Can’t make decision to buy the new iPhone 7? Here are the pros and cons for your consideration.
Finally, the iPhone 7 is now available in wowcamera.com. For Apple fans, they have been waiting for the new iPhone for a long time after the iPhone 6s. Apparently, the fans all want to know the new features and the improvements of the phone.
According to the official releases, there is no big difference between the design of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s. The new iPhone 7 has some new functions, like “waterproof “and “stereo speaker”. The Jet Black colour replaces the space grey this time. The camera, battery life and processor are all improved. The new iPhone 7 home button is also changed and there is no more headphone jack. However, does the actual performance meets our expectations? Is the new iPhone 7 worth to buy?
Professional reviews might be helpful. After the iPhone 7 launched a week ago, there are lots of reviews about it. Let us summarise the important points of each review.
Trustedreviews thinks the iPhone 7 has the strongest camera. Besides, the fast processor and longer battery life are more efficient. The reviewer doubts why the competitors’ phones can be waterproof without taking away the headphone jack but the iPhone 7 cannot.
“The A10 Fusion processor is more efficient and when the phone is coasting in your pocket or sitting unused on your desk it hardly uses any battery at all […]
Water-resistant phones have been around for a while, but up to a few years ago they were as much of a chore as a benefit. […] It’s not the first time a phone has done this. In fact both the latest Sony Xperia XZ and Galaxy S7 are water-resistant to a slightly better IP68 rating. They also manage to keep their headphone jacks. Imagine that.
Now the iPhone 7 comes with a new six-optic lens, Optical Image Stabilisation, a wider f/1.8 aperture and bigger pixels. All this leads to improved low-light performance that I noticed off the bat while taking photos at dusk […] I’ve chosen to compare it to the Galaxy S7 as we think it’s the strongest camera phone around until now.”
iPhone 7 comes with a new six-optic lens, Optical Image Stabilisation, a wider f/1.8 aperture and bigger pixels.
Forbes says the new home button is durable than the old one. The reviewer suggests not going for the Jet Black color because it is easy to get scratch and fingerprint. The reviewer also mentions the disappointment of the headphone jack.
“Also adding durability is the move to a fixed, capacitive touch home ‘surface’. The old moving home button on previous iPhones was one of the parts most prone to failure (Apple developed Assistive Touch to aid broken handsets out of warranty) and the good news is its capacitive replacement feels great.
An enlarged ‘taptic’ motor successfully simulates the feeling of a press (with three options of vibration intensity). I’ve seen some reports saying it feels unnatural, it doesn’t and you’ll soon forget you ever used anything else […]
An enlarged ‘taptic’ motor successfully simulates the feeling of a press
More superficially, Apple has also removed the antenna lines from the backs of both phones which gives them a cleaner look and offered new Black and Jett Black colour options while retiring Space Grey. My advice on Jett Black: Do Not Buy It. In hand it actually feels nicest of all the finishes due to a surprisingly sticky texture that provides grip, but it is both a fingerprint and scratch magnet (something Apple even admits).
And yet the controversy of Apple continuing to stick with an ageing design is nothing compared to the controversy over the one big external change it has made: the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack […] Firstly yes, the headphone jack is old technology (the phono connector is it based on is over 100 years old) but that only means it is ubiquitous and it isn’t remotely close to hitting the limitations of its audio potential […] And when it comes to water resistance, Samsung has already set the precedent: the headphone jack remains in the Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy Note 7 (when not exploding) and all three phones are rated at IP68 – a level above the jackless iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.”
Jett Black: Do Not Buy It. In hand it actually feels nicest of all the finishes due to a surprisingly sticky texture that provides grip, but it is both a fingerprint and scratch magnet
Digital Trends mentions that the actual performance of lightning headphone is fine. And the new processor and camera perform excellent.
“Though Motorola beat it to the punch, the iPhone 7 will likely go down in history as the device that killed the 100-year-old audio jack […] In testing, I found the change somewhat annoying, but mostly benign. The Lightning EarPods sound fine (if they work at all, see below) and I’ve spent most of my time using the Lightning adapter with our favourite earbuds […]
Aside from that, it has the same A10 ‘Fusion’ quad-core processor in it. The novel idea (at least, for an iPhone) here is that two of the cores are high efficiency, and will use less battery, but the other two, more powerful cores, are ready and waiting whenever you want to boot up a video game or do something more taxing […]
The iPhone 7 camera is noticeably better than the 6S, if you’re in low light conditions, and if you’re coming from an iPhone 6, you’re in for a treat. Against competition like the new LG V20 and Samsung Galaxy S7 series, we still prefer the iPhone camera overall, but it’s a tight race […]”
The Guardian is disappointed with the battery life, which is not better than the iPhone 6s. Also, the reviewer feels inconvenience about no more headphone jack. However, he thinks the Taptic Engine of the new home button is an excellent creation.
“The iPhone 7 has Apple’s latest processor the A10 Fusion, which, like most processors used in Android smartphones, has four processing cores split into two pairs. One is a high-performance pair of cores the other is a pair of energy efficient cores […] The iPhone 7 is snappy, feeling slightly faster than the iPhone 6S in general use. Some things, such as photo processing, particularly in something like Prisma, are also faster […]
Battery life, however, is poor. Using it as my primary device with three hours of app usage and browsing, hundreds of emails and push notifications, a couple of photos, five hours of music over Bluetooth headphones and the odd game of Jetpack Joyride during my one hour and 20 minute train commute to and from work, it lasted an average of just over 14 hours between charges, meaning it didn’t survive past 9.30pm […]To make matters worse, the iPhone 7 has the worst of all worlds: short battery life and tediously slow charging. Even using the 12W charger that came with the iPad Pro it took well over two hours to fully charge the iPhone 7.
Instead of being a real button it’s now a pressure sensitive pad. It doesn’t depress, but you have to push it rather than tap it to activate it as a home button […] The Taptic Engine as a whole, for notifications and general feedback, such as the little taps as you scroll through the timer’s wheel like notches on something mechanical, is excellent […]”
A comparison between the iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s from the Apple official website
Quartz says the new stereo speaker and waterproof perform well. However, the reviewer is dissatisfied with the new home button, speed and no headphone jack.
“Apple has promoted the iPhone 7 as its first phone with “stereo” speakers, and this is technically true. When taking calls on speaker mode, or listening to music without headphones, the iPhone can blare sound out of the two speakers on the bottom of the phone, but also the earpiece of the phone. It’s not going to replace your stereo, but the iPhone 7 sounds pretty good in a pinch […]
The camera is still no replacement for a professional camera, no matter what Apple’s advertising suggests. And one of the double-cameras’ biggest features, the ability to create images with depth of field, such as where you can create portrait shots of people in pin-sharp focus while the background is blurred, wasn’t even available at launch. […]
Whatever you make of Apple’s “courageous” decision not to include a headphone jack in the iPhone 7, it’s a bit annoying in practice right now. You’re required to use the earbuds Apple provides, which plug into the Lightning port (and have had software issues since launch), or use the awkward one-inch dongle to connect a regular pair of headphones to the Lightning port, which just doesn’t fit particular well in a pocket […]”
The earbuds Apple provides, which plug into the Lightning port
According to those reviews, every reviewer has different opinions about the iPhone 7. For instance, some reviewers think the camera is good but some disagree. It depends on the individuals. This article summarized their points and can be a good reference before you decide to buy the iPhone 7.
Wowcamera 