iPhone 6 Review: Apple's Cure for Android Envy

There's a nagging feeling that afflicts many iPhone owners: a fear of missing out.

It hits me riding the train. Mixed among the iPhone herd are Android owners happily reading a novel or burning through work on screens upward of 6 inches. I only see five emails on my four-inch iPhone screen. Those guys get eight.

I used to laugh it off-who wants to hold a gangly phablet up to their ear? Gradually, though, many of us began using our phones more for apps than calls. Samsung anticipated these habits and made large Android phones that were better companions for always-connected people. The iPhone felt stuck in a bygone era called 2012.

Now Apple has dual cures for Android envy: a bigger iPhone, and a super mega jumbo iPhone.

After using both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus for a week, I can report that Apple has successfully addressed its size deficiency, and much more. The $199 (with contract) iPhone 6 packs a 4.7-inch screen, big enough to get down to business, into the most comfortable smartphone I've ever held. And while the iPhone 6 Plus feels too big for my taste, for $100 more its 5.5-inch screen offers an option for road warriors who don't want to carry a tablet.

While the iPhone 6's battery life proved mediocre with its screen at full brightness, it's still the best smartphone you can buy.

Cue the eyeball rolls from Android owners. Phones have become so core to our lives that buying into an operating system has become a bit like choosing a religion. Apple phones appeal to people who want someone smart to make choices for them; Android phones appeal to people who can't stand that. (This extends to our relationships: Dating service Plenty of Fish tells me male Apple owners are even 58% more likely to enter into a relationship with another Apple owner.)

There's no one right choice for everyone. So what makes the iPhone 6 the best? Performance, usability and camera refinements, coupled with a safe, powerful operating system that now lets the iPhone's big collection of apps do more.

Beyond that, the iPhone 6 promises a big leap forward in what a smartphone can be in our lives: a real digital wallet-eventually the one thing you grab when you leave the house. Apple's ability to make that idea a reality where others have floundered will be the ultimate answer to Android envy.

First, the iPhone 6 gets most of the basics right. Existing iPhone owners won't have to learn new software or buy new cables. The screen is a bit more readable in sunlight than its best-selling rival, the Samsung Galaxy S5. Apps are snappy; the iPhone 6's processor is up to 20% faster than last year's iPhone.

That 0.7-inch bump in screen size from the 5S to the 6 buys you a lot. You get an extra row of apps on the home screen and can see an extra email in your inbox. Long-form reading is easier: When using the Kindle app, setting fonts to roughly the same size, I got about 30 more words on each iPhone 6 screen than on an iPhone 5S. (That means a third less time turning virtual pages.) And anyone with poor vision will appreciate a new 'zoomed' mode that's like reading glasses for your iPhone.

Apple can make the screens bigger, but it can't do anything about the size of our hands. So it made smart ergonomic design choices to empower our opposable thumbs. The iPhone 6 shaves off bulk (it's just a tad wider than the iPhone 5S) and smooths all the edges so most hands can still grip it tightly.

Meanwhile, even though the iPhone 6 Plus is a little too big for my hands, I like what Apple's designers have done to compensate.

To ease one-handed operation, the power button on both phones moved from the top to the right side, about where your thumb rests. Tapping the home button lightly twice brings everything from the top of the screen to the middle for easy access-a more elegant solution than the one-handed options Samsung offers.

I think most people won't go back to a smaller phone. But if you do, Apple will sell the iPhone 5S and 5C at a discount, at least for now.

The iPhone 6 is the new king of phone photos, thanks to some modest camera improvements, particularly for dark situations and squirmy subjects like pets.

The secret to its success isn't packing in more resolution-iPhone 6 shots are still just 8 megapixels. Rather, Apple has improved the quality of its lens and sensor, adding an autofocus technology you find in high-end cameras that lets you lock in your shot quickly before Fluffy scampers off.

The iPhone 6 Plus camera goes further, with optical image stabilization, which helped me take sharper nighttime shots. But overall, both phones produced more detailed, less noisy photos than their predecessor and the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Oh yes, both new phones also make calls. In fact, it offers a new technology-in the U.S. currently only available to T-Mobile customers-that lets you make regular calls via a Wi-Fi network if you're in a place with spotty network coverage. I wasn't able to test Wi-Fi calling, but will follow up on it soon.

The iPhone 6's biggest drawback is its battery. It isn't a deal-breaker-I was able to make it through the day on a single charge. But when I stress-tested the handsets by cranking up screen brightness to 100% and streaming video, the iPhone 6 battery died just before my iPhone 5S's did.

The iPhone 6 Plus, with its larger battery, lasted about 15% longer than its sibling. But Samsung's Galaxy S5 blew away the competition, lasting 40% to 50% longer than the iPhone 6. (Plus, you can also replace the Galaxy battery any time. Apple's are sealed inside.)

In tests with all the phones' brightness set to automatic, the new iPhones were more conservative in their power usage and managed to match or beat their predecessor and arch rival.

Still, I wish Apple had designed a slightly thicker phone to stave off the battery blues that afflict so many iPhone owners. Will I eventually have to put a chunky battery case around this lithe beauty?

Besides a better battery life, there are other things you can get on a Samsung Android phone like the Galaxy S5 or the recently announced Note 4: a stylus, a heart-rate sensor and the ability to operate it without touching the screen. These are bells and whistles that few people use.

The other Galaxy attribute I wish the iPhone 6 shared is waterproofing, though it's also one reason the Galaxy S5 is thicker than the Galaxy S4.

Apple's biggest advantage over Samsung is the simplicity and style of its software. The latest overhaul, iOS 8, also lays the foundation for new ways for apps to work with us, and with each other. (Read Joanna Stern's review about all iOS 8's new features and fixes.)

For those worried about security and privacy, the iPhone still offers the best protections for most of us. Apple took heat when celebrity iCloud accounts got hacked, but its app store has far less spyware and the iPhone's software is less open to hacker manipulation than Android's.

Apple's strength is choosing the technologies that really matter and taking them mainstream. The iPhone 6 sets up Apple to make good on the long-promised evolution of the smartphone into a wallet and a companion for a universe of personal devices and data, including the forthcoming Apple Watch. Apple added technologies, including one called near-field communication (NFC), that will let iPhone 6 owners make payments at over 220,000 U.S. stores starting in October. I was only able to test Apple Pay in a demo situation, but it was remarkably simple.

Apple has already signed up some of the biggest banks for Apple Pay, but to make the big idea work it will need a lot more merchants. And Apple will have to continue building up trust that it can keep our financial and personal data private.

Apple doesn't get a free pass on any of these promises. But its sleek new hardware sets it up to guide iPhone 6 owners into a new chapter. Instead of looking over at Android phones and wondering what I'm missing, the iPhone once again has my full attention.

-Write to Geoffrey A. Fowler at Geoffrey.Fowler@wsj.com or on Twitter @geoffreyfowler.