The new iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are here: the big launch day has come and gone, bringing forth the latest generation iPhones to the masses. In many places, September 16th, 2016 marked launch day for the new iPhones and droves of people made the long pilgrimage to their local Apple stores in the hope of gobbling up one, two, or even more of Apple’s brand spanking new toys. Being number 7, the latest models are undoubtedly going to be scrutinized from head to toe – partly because of their refreshed, and somewhat radical designs.
By now, we’re all familiar about Apple’s claim of needing courage to do something radical. We’re not entirely sure about the new iPhone’s lack of a 3.5mm headset jack, a longtime friend for many of us in our daily lives, so it’s going to take a lot of adjustment to validate Apple’s claim. We’ve just spent some time checking out the two new models, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, which are undoubtedly being positioned as arguably being the phone(s) to beat this holiday season.
Design
Superficially, it’s hard to deny that these are radically different iPhones from a design standpoint, just because they continue to bear many of the iconic characteristics of iPhones past. Most certainly, we can say at the moment that they’re evolutionary designs from what we’ve seen most recently with the iPhone 6 and 6s. However, Apple deserves some credit for bringing water resistance to a unibody metal constructed phone – something that few are able to do. With their new IP67 water resistance protection, it means that they’ll withstand minor splashes and whatnot, but don’t expect full submersion protection just yet.
The 7000 Series aluminum looks and feels great, providing the adequate amount of integrity that you probably wouldn’t expect from something with a svelte body. While Apple introduces two new colors into the mix, black and Jet Black, we were a bit surprised by how the latter seems to be a fingerprint magnet for smudges. Of course, this is something you’d expect from something with a high-gloss finish, but the material for the Jet Black variants made it feel more plastic than metal – so to that degree, it doesn’t necessarily exude the same level of premium as the other finishes.
Despite that, we can’t complain about their build quality – they’re just impeccable in every facet. There’s even more of that cohesiveness with their designs, as the antenna lines are now so subtle that you can barely make them out around the sides. Even with all the advances made to the design of the new iPhones, we can’t help to wonder why Apple is still unable to make the cameras flush. They seem out of character, especially for devices that have been meticulously fashioned to be the best looking phones out there.
The biggest sin, however, is how Apple has “courageously” removed the 3.5mm headphone jack. Sure, its removal meant having the slimmest iPhones to date, but then there’s the inconveniences that arise with its omission – such as being relying on the included adapter to use a regular pair of headphones. Apple has been so bold to point out the Lightning jack’s superiority when it comes to an audio source, but we can’t still help to wonder about some of the situations that might arise in our daily lives with this newfound reality.
Between the two, the only difference with their designs boils down to their overall sizes and weight. For those who love bigger phones, it’s a no-brainer decision to go with the iPhone 7 Plus. On the flip side, if you prefer something that’s more compact and hand-friendly, you’ll be astounded by the iPhone 7 size.
Display
Reading into their specs, you’ll notice that not much has changed here. In fact, they haven’t changed at all since the introduction of the iPhone 6 series, as the two new phones have the same exact specs as their counterparts from two generations ago. For the smaller of the two, the iPhone 7 features a 4.7-inch Retina Display with a resolution of 750 x 1334 pixels. Comparatively, the iPhone 7 Plus has a larger 5.5-inch 1080p (1080 x 1920) Retina Display.
Indeed, the resolutions are nothing worth home writing about, especially in an era where Quad-HD resolution has become standard amongst high-end smartphones, but at the end of the day, it looks as though they’re still able to deliver the effective qualities in making a screen usable. We have no issues viewing either the two from normal distances, but those who dabble in VR will certainly have a pickle about their resolutions.
Just like last year’s model, 3D Touch is back to give users just an alternative form of interaction with the phone. Some people use it a lot, others don’t. While the specs aren’t anything special, the characteristics of the displays from what we can gather so far in our quick looks indicate high qualities all around. In particular, clarity is maintained at wide angles – as well as produce lush colors that help to make the screens pop.
Hardware
Combing over the goodies included with the new iPhones, they’re naturally treated with some upgraded hardware. This year’s crop have been upgraded with Apple’s most powerful mobile chips, the A10 Fusion, which feature two high-performance cores and two high-efficiency ones. Essentially, the phones will intelligently modify their performances according to the operation – delivering the necessary power and battery optimizations for the best results. And in typical iPhone fashion, these two perform buttery smooth out of the box.
Who knows the story behind it, but Apple was reluctant for the longest time to upgrade the base storage capacity for its iPhones. In fact, 16GB was the norm, but this year they’re changing things up by offering a generous 32GB of storage as the base option – while 128GB and 256GB capacities round out the other two options.
One of the iconic characteristics about the iPhones over the years that made it so distinguishable has been the home button, which then incorporated a Touch ID fingerprint sensor with the introduction of the iPhone 5s. After a quick touch and press of the home button on the iPhone 7/7 Plus, long time users will undeniably notice it’s no longer the same. Instead of being presented with that tactile feedback, the home button is no longer mechanical with its operations. Instead, it leverages the same haptic feedback from Apple’s 3D Touch technology to deliver that home button push. It feels alien, which is hard to deny, but we suppose it’s a matter of adjustment.
Another new feature is the introduction of stereo speakers, a first for the iPhone line. Traditionally, the iPhone only featured one that was position along the bottom edge of the phone, but now it seems as though the earpiece is leveraged produce stereo sound. When it comes to watching videos, it absolutely offers a far more presentable approach for the experience, but we’ll have to test them out a bit more before we make a final call in regards to its quality.
Cameras
Every phone wants to capture beautiful photos that spur the imagination, it’s just such a focus for many users. Apple’s smartphones have always been in constant contention in this particular area, just because of the straighforwardness and ease of doing the task at hand. This year’s iPhones, however, have very different cameras in place – where the iPhone 7 Plus seems to have the superior hardware.
For the smaller iPhone 7, it comes with an upgraded 12-megapixel rear camera, which features a six-element lens, f/1.8 aperture lens, OIS, and a Quad-LED True Tone flash. Meanwhile, its bigger sibling flexes its muscles because it’s fashioned with a peculiar configuration. Its new camera system breaks down to dual 12-megapixel cameras that work in conjunction to one another to offer more zoom and more depth of field with its shots. The latter feature, however, will come later on via an update. Dual cameras aren’t new as we know, but it’ll be interesting to see how Apple’s interpretation will play out – more so when it functions to the same capacity as other dual-camera wielding smartphones.
Rounding out the package, the two are greeted with upgraded front-facing cameras as well; wide-angle 7-megapixel snappers. Beyond that, they still offer Live Photos, slow-motion capture (up to 240FPS at 720p), and the same set of shooting modes that iPhone users have been exposed to in the past. Upgraded cameras are always expected, but the separation is mainly going to boil down to how they perform under low light, as many phones nowadays can capture some slick looking photos when the lighting condition are ideal.
Software
New iPhones, new iOS software. In this case, we get Apple’s latest iOS 10 experience out of the box. On the surface, the look and feel of the platform is a familiar one with the usual grid-like arrangement of the homescreen. Android users who have been accustomed to relying on widgets will be thrown back by Apple’s implementation, but the platform continues to favor simplicity above everything else. New features like the Apple Home lockscreen, unified notifications panel, and animations & backgrounds with iMessage, are some of the many new things you’ll find with the updated software, but at the core of it all, there’s still that sense of straightforwardness – something that doesn’t try to throw a bunch of redundant features at users.
Yes, the core features are still present here with this latest iteration of iOS. Where it pales in comparison to Android, however, is in the area of productivity and multi-tasking. While you can still move in-and-out of apps by double pressing the home button, there’s still no true side-by-side apps multi-tasking with the experience – so that might detract users who are keen about productivity.
iPhone 7 Pricing and first impressions
Apple has never shifted from its strategy when it comes to pricing its new iPhones. The same configurations are still present here, as the iPhone 7 is priced at $649 (32GB), $749 (128GB), or $849 (256GB) – while the iPhone 7 Plus can be fetched for $769 (32GB), $869 (128GB), $969 (256GB). For those thinking about the Jet Black options, just know they come in only two capacities; 128GB and 256GB.
Apple paints a convincing picture with its new iPhones, not only because of their reputations of their predecessors, but for the fact that this years’ crop seems to be more aggressive than before. For starters, the new redesigns are undoubtedly impressive, boasting skinnier profiles than ever before. Add to that the new water-resistance protection of their designs, they’re definitely making quite an impression given that these are metal phones we’re dealing with. Nearly every facet of the new iPhones have been upgraded in some capacity, but the biggest change found with the new iPhones still doesn’t necessarily have merit – and that, folks, is the total removal of the headphone jack.
It’s going to be a tough thing to get adjusted to, so we’re curious if this will single handedly be the deciding factor for people. Apple mentioned that it take courage to do something drastic like this, but it also takes a lot of courage later on to say that it was a mistake. Time will tell, or maybe sales? We’ll find out!
The post Apple iPhone 7 / 7 Plus hands on appeared first on TabTimes.