I made some comments elsewhere saying that it's difficult to use the 4" iPhones is some ways partially because of default font sizes and formatting of some apps. Well it looks like they addressing that to a certain extent in iOS 10. I have 10.0.1 installed right now on my 5S and the look is quite different in certain parts.
For $120 you're getting 1 GB extra RAM, dual-lens camera with zoom, 40% speed boost, W1 chip, better water resistance. And it'll probably be worth $100+ more resale in a year or two. Seems like a no brainer to me. Get the 7 Plus, unless you must have that headphone jack.Unlocked 6S plus 32gb direct from Apple $649.00
Unlocked not an option yet on the 7 plus 32gb Apple preorder $769.00.
Is the 7 plus worth the extra $120? Better camera, better processor, but wow, $769 plus tax is a chunk of change.
For $120 you're getting 1 GB extra RAM, dual-lens camera with zoom, 40% speed boost, W1 chip, better water resistance. And it'll probably be worth $100+ more resale in a year or two. Seems like a no brainer to me. Get the 7 Plus, unless you must have that headphone jack.
Yes, I stand corrected about W1. I misunderstood Phil's comments and thought that it was only iPhone 7 or Apple Watch 2 compatible for the most advanced features.I'm about 99.9% certain, based on the language on Apple's website, that the W1 chip is _only_ inside things like the AirPods, or the new Beats 3s. It's not a co-processor for BT, nor is it a successor. It's the SOC for the headphones that handles not just the pairing, but also dealing with all the sensors inside the AirPods for seamless playback over a mono or stereo connection. My understanding is that if you only have 1 AirPod in, it won't just give you that side of the stereo playback, it pipes both to the 1 Pod. Then, when you put the other one into your ear, it returns it to true stereo playback.
Also, look at Apple's official device compatibility list, there are some old devices on there that definitely wouldn't have a W1 chip. The cross talk pairing is largely handled via iCloud, and requires the latest OSes.
The rest of your points regarding the value of a a 7+ compared to a 6s+ are valid and correct. I'd add that the 7 series also has stereo speakers, (highly probable) low level internal improvements to the design (think the internal reinforcements from 6 to 6s), a little more battery life, and a better display.
Unlocked 6S plus 32gb direct from Apple $649.00
Unlocked not an option yet on the 7 plus 32gb Apple preorder $769.00.
Is the 7 plus worth the extra $120? Better camera, better processor, but wow, $769 plus tax is a chunk of change.
So is W1 an SoC that implements Bluetooth 5 like functionality in a proprietary way but is compatible with Bluetooth 4.0 devices running iOS 10? Or is it just an uber low power implementation of Bluetooth 4.0? Something else?
I think moving to a solid state home button is a great idea, will take a little time to get used to, but I like the idea.
A little under a decade ago, Apple bought a small fabless chip design company called PA Semiconductor. Strangely enough, they designed PowerPC type chips, which was confusing for Apple watchers because Apple had already switched to Intel. Steve Jobs later clarified than Apple just wanted their design skills not PPC. It turns out some of the big wigs there already had ARM design experience and Apple started designing its own ARM chips. The first chip that resulted from this acquisition was the Apple A4, which was in the original iPad and my beloved iPhone 4.I don't know who designs their CPUs, but they deserve a medal. Apple cpu's are beast mode in the last couple of years. I'm not really sure you would notice it in the real world but from a tech nerd point of view it almost makes me want to get one just for the sake of nerd power.
Just a note that the Google benchmark isn't really a great test of CPU architecture. They're mainly JavaScript as I understand it, and aren't well multi-threaded. Furthermore, they're heavily dependent on browser and OS optimization. So, they will favour platforms with fewer faster cores as opposed to those with lots of slower cores, and they also favour iOS, because of the heavy optimizations present in Safari for this. Thus, as a cross platform benchmark it's not great, but it's useful to compare iOS devices to other iOS devices, as long as they're running the same version of iOS.Yeah wow that CPU performance, amazing. 2X-3X performance of Android competitors, on a Google branded benchmark. Incredible. Also outperforms Snapdragon 820 devices on Multicore Geekbench despite only 2 cores ever being active at the same time on A10. Have to believe that Anand was involved in the development of that chip.
Mossberg's description of the AirPods makes me realize that while they are probably not for me, they are cooler than I thought at first. The carrying case has a battery, and it can be charged separately, and if (for example) you were on a long phone call using the AirPods, you could take out one ear, drop it in the case for 20 minutes and it will charge back up to 60% of capacity, then switch out the other ear and do the same thing. That's pretty darn cool IMO, and shows that a lot of thinking went into the AirPods to make them as utilitarian as possible.
The dual-lens camera looks awesome (always pisses me off when I have a decent view from a building or something, and I pull out the iPhone camera and the wide-angle lens makes everything distant look tiny). I hope that they put it into a future 4.7" screen phone, as I do not think that I can daily carry a 5.5" phone. (Currently have a work-assigned Galaxy Note as my second phone, and it's ungainly, although the AMOLED screen is pretty great when it comes to dynamic range.) I don't know what it is about those sample photos, but they look truly fantastic to me. The depth of the purple on the jerseys.... also I think there may just be a bit more DOF/bokeh effect due to the f/1.8 lens. Also since the lens is f/1.8 I guess there is probably a knock-on effect to shutter speed, making photos even less subject to motion blur, beyond the help of the OIS. Whatever it is, something about those photos "pops" for me in a way that most smartphone photos don't. I wish that the article would clarify that those are straight out of the phone's Camera app and not post-enhanced in any way.
I'm also hoping they can get TrueTone in the next generation of iPhones. For now, I am pretty happy with my 6S.
Just a note that the Google benchmark isn't really a great test of CPU architecture. They're mainly JavaScript as I understand it, and aren't well multi-threaded. Furthermore, they're heavily dependent on browser and OS optimization. So, they will favour platforms with fewer faster cores as opposed to those with lots of slower cores, and they also favour iOS, because of the heavy optimizations present in Safari for this. Thus, as a cross platform benchmark it's not great, but it's useful to compare iOS devices to other iOS devices, as long as they're running the same version of iOS.
Oh and while I know nothing about chip design, I'm thinking Anand might be working at Apple in some other capacity than hardcore chip design. But I'm just guessing.
As for the camera zoom, the one thing that pissed me off is that the zoom lens does NOT have optical image stabilization. Only the wide one does. Ming Chi Kuo predicts that the iPhone 8 in 2017 will have optical image stabilization for both lenses.