-inch screen, A8 processor, Apple Pay with NFC, starts at $199, £539, AU$869
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,
you'll have a choice of two phones to consider, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6
and the 5.5-inch 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 smallish by today's standards.
A refreshed Retina display -- Apple's calling it Retina HD --
retains its 326ppi density with a 1,334x750-pixel resolution. (It's the
iPhone 6 Plus that has the higher pixel density on its 1080p HD
display.) The iPhone 6's better-than-720p display on a 4.7-inch phone is
about right. It's when you get to 5 inches and higher that we generally
start seeing 1080p HD and above.
Look and feel
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.
The new iPhone 6
The wafer-like metal design and curved lines feel, in many
ways, like previous iPod Touch models and a little like the iPad. The metal HTC One M8 feels bulky by comparison.
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.
Tiny design changes shift the placement of the power/lock
button from the phone's top edge to its right spine. On other phones,
this button location sometimes results in the phone screen turning on
when you didn't intend to, so it will be interesting to see if the
iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will suffer from these problems as well.
It weighs in at 4.55 ounces (129 grams), and, like the iPhone 5S, contains a Touch ID fingerprint scanner integrated into the home button.
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.
The iPhone 6 has digital image
stabilization, but if you want the optical image stabilization that many
more premium phones are incorporating, you'll need to upgrade to the
iPhone 6 Plus.
On
the video front, you'll be capturing 1080p HD video at either 30 or
60fps, with slow motion coming in at 120 or 240fps. Continuous autofocus
while you're shooting video means that the camera will adjust as the
subjects move around -- or as you do. You can shoot video in HDR mode as
well.
Apple has also made improvements to the 1.2-megapixel
front-facing camera, or the FaceTime camera, as the company likes to
call it. The iPhone 6 tweaks face detection and focus to aim for better
accuracy, and now weaves in HDR. Video capture here remains steady at
720p HD, and the front-facer also gets a burst mode.
Brawnier internals
The iPhone 6's A8 processor is the second 64-bit chipset
that Apple's made, and it boasts 50 percent faster graphics and a 25
percent faster CPU, which should make the phone more power-efficient.
We'll eventually be able to test out these claims, of course.
Remember that co-processor in the previous iPhone? Well, the
M8 co-processor gets some new sensor tricks that brings it on par with
some existing phones, so you'll get elevation and air-pressure readouts,
and distance estimates. This is all-important for the iPhone's fitness
apps.
Apple never gives battery specifics in mAh,
but the iPhone 6 is rated to last up to 10 hours over 3G and 4G LTE, and
up to 11 hours on Wi‑Fi and video. There's Wi-Fi calling at long last,
and Voice over LTE (aka VoLTE). Speaking of LTE, new specs allow for a
theoretical zenith of 150Mbps downloads.
Support
for the Wi-Fi 802.11 ac standard means you're looking at Wi-Fi speeds
three times faster than those in the iPhone 5S.
Apple Pay and NFC
After resisting NFC, or near-field communication, for
years, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus not only add the short-range
communications protocol to the phone, but also build an entire mobile
payment system around it, with partners galore already waiting in the
wings.
Apple has integrated NFC into its iPhone, at long last.
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.
Groupon, Uber, and Panera, and others will also incorporate Apple Pay
right into their apps. When Apple releases the API (imminently),
developers will stream on board.
Pricing and availability
The iPhone 6 (and its 6 Plus sibling) will launch in
eight countries on September 19, with pre-orders beginning September 12:
the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan,
Puerto Rico, and Singapore.
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
will sell the phone off-contract for: $27.08 per month for 24 months
(16GB); $99.99 down with $27.08 per month for 24 months (64GB); and
$199.99 down with $27.08 per month for 24 months (128GB).
In the UK, you'll be able to buy the iPhone 6 unlocked from Apple
for £539 for the 16GB model, £619 for the 64GB model, and £699 for the
128GB version. Networks including O2, Vodafone, EE, Three, GiffGaff,
Virgin, and TalkMobile will offer their own deals, which are yet to be
announced.
Australians will pay AU$869 for the 16GB
model, AU$999 for 64GB, and AU$1,129 for the 128GB version through
Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, and other carriers.
Should you upgrade?
If you've been waiting since the iPhone 5, crave a somewhat
larger screen, or want to try Apple Pay, the cheaper 4.7-inch iPhone 6
is the way to go.
However, the reasons to upgrade to
either new iPhone over last year's iPhone 5S are harder to find if you
aren't pulled in by the swelling size. The new A8 processor's speed and
graphics gains don't seem as dramatic as last year's A7 -- at least on
paper. Much greater storage size is another temptation, too, as Apple
leaps to 64GB and 128GB models.
Once again, the iPhone 6
will probably satisfy current iPhone users looking for the next
evolution of Apple's smartphone, especially if you're tired of a 4-inch
display, though iPhone 5S users will find only stepped improvements.
At its special media event, Apple announced the 4.7-inch iPhone
6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus. Both devices will launch on September
19 in the first wave of countries, with pre-orders starting on
September 12.
Specs
4.7-inch iPhone 6 features a 1334 x 750 display
5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus features a 1920 x 1080 display
16 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB
$199, $299, and $399 / $299, $399, and $499
This page is current as of 1 day ago
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Apple has unveiled two new iPhones, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus.
Along with larger screens and a completely new iPad-style design with
an ultra thin body and rounded corners, the two new phones offer faster
processors, better cameras, and Apple's new Apple Pay payment system.
Apple's new iPhones are available in Gold, Silver, and Space Gray,
and are available in 16, 64, and 128 GB capacities. The iPhone 6 pricing
starts at $199, while the iPhone 6 Plus pricing starts at $299.
While both models include the same 64-bit A8 chip and the same
general design, there are several differences between the two phones.
The iPhone 6 measures in at 6.9mm, while the iPhone 6 Plus is slightly thicker at 7.1mm. Apple's iPhone 6 Plus also has three major differentiating factors: optical image stabilization for the camera, and a longer battery life, and an iPad-style landscape mode that displays more content on the screen.
Though the iPhone 6 Plus has optical image stabilization, both phones got some major camera improvements
in form of sensor upgrades, improved tone mapping, better noise
reduction, and new "Focus Pixel" technology, which improves the phone's
ability to select autofocus points. For videos, there's a new 240fps slo-mo option, along with support for shooting in 1080p at 60fps. The front-facing camera was also upgraded, with an f/2.2 aperture that lets in more light and new burst mode capabilities.
Both phones have an impressive new "Retina HD Display," with the iPhone 6 featuring a resolution of 1334 x 750 (326 ppi) and the iPhone 6 Plus featuring a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (401 ppi).
Design wise, the phones more closely resemble the iPad and the iPod touch than the iPhone 5s. Both models have soft, rounded corners and a curved glass screen
that melds smoothly into the thin metal body of the device. The volume
buttons on the left side of the device are now pill-shaped, and the
power button is located on the right side of the device for easier
one-handed use.
To further make its devices easier to use one-handed, Apple has added in a new double tap home button gesture called "Reachability," which moves items from the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen for quick access.
Other new features in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus include WiFi calling support, faster 802.11ac WiFi, and support for Voice over LTE (VoLTE)
How to Buy
The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus will launch on September 19 in the
U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto
Rico, and Singapore. Apple is taking in-store pre-orders for the
devices as of 8am local time on Friday, September 12.
Online pre-orders kicked off at 12:01am Pacific Time on the 12th at Apple's online store as well as individual carrier stores, such as Verizon and AT&T. Pre-orders suffered heavily from technical difficulties due to demand, and Apple's own online store didn't come up until nearly 3 AM PT.
While several iPhone 6 models remain in stock late in the day on
September 12, all models of the iPhone 6 Plus sold out not long after
pre-orders began, with shipping dates slipping from 7 to 10 days and
then to 3 to 4 weeks.
According to an Apple representative, response to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus was "incredible," setting a new record for pre-orders.
Apple's iPhone 6 is available in 16, 64, and 128 GB capacities,
priced at $199, $299, and $399, respectively, with a two-year contract.
The iPhone 6 Plus is available in 16, 64, and 128 GB capacities and will
be priced $100 higher at $299, $399, and $499, respectively. Both the
iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus are available in Space Gray, Gold, and Silver.
Hands-on First Impressions
Following Apple's introduction of the iPhone 6 and its wearable device, members of the press were invited to go hands-on with the new devices, letting us get an early look at the larger-screened iPhones.
Reviews were largely positive, with several people pointing towards the display of the device. According to Jared Nelson from TouchArcade, the Retina Display HD screens look "absolutely incredible" in person. Engadget noted that despite the resolution difference between the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the two displays looked almost identical.
In More Detail
Design
Measuring in at 4.7 and 5.5-inches, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6
Plus dwarf previous iPhone models, but at the same time, the two phones
are Apple's thinnest yet, measuring in at 6.9 and 7.1mm, respectively. For comparison's sake, the iPhone 5s was 7.6mm thick.
According to Apple, the thinner profile was made possible by the
company's "thinnest display yet," which is made of slightly curved glass
designed to flow seamlessly into the body of the device to highlight
the "Retina HD" screen of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
Both devices include prominent antenna bands on the
back enclosure, along with a protruding rear lens. The volume buttons
are pill-shaped, much like the buttons on the iPad Air, and the power
button has been relocated to the right side of the device.
The iPhone 6 measures in at 5.44 inches long and 2.64 inches wide, and weighs 4.55 ounces. The iPhone 6 measures in at 6.22 inches long and 3.06 wide, weighing 6.07 ounces. In comparison, the iPhone 5s is 4.87 inches long, 2.31 inches wide, and it weighs 3.95 ounces.
Retina HD Display
iPhone 6 rumors largely suggested Apple would use a sapphire display
cover in the device, but that turned out to be false. Instead, the
iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus use "ion-strengthened" glass with an improved polarizer (for better outdoor viewing), a photo aligned IPS liquid crystal display, and a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating.
The iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch display with a "2x" resolution of 1334 x 740 (326 ppi) while the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5-inch "3x" resolution of 1920 x 1080 (401 ppi). Both phones are said to offer higher contrast, better brightness, and improved white balance.
Apple has implemented several "Reachability"
features to improve the viewing experience on its larger devices,
including Display Zoom and landscape view (iPhone 6 Plus only). Display Zoom lets users zoom in to get a closer view at their apps, while standard zoom displays more content on the screen.
Landscape view on the iPhone 6 Plus is designed to make the most of
the 5.5-inch screen and to help users be more productive. When in
landscape mode, the device will display apps like Mail, Calendar, and
Stocks in a wider view similar to the way they're displayed on the iPad.
Battery Life
The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus both offer improved battery life,
but due to the larger size of iPhone 6 Plus, it is able to accommodate a
larger battery. While the capacities of the two batteries are unknown,
previous rumors pointed towards 1,810 mAh capacity for the iPhone 6 and a
2,915 mAh capacity for the iPhone 6 Plus.
Because it has a bigger battery, the iPhone 6 Plus has a longer battery life
than the smaller iPhone 6. 3G talk time for the iPhone 6 Plus is at 24
hours, compared to just 14 hours in the iPhone 6, for example, while HD
video playback is at 14 hours for the iPhone 6 Plus and 11 hours for the
iPhone 6.
A8 Chip and M8 Motion Coprocessor
Both the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus have a new 64-bit A8 processor
built on an advanced 20-nanometer process. Not only is the chip smaller
than the A7 in the iPhone 5s, it's also able to deliver 25 percent
faster CPU performance while being 50 percent more energy efficient.
The A8 takes full advantage of Metal, Apple's gaming
technology that lets developers create console-style games on the
iPhone. According to Apple, Metal is designed to let the GPU and CPU
work together to provide detailed graphics and complex visual effects,
which means gaming on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus is going to be better than
ever.
Alongside the A8, there's also a new M8 motion coprocessor,
which is the successor to the M7 motion coprocessor introduced in the
iPhone 5s. The M8 measures data from the accelerometer, compass, and
gyroscope, along with a barometer, which is new to the iPhone 6.
With the addition of the barometer, the M8 motion coprocessor can
measure elevation in addition to steps taken and distance traveled.
Camera Improvements
The iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus continue to sport an 8-megapixel f/2.2 rear camera,
but the addition of several new features will result in vastly improved
picture quality. Continuing to offer improved camera capabilities has
always been a priority for Apple, with the company even opting to
include a protruding lens design to avoid making image quality
sacrifices for the sake of the thin design of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.
The first major new feature, "Focus Pixel," is
designed to speed up autofocusing by providing the sensor with more
information about an image, while improved auto image stabilization will
compensate for slight amounts of motion blur and hand shakiness.
Both phones also have improved face detection capabilities and more
control over exposure, and the Panorama feature now supports high-resolution panoramic photos of up to 43 megapixels.
Video options have been improved in the two devices, and it's now
possible to capture 1080p HD video at 60fps. There's also a new 240fps slo-mo mode, and time-lapse video, which was introduced with iOS 8.
The iPhone 6 Plus has one slight advantage when it comes to the
camera, however, as it takes advantage of the M8 motion coprocessor to
offer optical image stabilization. Optical image
stabilization better compensates for hand shake and slight movements in
low light than standard auto image stabilization techniques. As a
result, it's likely the iPhone 6 Plus will be able to deliver higher
quality low-light photos than the iPhone 6.
Along with rear camera improvements, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus have improved front-facing FaceTime HD cameras
with a new sensor and an f/2.2 aperture. With these improvements, Apple
says the front-facing camera can capture 81 percent more light,
resulting in much better low-light photos. There's also a new burst mode
for the front-facing camera, which will let users take burst mode selfies for the first time.
Connectivity Improvements
Apple's iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus both offer faster LTE
with support for LTE Advanced networks, reaching speeds of up to 150
Mbps, and they offer 20 LTE bands for better connectivity when
traveling.
The devices also include support for Voice over LTE (VoLTE)
which allows users to make higher-quality phone calls over LTE. VoLTE
will also allow users on CDMA networks like Verizon to use voice and
data simultaneously for the first time. VoLTE requires support from both
Apple and carriers, and several carriers have pledged to roll out
support for the service.
In addition to cellular improvements, the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus are the first of Apple's iOS devices to offer support for 802.11ac Wi-Fi. 802.11ac Wi-Fi is able to offer connection speeds that are up to 3 times faster than existing 802.11n networks.
Finally, the iPhone 6 supports calls over Wi-Fi, which can result in
higher-quality calls, especially in situations where a cellular
connection is low. Calling over Wi-Fi is another feature that requires
carrier support, but again, some carriers, like T-Mobile, have already
pledged support.
Other Features
Like the iPhone 5s, the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus continue to offer Touch ID,
Apple's fingerprint-based security system. With iOS 8, which ships on
the iPhone 6/6 Plus, Touch ID will become even more powerful, thanks to
third-party Touch ID integration.
Touch ID is also an integral part of Apple's new Apple Pay mobile payments initiative, as is the Near Field Communication (NFC)
antenna built into every iPhone 6. Apple Pay is designed to allow users
to pay for purchases at thousands of retail stores with just a
fingerprint.
Operating System
The iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus will ship with iOS 8, Apple's newest mobile operating system. iOS 8's main goal is to improve integration between Apple devices, both mobile and desktop, through the use of "Continuity."
With Continuity, users can seamlessly transition tasks between
iPhones, iPads, Macs, and the Apple Watch. iOS 8 also includes features
like interactive notifications, widgets in the Notification Center,
third-party keyboards, and a new QuickType predictive keyboard. More
information about iOS 8 can be found in our iOS 8 roundup.
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