Don’t worry, Apple hasn’t ruined iPhone
In terms of sound quality, I didn’t notice any great difference between the lightning headphones and the standard headphones that came with my last iPhone. While playing games and listening to music, they performed about the same to my ear.
WITH the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, Apple has taken a risk by, well, not changing very much. We’ve become accustomed to getting something new and impressive from Apple every two years, but these phones are more renovation than revelation.
But, theatrics aside, the question that really matters is are these phones worth buying? Apple provided me with an iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, in its two new shades of black. The firm also gave me a SIM card to use while reviewing the devices.
Here’s what I found out.
• Design, storage and performance
As far as weight and width, the phones feel about the same as their predecessors, though you can tell they’re a hair lighter if you directly compare the new phones to the old ones.
Apple has doubled the storage on the base models of the new iPhones, which finally brings Apple up to par with its closest competitors in this area. A base model iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus now has 32 GB of storage instead of 16 GB.
Apple redesigned the home button in part to make the phone more water resistant. The phone can withstand about three feet of water for up to 30 minutes. But that is certainly not recommended.
Although the iPhone is able to withstand a quick dip in the sink or (as can happen) in the toilet, it’s not exactly waterproof. It has a lower water resistance rating than Samsung’s Galaxy S7 line. • Battery life Both phones have been designed to improve battery life, with the inclusion of two efficiency processing cores alongside Apple’s existing performance cores, which allow the phone to use less power for the same processes. The iPhone 7 Plus is supposed to be a battery powerhouse, with Apple claiming it will get an hour more of battery life compared with the iPhone 6S Plus.
In practical terms, both of the new phones can easily make it through a day of regular use without a problem. • Camera The camera is definitely the part of the iPhone that received the most attention in these upgrades. Apple now includes four flashes instead of two, meaning that, yes, you can have twice as much flash to take pictures as before.
Apple also added features that prevent you from taking pictures that are too shaky.
The zoom feature on the Plus is impressive. Apple has made it possible to zoom in up to 10x with the camera for photos, and 6x for videos at a much higher quality. It’s not perfect resolution that close, but it can be pretty good, even at night. Users can also take panoramic photos at 2x zoom for the first time.
On both phones, low light photography has been improved significantly over even the iPhone 6S, thanks to improved software and hardware that takes in more light and takes good pictures even if your hands are not steady.
Apple also made changes to its speakers. The new iPhones produce more sound from their now-stereo speakers, making it noticeably better to listen to music and play games when you’re not in a place that requires headphones, or when you want to share content with others nearby. • About that headphone jack Not everything about these phones is all sunshine. The removal of the headphone jack - although not quite the apocalyptic event that many people seem to think it is - has serious drawbacks for consumer convenience. In terms of sound quality, I didn’t notice any great difference between the lightning headphones and the standard headphones that came with my last iPhone. While playing games and listening to music, they performed about the same to my ear. But overall, I’d say Apple’s performance improvements, particularly to the camera, on the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus make these phones feel like more of an upgrade than it seems on paper. For me, at least, the updates ultimately edge out the cons.