The iPhone 6 Plus is a huge phone. It pays off in the 5.5-inch screen and the battery that seems to never die, but its large proportions may also cause some physical strain.
San Antonio Spurs power forward Matt Bonner says he believes the size of his iPhone 6 Plus contributed to his tennis elbow injury during the 2014-2015 NBA season, he told the Concord Monitor.
“When the new iPhone came out it was way bigger than the last one, and I think because I got that new phone it was a strain to use it, you have to stretch further to hit the buttons, and I honestly think that’s how I ended up developing it," Bonner said.
That theory is up for debate, though. One of Bonner's strength and conditioning coaches also claims he suffered a similar injury from playing an iPhone game too frequently.
It's true that larger smartphones are harder to use with one hand. For the average person, hand strain is normal; we often joke that big smartphones (a.k.a. phablets) are designed for NBA players like Shaq who have huge hands. But phablets may be too big for even them.
To alleviate hand and finger strain while using the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, iOS 8 has a special software feature called Reachability. By double-tapping (not pressing) the home button, the entire screen will slide down so the top row of app icons is easier to reach.
Perhaps Bonner didn't know about Reachability — or maybe he should switch to a Samsung Galaxy phone, which comes with a "one-handed" mode.
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