iPhone 6s release draws crowds at AT&T stores in Bradenton

Customers lined up the afternoon before Friday's release of iPhone 6s, Apple's latest hot item

The introduction of 3D touch and capturing moving photos drew crowds to AT&T stores as early as Thursday afternoon for the iPhone 6s release.

Chris Peters arrived at the Cortez Road AT&T store around 2 p.m. on Sept. 24. He's a big fan of all Apple devices and has waited outside for every iPhone since the first release.

"I'm interested to see the 3D touch," Peters said. "There's not that much change, but it has a better camera and faster processor." Peters also brought his girlfriend, Jonna Kinney, who is making her first journey into the iPhone world. She previously had a Samsung Galaxy and said Peters' obsession with the iPhone finally made her cave and make the switch.

"He raves about it all the time," Kinney said.

And for Kyle Domion, owner of Mobile Fix on Manatee Avenue, the iPhone release creates a business opportunity. He waited outside since 8:30 the night before to buy two new iPhone 6s devices. He wants to be the first to take the phone apart and learn how to fix it.

"I'll be making a video of it," Domion said. And even though the gadgets are technical and contain many pieces, Domion has faith in his ability to correctly dismantle and rebuild iPhones.

"You can't really break them," he said.

The iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which has a larger screen than the regular iPhone 6s, include new features such as a 12 megapixel camera with 4K video, a 5 megapixel HD FaceTime camera with a retina flash for selfies, a better processor with faster Wi-Fi and LTE capabilities and the moving photo feature, which allows users to take photos and capture a still photo along with the moments before and after. Moving photos allow amateur photographers to grab the exact moment and frame they want to save or share by holding their finger on the still photo.

A new HD voice system with higher frequency and background noise elimination makes voice calls -- a phone's essential function afterall -- clearer and better heard.

"It sounds like someone is standing right next to you," said Zoran Jovic, area retail sales manager for AT&T. "If your boss calls you, it's freaky."

All of those new features had folks lined up early Friday at the AT&T Mobility store at University Park in Sarasota. Sales were brisk throughout the morning even as some people were just there to get a peek at the new phones.

But if you don't want to stand in line to see the multitude of other features available on the iPhone 6s, you can just visit the Apple website at apple.com/iphone-6s.

This story was originally published September 25, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "iPhone 6s release draws crowds at AT&T stores in Bradenton."