iPhone 7

[Sushisamurai]

Got my silver 128 GB 7 Plus. Here are my 7 initial impressions for the 7 Plus.

1) It's friggin' huge! Makes the 5S looks tiny.

2) With my small hands it's basically impossible to use one handed.

3) Home button sucks. I'll get used to it, but it still sucks. The whole bottom of the phone vibrates. Doesn't feel like a button, although at times I can convince myself it's a tolerable replica. Well, not really. It just feels fake regardless of the setting used. This is in stark contrast to the touchpad of the ForceTouch MacBook Pro, which feels great, and absolutely real. It reminds me of the trackpad on the 12" MacBook, which is worse than the MacBook Pro's trackpad, but the 7 Plus' haptic feedback here is noticeably worse than even the MacBook's. My wife doesn't like the new home button either. The first time she tried it she said it doesn't feel right, and I didn't even ask her about it.
...
6) Does the camera of the 6s Plus stick out more than the 6s? Cuz the camera of the 7 Plus sticks out more than the 6. I'm using a cheap 6s Plus bumper on my 7 Plus, and it's not deep enough, so even with the bumper on the camera is touching the table.

Eug, I checked out the iPhone 7's @ the Edmonton Apple store today (again) - The camera hump is bigger than ths 6 series. I was a little disappointed in the haptic feedback at first, but my second visit today (first visit yesterday) allowed me to investigate the haptic home button press. In the settings page (home button subsection), you can reduce the haptic feedback strength. Even at it's lowest "1" setting, I still felt it was reminiscent of old plastic phones not being sealed properly (as if there's a bit of give in the plastic, which obviously isn't the case). However, force touch now uses the haptic feedback, which makes a whole world of difference (which is different from the 6 series) when it comes to using force touch and having user feedback when it's activated.

TBH, I don't know if I like the 7 series enough to upgrade from my 32GB 5S. I was looking at the SE today. One handed use is definitely a major use case for me, and the 4.7" is almost the limit of my one handed usability (certainly not as comfortable as my 5S). I don't notice lag in my phone usage (although maps and few other apps could be a little faster, but we're talking milliseconds at this point). I feel the plus's offer so much more in terms of hardware for the extra premium over the 4.7". What were the deciding factors for you to upgrade?

 

[Eug]

I bought the 7 Plus because:

1. Presbyopia. I have a hard time reading my 5S now on some sites, because of the small size of the 5S and because IMO, mobile web design has shifted to favouring bigger phones these days. I'm actually using the 7 Plus in zoom mode which gives me 7 like screen functionality but with a bigger screen. The larger fonts and screen elements make it a lot easier to read with my presbyopia. Getting older sucks. However, now I find it impossible to use one-handed. Mind you I have a hard time using 4.7" phones too one-handed because I have quite small hands. (I'm 170 cm / 5'7".)

2. Dual-lens camera with zoom and (future) portrait mode with shallow depth of focus.

3. 3 GB RAM. I wasn't going to spend over CAD$1000 in 2016 on any phone just to get a 2 GB device. 2 GB is so 2014, even for Apple. (I've had a 2 GB iPad Air 2 since 2014.) I like lots of memory so I don't get reloading Safari tabs and because it much keeps the device relatively responsive feeling through multiple iOS upgrades.

The 7 seems like an underwhelming upgrade over the 6s. BTW, in terms of memory we went from 1 GB in 2014, to 2 GB in 2015, and now to 3 GB in 2016 (for the Plus series). And with iOS 10, a fresh boot of my wife's 6s leaves her with 500 MB free whereas I have 1.4 GB free with my 7 Plus.

 

[Kazukian]

I went with the 7 plus:

I wear bifocals, and usually keep them on the top of my head, hard to read a smaller screen

The camera looks great, my phone is my primary camera

Battery life is better on the 7+

Both of mine should show up tomorrow, just got origin notices this AM, Apple tracks orders from China, TMobile tracks from Lexington, KY after the stuff arrives from China.

 

[Kazukian]

do8ble post

 

[Tweak155]

Did you have to make a UPS account to see those details? Seems like UPS really wants me to make an account when I try to track.

My phones should be here today or tomorrow.

 

[Eug]

DisplayMate: iPhone 7 has the best mobile LCD screen out there

At first glance the iPhone 7 looks almost indistinguishable from the 2014 iPhone 6 and 2015 iPhone 6s. Actually, the displays are the same size and have the same pixel resolution. But that is as far as it goes... The iPhone 7 display is a Truly Impressive major enhancement and advancement on the iPhone 6 display... and even every other mobile LCD display that we have ever tested... note that I hand out compliments on displays very carefully. And for those of you thinking of Emailing that we got hand-picked units, the iPhones were purchased retail from Verizon Wireless.

The display on the iPhone 7 is a Truly Impressive Top Performing Display and a major upgrade to the display on the iPhone 6. It is by far the best performing mobile LCD display that we have ever tested, and it breaks many display performance records.

 

[sxr7171]

Which haptic setting are people using? I like "3".

 

[Eug]

Currently using 2. May consider 3. Don't like 1 as is it too light.

2 usually is fine, but at times seems a bit light depending on how I'm holding the phone. 3 seems too heavy to me at times, and I feel it makes the feedback even less authentic than it already is.

 

[JSt0rm]

I watched a vid last night of a guy putting the 7 in 35 feet of water for 10 minutes and it survived. He started at 5 feet and ran up 5 feet at a time. At 35 feet there was some water leakage behind the screen but the phone still functioned. at 30feet and under for less then 10 minutes there was no damage.

 

[sxr7171]

Currently using 2. May consider 3. Don't like 1 as is it too light.

2 usually is fine, but at times seems a bit light depending on how I'm holding the phone. 3 seems too heavy to me at times, and I feel it makes the feedback even less authentic than it already is.

I too think 3 is very loose too long for a button click. But I suppose we're moving on from clicking button and that feel. I'm a huge fan of touch to tap on both Windows and Mac.

Just whichever one requires the least finger pressure is best for me. Anything to lessen the strain we subject our fingers to these days. Given how the home button has no function when touched, the option to touch activate it should be provided. Even gestures like swipe should be available on it imho.

But yeah even 3 requires the same pressure as the others it seems.

 

[Kazukian]

Setting up my 7+, it feels a click or 2 faster than the iPad Pro, home button feels different, but not bad, the black (matte) is killer.

 

[JSt0rm]

I'm getting the matte black as well. That gloss black is for idiots. It's gonna look like shot 90% of the time.

 

[Kazukian]

I'm getting the matte black as well. That gloss black is for idiots. It's gonna look like shot 90% of the time.

I'd use a skin on the jet black, even in a case, get just a grain or 2 of sand between your phone & case and it'll scratch.

Bought a used 6 that was in an otter box that was ruined, I still have no idea what the original owned did, but it was all scratched to hell, fortunately for me, I was able to exchange it when it had some software issues, and got a nice refurbished unit for free. I'll never trust an Otterbox after seeing that phone.

Does anyone remember the trade ins being this good a deal before? Seems all the major carriers had a deal this year, I don't remember it ever happening before.

 

[Eug]

3 GB RAM doesn't seem to help with Safari over 2 GB RAM, according to this test.

https://9to5mac.com/2016/09/19/iphone-7-vs-7-plus-3-gb-ram-safari-tabs/

However, what would happen if he loaded other applications? His test could be misleading because he made a point of killing all other apps first. So if Safari had say a memory limit then killing all apps and not loading any other apps would make both the 7 Plus and 7 act the same. However, if in the interim one loaded more apps and then went back to the Safari tabs, perhaps the 7 Plus would have the advantage. IOW, he didn't do a complete test.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Has anyone had a chance to test the 7 or 7+ out in a speaker phone call? Preferably conference call? Just wondering if it sounds better than the 6 thanks to the extra speaker.

 

[Eug]

Has anyone had a chance to test the 7 or 7+ out in a speaker phone call? Preferably conference call? Just wondering if it sounds better than the 6 thanks to the extra speaker.

Voicemail over the speaker and speakerphone both sound better but the problem here is that phone source audio often sounds bad to begin with, so overall it's still not great.

In contrast, audio from say TV shows sounds way better than before, because the audio quality of the source is way better.

BTW I'm liking the built in voice transcription linked to the saved audio for my iPhone Visual Voicemail, and I'm liking the built in voice recorder as you can email or message forward them too. iOS 10 just made VVM relevant again.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Eug, I checked out the iPhone 7's @ the Edmonton Apple store today (again) - The camera hump is bigger than ths 6 series. I was a little disappointed in the haptic feedback at first, but my second visit today (first visit yesterday) allowed me to investigate the haptic home button press. In the settings page (home button subsection), you can reduce the haptic feedback strength. Even at it's lowest "1" setting, I still felt it was reminiscent of old plastic phones not being sealed properly (as if there's a bit of give in the plastic, which obviously isn't the case). However, force touch now uses the haptic feedback, which makes a whole world of difference (which is different from the 6 series) when it comes to using force touch and having user feedback when it's activated.

I played with a demo unit and the haptic home button feels like the worst thing ever. Coupled with the removal of the 3.5mm jack and the fragile finish of the Jet Black totally kills the appeal of the 7 for me.

#SE4Life!

 

[yuppleprice]

The first part leaks for the iPhone 7 are now making the rounds.

http://9to5mac.com/2016/01/06/iphone-7-leaked-photos-claim/

My predictions:

1) 4.7" iPhone 7 and 5.5" iPhone 7 Plus.

2) Lightning port with USB 3 support. Why do I believe this? Because iDevices with that are already out. It turns out the iPad Pro has a different Lightning port with more pins, and it also has a USB 3 controller. I don't believe the rumours of a USB C port.

3) 2 GB RAM. There are some rumours of 3 GB RAM, but I don't quite believe them. I would love to be proven wrong though. Some rumours also state 2 GB for the 4.7" and 3 GB for the 5.5", but I don't believe those either.

4) Thinner and lighter. Just because it's Apple.

5) No 3.5 mm audio jack. Personally this would be irritating to me, but I'm mentioning this because everyone is claiming this now, and Apple could appease the masses by releasing a Lightning to 3.5 mm port converter dongle.

6) 32 GB minimum. Because it's about time.

7) 256 GB maximum. Because it's about time.

8) Better camera with better low light capability.

9) Proper digital image stabilization for 4K video for iPhone 7.

10) Improved Live Photos. Better quality video, but only with this phone. The better quality won't get added to the iPhone 6s/6s Plus. ie. Improvement in Live Photos specs will be locked to the phone generation, not the iOS version.

11) Much improved water resistance. Having no 3.5 mm audio jack might help there.

12) No OLED/AMOLED. Screen will be LCD.

13) Case redesign, eliminating those ugly antenna bands.

14) A10 chip for both 7 and 7 Plus. No A10X in an iPhone.

15) Home button still present. Because an iPhone without a home button would likely suck. Keeping the home button also means keeping Touch ID is easy.

I am really waiting for this product.

 

[Eug]

Got this from the other iPhone thread:

A 338S00140 / A0MU1621 / TW DAC is built into both Lightning adapter and Lightning headphones. That $9 Lightning to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter seems uber cheap now.

http://www.chongdiantou.com/wp/archives/5211.html

Teardown video (Vietnamese):

 

[ControlD]

Got this from the other iPhone thread:

A 338S00140 / A0MU1621 / TW DAC is built into both Lightning adapter and Lightning headphones. That $9 Lightning to 3.5 mm headphone jack adapter seems uber cheap now.

Yes, the dongle is cheap. It has to be. If Apple both removed the headphone jack and charged a lot of money for the adapter they would get killed over it.

Apple could be taking a loss on every one of these adapters and it wouldn't matter. They will make that money back many time over with third party licensing which is a large part of what this is all about.

 

[Eug]

Yes, the dongle is cheap. It has to be. If Apple both removed the headphone jack and charged a lot of money for the adapter they would get killed over it.

Apple could be taking a loss on every one of these adapters and it wouldn't matter. They will make that money back many time over with third party licensing which is a large part of what this is all about.

I predicted they'd charge $19, and at time of the prediction I didn't even know there is a DAC in it.

 

[Kazukian]

Heh, I should market a "conversion package" with the dongle and some heat shrink tubing on eBay.

 

[Raduque]

Those memory bandwidth numbers are insane! What app was that, I'd like to see if I can find the Android version to run on my Note7.

 

[Eug]

The memory benchmark is simply called RAM Benchmark.

Those memory bandwidth numbers are insane! What app was that, I'd like to see if I can find the Android version to run on my Note7.

 

[Raduque]

The memory benchmark is simply called RAM Benchmark.

OK, I'll have to see if there's an Android version. GB4 says 17gb for my Note7.

Edit: Numbers are about the same. 873Mb/s worst, 19.51Gb/s average, 20.52Gb/s best. Can't touch those CPU speeds, though!