iPhone 7

[Kazukian]

About optimized browsers/OS.... 1) Google should be able to optimize Chrome/Android in the same way. The fact that they haven't either A) Shows the difficulty of doing so in general or B) Shows the difficulty of doing so on Android with its comparatively heterogenous hardware ecosystem, and thus shows a flaw of the Android philosophy. 2) Javascript benchmarks do tend to reflect real-world Javascript/webpage-rendering performance to a greater extent than, say, 3DMark represents real-world gaming performance. As a high-level, realtime-interpreted language, it's harder to optimize specifically for a given Javascript benchmark by adding special hooks in the hardware or OS than it is a benchmark written in a lower level language like C where memory, etc. is directly manipulated.

About Anand... his last few years on this site, his focus was more on the CPU/GPU deep dives, IIRC. While he may not be on the "hardcore" chip design team (layout or transistor design), I would be surprised if he weren't involved at a higher, chip architecture level.

He's sure as hell not doing PR for Apple, LOL

 

[Eug]

iPhone 7: for the first time, the Plus model is the most pre-ordered

Based on online sales, the ratio of 7 Plus to 7 sales is 55:45.

I will be relatively unique, because I ordered the silver.

Like most, I ordered the 128 GB model.

Less of the buyers were previous Samsung owners than I thought, especially considering the exploding batteries.

 

[Tweak155]

Just got my shipping notice for my 128gb 7 black. Interesting charts.

 

[Eug]

Tear downs are here (albeit still in progress):

iFixit iPhone 7 Plus: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+7+Plus+Teardown/67384
Chipworks iPhone 7: https://www.chipworks.com/about-chipworks/overview/blog/apple-iphone-7-teardown

A10 Fusion is the biggest iPhone SoC that Apple has ever made. It's huge. However, it's smaller than most of the X variants for the iPads.

Also, my precious is now out for delivery. Yay!

 

[swanysto]

Went to two stores today. The apparently shipped a ton of gold and rose gold in the 32gb model. If you wanted the black or silver, you needed to step up to the bigger models. These were two smaller stores though, cause I was really the first to ask in both of them.

 

[Aikouka]

Went to two stores today. The apparently shipped a ton of gold and rose gold in the 32gb model. If you wanted the black or silver, you needed to step up to the bigger models. These were two smaller stores though, cause I was really the first to ask in both of them.

Did you see people getting the Apple Watch or if they had any? I was going to just order it from Best Buy and wait until the 28th, but Best Buy kept telling me that they wouldn't ship it to my area and then kept removing it from my cart!

 

[sxr7171]

Walked into local Verizon store and walked out with 7 black 256GB. Easy as pie.

 

[Eug]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10687/early-iphone-7-teardown-modems-and-more

Finally, one interesting aspect of the Chipworks report is that they unexpectedly found a third audio amplifier. Chipworks was expecting to find two – one for each of the speakers – but came up with a third. The firm believes that the third amp may be for headphones, which in turn would mean that Apple has significantly revised the Lightning port specification for the iPhone 7. Previously Lightning has only carried digital audio, which doesn’t require an amp in the phone itself. In the initial iPhone 7 announcement I had speculated that Apple put the DAC (and amp) inside their 3.5mm adapter – which would be consistent with how Lightning has worked over the last 4 years – but this casts doubt on that idea. If Apple has revised the specification to allow analog audio over the port, then this greatly simplifies how headphones and adapters will work. But it also would raise a number of questions about peripheral compatibility, especially what happens if you plug something like the Lightning EarPods into an older device like the iPhone 5s.

 

[Oyeve]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10687/early-iphone-7-teardown-modems-and-more

Finally, one interesting aspect of the Chipworks report is that they unexpectedly found a third audio amplifier. Chipworks was expecting to find two – one for each of the speakers – but came up with a third. The firm believes that the third amp may be for headphones, which in turn would mean that Apple has significantly revised the Lightning port specification for the iPhone 7. Previously Lightning has only carried digital audio, which doesn’t require an amp in the phone itself. In the initial iPhone 7 announcement I had speculated that Apple put the DAC (and amp) inside their 3.5mm adapter – which would be consistent with how Lightning has worked over the last 4 years – but this casts doubt on that idea. If Apple has revised the specification to allow analog audio over the port, then this greatly simplifies how headphones and adapters will work. But it also would raise a number of questions about peripheral compatibility, especially what happens if you plug something like the Lightning EarPods into an older device like the iPhone 5s.

And it will still sound like crap.

 

[Eug]

iPhone 6 audio quality measurements by AnandTech: http://www.anandtech.com/show/8554/the-iphone-6-review/11

The iPhone 6 is more likely what we will see going forward: good audio quality, but most importantly free of any major issues.

 

[ScottAD]

Now that tear downs are going...

US Based iPhones will be using LTE Rel. 11 Cat 9 with a Qualcomm MDM9645 chip running the Thor 2.1 PL baseline.

 

[sxr7171]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10687/early-iphone-7-teardown-modems-and-more

Finally, one interesting aspect of the Chipworks report is that they unexpectedly found a third audio amplifier. Chipworks was expecting to find two – one for each of the speakers – but came up with a third. The firm believes that the third amp may be for headphones, which in turn would mean that Apple has significantly revised the Lightning port specification for the iPhone 7. Previously Lightning has only carried digital audio, which doesn’t require an amp in the phone itself. In the initial iPhone 7 announcement I had speculated that Apple put the DAC (and amp) inside their 3.5mm adapter – which would be consistent with how Lightning has worked over the last 4 years – but this casts doubt on that idea. If Apple has revised the specification to allow analog audio over the port, then this greatly simplifies how headphones and adapters will work. But it also would raise a number of questions about peripheral compatibility, especially what happens if you plug something like the Lightning EarPods into an older device like the iPhone 5s.

So it would explain how they got the adapter so thin. Interesting. There had to have been two unused terminals for them to implement analog on a pair of them.

Also I'd agree that the iPhone DAC/Amp is the last place I would look for an upgrade. I say this even while using a cipher cable which does exactly that. The headphones are the most malleable part of the playback chain by far.

 

[jpiniero]

BTW, we have our controversy - you can't unlock the phone with a glove on.

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/09/16/home-button-requires-skin

 

[Eug]

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.

4) Silver looks great. Doesn't scream "Look at me!" but is an understated sexay nonetheless. Refined. The antenna lines are so noticeable either.

5) Tempered glass screen protectors for the 6 Plus do NOT properly fit the iPhone 7 Plus. I had ordered a 7 Plus protector off eBay (although I'm not sure if it's just a 6 Plus one), but it hadn't arrived yet. As luck would have it, the convenience store where I had the UPS shipment sent to happened to also sell tempered glass protectors for the 6 Plus, in amongst the cigarette lighters and what not. So I bought one. The dimensions are more or less correct, but the cutout for the earpiece is not wide enough. I assume because in the 7 Plus the earpiece is now a speaker, they made its slit wider, so the cutout for a 6 Plus will cover the ends of that slit - partially obscuring 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.

7) It really is super fast. Any lag I had on my 5S is completely gone. It's perfectly smooth for just about everything.

And Plus: 8) The audio is noticeably better than any iPhone I've ever heard before, and the stereo separation is actually noticeable. But more importantly, as mentioned the quality is just better, and the volume is decent. However, the quality is still not exactly good. Just about any outboard speaker will sound better (except those dollar store wired speakers you buy for $3).

P.S. Mine shipped with 10.0 and is model A1784. Unlocked Canadian model. No CDMA support. I was able to restore my 10.0.1 5S backup to this 10.0 7 Plus.

So it would explain how they got the adapter so thin. Interesting. There had to have been two unused terminals for them to implement analog on a pair of them.

Also I'd agree that the iPhone DAC/Amp is the last place I would look for an upgrade. I say this even while using a cipher cable which does exactly that. The headphones are the most malleable part of the playback chain by far.

Hmm... I just tried the headphone adapter on my 5S. Works fine. Sounds play fine through my completely analogue Etymotic ER-4P headphones. So, is it just hijacking the DAC from the headphone jack then?

BTW, we have our controversy - you can't unlock the phone with a glove on.

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/09/16/home-button-requires-skin

Can't use TouchID with gloves on either, and I found that touch sensitive gloves were really hit and miss. So I would usually just take my one glove off. However, I'm usually not outside that long since I drive everywhere. BTW, you can get gloves were you can temporarily remove just the tips, exactly for this purpose.

 

[jpiniero]

Can't use TouchID with gloves on either

Yeah, but on earlier phones you could still unlock the phone using the passcode with gloves on. It sounds like you can't even get to the prompt now.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Yeah, but on earlier phones you could still unlock the phone using the passcode with gloves on. It sounds like you can't even get to the prompt now.

Just use the Lock button. The linked article says "no home button clicking", not "no unlocking period". But this could obviously be a problem when using the phone, as the home button is a major interaction point. Hopefully those special gloves with touch-ready fingertips will still work. They seem to work fine on the touchscreen part of the phone.

 

[Eug]

 

[Kazukian]

Nice, just got a notice, one of my matte black 7+'s shipped, finally

 

[Eug]

If this accurate then wow.

Look at those storage speed numbers.

 

[Kazukian]

Nice, my 2nd 7+ has shipped too... Woot.

 

[Eug]

After a fresh boot up, the 7 Plus has 3X the free RAM that the 6s has.

1.4 GB free vs 0.5 GB free respectively according to the BMSSM app.

 

[Eug]

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.

So, how did I do with my predictions?

1. Correct.
2. Correct. USB 3 support has been confirmed. Well, confirmed so far for the 7 Plus only.
3. Correct and incorrect.
4. Incorrect.
5. Correct.
6. Correct.
7. Correct.
8. Correct, but it's much more than that.
9. Dunno.
10. I don't think so but I haven't fully investigated this.
11. Correct.
12. Correct.
13. Correct, sort of.
14. Correct.
15. Correct, sort of. I didn't guess the haptic thing.

 

[Kazukian]

Those were good calls, Eug.

 

[gbeirn]

Do these phone still come with the stupid 5w chargers? Also is the USB cable with the 7+ a 3.0 cable ? (I.e., is the USB end 9 pins).

 

[Eug]

Do these phone still come with the stupid 5w chargers?

Yes. If you want faster charging you'll have to use an iPad charger or something. Luckily we have 4 or 5 of the 12 W iPad chargers around the house already.

Also is the USB cable with the 7+ a 3.0 cable ? (I.e., is the USB end 9 pins).

No. It comes with a USB 2 Lightning cable.

The USB 3 support for the 7 Plus was confirmed using a Lightning to SD adapter.

http://www.apple.com/ca/shop/product/MJYT2AM/A/lightning-to-sd-card-camera-reader

The Lightning to SD Card Camera Reader supports standard photo formats, including JPEG and RAW, along with SD and HD video formats, including H.264 and MPEG-4. It supports data transfer at up to USB 3 speeds on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and up to USB 2 speeds on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro and all other iPad and iPhone models.