iPhone 7

[Commodus]

Even if I were coming from an older phone and wanted to buy a new 4.7" iPhone, I would likely not get the 7. I would probably get the 6s. And that's for me, a phone geek. For the wife, I'd definitely get the 6s. The A10 Fusion SoC is quite nice, but not critical. iOS 9 on the 6s lagged occasionally here and there, nothing bad but it seems even less noticeable on iOS 10, particularly in Safari surfing. The main things of true relevance in the 7 line IMO are the new wide gamut screen, the 3 GB RAM, and the dual lens camera. However, the 7 is missing both the 3 GB RAM and the dual lens camera. So the only thing it really gains is the new wide gamut screen, which IMO isn't worth the price difference. And of course, the 7 loses the headphone jack. Not a deal killer, but an annoyance. I guess water resistance is another factor, but it's never been an issue for us, and the 6s already has very good water resistance even if it was never advertised. Furthermore, the price difference is based on models with the same 32 GB or 128 GB storage. Even better for many people would be to get a closeout 64 GB 6s model at a lower price than the 128 GB 7, making the price difference vs. the 7 even larger.

I went from the 6 to the 7 and found that there were plenty of reasons to make the move.

The cameras are the big deal. You don't have 2X zoom, but it's still leagues better in terms of low-light performance and depth of field for macros. And I haven't used the FaceTime cam much, but 7MP and 1080p video beats the hell out of what you got before.

The A10 is nice, but the bigger deal if you're not coming from a 6s is the 2GB of RAM. You have to go out of your way to make it refresh most typical apps.

Other functional improvements that I appreciate day in and day out: the much brighter screen (it's really usable in bright sunlight), 128GB of storage on a mid-tier model and the stereo speakers. I enjoy the enhanced haptic feedback, as it makes the phone feel 'alive,' but that's clearly not essential.

I wouldn't upgrade from a 6s to a 7, that's for sure. But most people won't, I imagine! This is for those of us with a 6 or earlier who see the math adding up to an upgrade. If you're using a 6s, hold out for the 8... you'll be much happier.

 

[Eug]

This is the same as SSDs, the more discrete NAND you can parallelize, the faster the storage is. I'm not saying it's 'OK', but i'm also not surprised. Apple is, to my understanding, treating these as SSDs, with their own designed-in-house controller.

Also, it would be 'storage-gate', if it were a gate at all, which is isn't.

I mentioned elsewhere that this storage-gate article is a fail for Phonearena. I'd accept this as an interesting data point from an end user like you and me, or even from a phone site if the appropriate explanation like you made above were listed. However, the way they presented it seems kind of amateurish, considering that type of performance behaviour often happens with flashed storage. If they're really going to "expose" some sort of storage-gate, they really needed to provide better testing to include more models to get a better idea of the relative performance of various models.

I went from the 6 to the 7 and found that there were plenty of reasons to make the move.

The cameras are the big deal. You don't have 2X zoom, but it's still leagues better in terms of low-light performance and depth of field for macros. And I haven't used the FaceTime cam much, but 7MP and 1080p video beats the hell out of what you got before.

The A10 is nice, but the bigger deal if you're not coming from a 6s is the 2GB of RAM. You have to go out of your way to make it refresh most typical apps.

Other functional improvements that I appreciate day in and day out: the much brighter screen (it's really usable in bright sunlight), 128GB of storage on a mid-tier model and the stereo speakers. I enjoy the enhanced haptic feedback, as it makes the phone feel 'alive,' but that's clearly not essential.

I wouldn't upgrade from a 6s to a 7, that's for sure. But most people won't, I imagine! This is for those of us with a 6 or earlier who see the math adding up to an upgrade. If you're using a 6s, hold out for the 8... you'll be much happier.

Well I refused to buy the 6 in the first place. The 1 GB RAM was a deal killer. My advice at the time was to wait for the 6s.

I guess that means I've been recommending the 6s for three consecutive years now. However, I wouldn't fault anyone for getting the 7 now over the 6s, since the price premium over the 6s is not high.

Similarly, my advice when the Air came out was to wait for the 2 GB Air 2. And that Air 2 has remained my recommended 9.7" model even now that the 9.7" Pro is out. So that means this is the fourth year in a row I've recommended the Air 2, although right now I'm telling people interesting in the Pro to wait until 2017 H1 for an updated version. Although I think in 2016 paying the price premium of the 7 over the 6s is reasonable, I don't think that holds true at all for the current 9.7" Pro over the Air 2. The 9.7" Pro release was an utter fail IMO.

Consequently, in our house there has never been an iPhone 6 or an iPad Air. My wife went from the 5 to the 6s and I went from the 5S to the 7 Plus. We also went from the iPad 2 to the iPad Air 2, and then bought a second iPad Air 2 for $100 less one year later.

Oh and by the way, when the original iPad came out my advice was to wait for the iPad 2 because the original iPad was just too crippled specs-wise and most sites weren't going to be iPad optimized for a while anyway. The iPad 2 we bought a year later still works with the latest apps, albeit slowly, since it supports iOS 9. The doubled RAM in the iPad 2 made all the difference. The original iPad only made it to iOS 5. Ouch. Even the iPhone 4 with the same CPU made it to iOS 7 because of the doubled RAM. I just gave it to a kid in my wife's extended family and it still works OK as a basic talk, text, and email smartphone.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Yeah I also held off buying the 6 because of only 1GB RAM when virtually every performance issue that happens on iPhones are due to lack of RAM. The 6S holy trinity of A9 + 2GB + NVMe sealed the deal for me.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Is it me or are Anandtech reviews now getting to be bare bones affairs now. Anand used to look into a lot more details in each of the phones. These latest reviews are simply 7 page cookie cutter reviews. They go into a bit more detail, but even GSM Arena's 5 page reviews aren't much less in comparison.

The photo reviews are pretty piss poor too IMO.

 

[core2slow]

Is it me or are Anandtech reviews now getting to be bare bones affairs now. Anand used to look into a lot more details in each of the phones. These latest reviews are simply 7 page cookie cutter reviews. They go into a bit more detail, but even GSM Arena's 5 page reviews aren't much less in comparison.

The photo reviews are pretty piss poor too IMO.

Nope, you're not the only one to feel this way. Now it's all about those page clicks and piss poor snippet contents.

 

[Eug]

Is it me or are Anandtech reviews now getting to be bare bones affairs now. Anand used to look into a lot more details in each of the phones. These latest reviews are simply 7 page cookie cutter reviews. They go into a bit more detail, but even GSM Arena's 5 page reviews aren't much less in comparison.

Nope, you're not the only one to feel this way. Now it's all about those page clicks and piss poor snippet contents.

Errr... He says right in the iPhone 7 review article that this is just part 1 of the review. The more in-depth analysis is coming later in October.

 

[o306]

Is it me or are Anandtech reviews now getting to be bare bones affairs now. Anand used to look into a lot more details in each of the phones. These latest reviews are simply 7 page cookie cutter reviews. They go into a bit more detail, but even GSM Arena's 5 page reviews aren't much less in comparison.

The photo reviews are pretty piss poor too IMO.

The iPhone 7 photo review was definitely dialed-in. They didn't even use the standard set of pics for low-light comparisons that they usually do.

Anandtech photo reviews are usually more consistent from review-to-review than most sites which makes it a lot easier to compare phones. Not this time.

Late reviews and lack of quality/consistency is a bad combination.

Tech sites come-and-go so I guess this is just a normal thing to be happening.

 

[sxr7171]

The camera is better in low light by a lot. But for me even from a 6S the battery life is life changing. To the point I don't need my lipstick backup battery anymore. I never worry about battery anymore.

 

[sxr7171]

A few brands did this post process. Now apple is doing it. As far as more MP I don't think its necessary. Apple has been on the low-end of the MP numbers yet year after year they prove their pic quality is either good enough to very good. Sammy dropped their last couple of lines 2 12 mp and they take great pics. Instant focus and all that. I am interested in the 2x optical zoom quality of the 7+ but no one I know has one and my users at work who upgraded only got the regular 7.

Bigger photosensors are better than more photosensors. I thought by now everyone read the "megapixel myth".

 

[sxr7171]

I would've appreciated a hike in resolution, but at the same time: I'm surprisingly okay with the visuals on my iPhone 7.

I'd say it's really just a combination of the wider color range (when relevant), the brighter output in sunny conditions and the performance... it still feels like a new phone, even if things aren't razor sharp. I wouldn't be in a rush to upgrade if I had a 6s, for sure, but I'm not regretting the 6-to-7 upgrade so far. Let's just hope that the 2017 redesign includes a resolution increase.

As close as you can hold it to your face and still focus can you see pixels? I'm asking seriously.

 

[KeithP]

The iPhone 7 photo review was definitely dialed-in. They didn't even use the standard set of pics for low-light comparisons that they usually do.

Anandtech photo reviews are usually more consistent from review-to-review than most sites which makes it a lot easier to compare phones. Not this time.

Late reviews and lack of quality/consistency is a bad combination.

Tech sites come-and-go so I guess this is just a normal thing to be happening.

Maybe I am misunderstanding your meaning, but it sounds like you either didn't read the review or somehow missed that they stated a more detailed review was yet to come…see quote, emphasis mine.

Although this initial review is supposed to be just the basics, over the course of the review we’ve learned quite a bit about the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. These findings aren’t necessarily going to excite those that are interested in the deep-dive aspects that we’ve come to expect from a review – and for you we have a seperate deep-dive to come – but for someone that wants to know whether this phone is worth buying this should be enough to arrive at a decision one way or another.

-KeithP

 

[Commodus]

As close as you can hold it to your face and still focus can you see pixels? I'm asking seriously.

Yeah, although it's not what I'd call terribly pixelated. At typical distances it's just dandy.

 

[sxr7171]

Yeah, although it's not what I'd call terribly pixelated. At typical distances it's just dandy.

Ha Ha! Come on. At what distance can you honestly see pixels?

 

[Commodus]

Ha Ha! Come on. At what distance can you honestly see pixels?

A few inches away, certainly... it's not a blocky mess, of course, but the pixels are there. You notice it most when you're looking at app icons in folders.

 

[sxr7171]

In any case I'm expecting the next iPhone to have a 1080p 5" OLED. Hopefully curved like the S7 edge.

Or at least bezel less.

 

[Ichinisan]

In any case I'm expecting the next iPhone to have a 1080p 5" OLED. Hopefully curved like the S7 edge.

Or at least bezel less.

I'd hate the curve. That would make it nearly impossible to get a good protective case that still works correctly with swipe gestures.