Back to 2016, there were not much Chinese smartphone brands to compete for the flagship champion game. It was quite easy for Apple to win the Best Smartphone in 2016 although we all know that it only got a slight upgrade from iPhone 6 series.
Apple launched two iPhones without huge updates for the design and other specs, and it was breaking the old tradition that Apple used to re-design iPhones in a 2-year circle.
It became so competitive since 2018 that so many Chinese smartphone companies are sprinting together for the best phones no matter with the latest 3-camera or 4-camera sets, 10x optical zoom, or a huge 12 GB RAM. It gets hard to pick the best phone now.
Anyway, let’s follow Blablaphones for a closer look at iPhone 7 & 7 plus. 🙂 🙂 🙂
Product: iPhone 7
Display: 4.7” LCD (750 x 1334 pixels)
Chipset: Apple A10 Fusion
RAM: 2 GB
Storage: 32/128GB storage, no card slot
Camera: 12.0 MP OIS
Front Camera: 7.0 MP(Face detection, HDR)
Battery: 1,960 mAh
Other Features: IP67 (maximum depth of 1 meter up to 30 minutes)
(iPhone 7’s camera is powerful due to the OIS equipped)
Product: iPhone 7 PLUS
Display: 5.5” LCD (1080 x 1920 pixels)
Chipset: Apple A10 Fusion
RAM: 3 GB
Storage: 32/128GB storage, no card slot
Camera: 12.0 MP OIS + 12.0 MP 2x optical zoom
Front Camera: 7.0 MP(Face detection, HDR)
Battery: 2,900 mAh
Other Features: IP67 (maximum depth of 1 meter up to 30 minutes)
(iPhone 7 plus now has a dual-camera set.)
Design & Display
It’s not that noticeable from the front to tell the difference between iPhone 6 and iPhone 7. They all look the same to me, and it’s also something that people criticized the most.
The only “WOW ME” part for the design is the crafts on the back of iPhone 7 black version. The black looks not like aluminum material but like a glassy & mirror surface.
I find a short video that Jonathan Ivy introduced the craftmanship for iPhone 7’s back.
“To achieve iPhone 7’s gloss black finish, it begins with rotational 3D polishing. Then, anodization process which created a protective oxide layer. A single component dye is absorbed through a capillary effect to ensure maximum saturation while actually becoming part of surface itself. Finally, a magnetized ultrafine iron particle bath is used to polish the anodized layer to a superior look.”
The above is what he said in the video, to be easy to understand, Apple tried very hard to make aluminum material looks more premium just like MAGIC!
Some critics said that the whole process for the iPhone 7 body cots up to USD$200 each, what if we only need a simple body with real aluminum feels, could it be cheaper?
The 4.7″ & 5.5″ display is just fine to me since there are full-display starting from iPhone X in 2017, iPhone XR, and iPhone Xs & Xs MAX in 2018.
In the first couple of days, many reports said that even though the costly process for the iPhone 7 body, but it doesn’t help a lot for the scratch issue. it gets scratch and your fingerprints easily on the beautiful black surface.
(The screen sizes of iPhone 7 & 7 plus )
Camera
People always talk about the protruding cameras on the back of iPhone 7 & 7 plus, so you must feel it’s uneven when you lay it on the table.
The camera is the main highlight for Apple’s launch event in 2016 when it comes to iPhones, they spent half of the time on the camera. It feels like the rest is nothing to mention.
The camera performance for both iPhone 7 & 7 plus are the same excellent, and both are with OIS(Optical Image Stabilization)!
Apple adds one more camera for iPhone 7 plus which enables it for 2x zoom, and it also does lots of help for the Bokeh mode.
If you compare the current Bokeh mode with the first try, I know it seems nothing back to 2016, but it shows that Apple pivots a bit to compete with other companies not just depending on only software enhancement. Good to see this.
For the front camera, the pixel rises to 7.0 MP from 5.0 MP, it’s easy to find out that all your selfies taken are better than the previous iPhones. When you FaceTime, you will find it is better than before.
(iPhone 7’s beautiful black body.)
Home Button
The Home Button isn’t real as the previous iPhones. You can not press it as usual.
Apple implemented with Taptic engines in iPhone 7 to give back feedback that makes you feel it’s real. If you press harder, the taptic engines give you more feedback.
You could still feel the feedback from Taptic engine is not natural as a real Home button, and I think the feedback from it only proves that “Yeah, you press is successful, and we will let you proceed further!”
Lightning or Bluetooth headphone for Music
There is no more headphone jack on iPhone 7 & 7 plus. Apple ditched it since 2016 with a lightning port.
This change caused thousands of complaints all over the world since it changes a lot. Apple did this to have a louder speaker and an OIS camera for iPhone 7.
The sound quality of the EarPods with 3.5mm headphone jack is the almost same with the EarPods with lightning connector. Which is a bit weird for me?
Since I expected a huge leap for the sound quality improvement by lightning connector but it seems no big changes!
(Apple removed headphone jack but add a new lightning port.)
Downsides
Top#01 RAM
No like other Android competitors, Apple still insists that the 2-3 GB RAM is enough to run smoothly on iPhone 7 & 7 plus. But if you run lots of CPU-consuming apps, it’s easy to find out that all the system works with lags.
It’s better that Apple might need to upgrade the next-generation iPhones X with more RAM for better user experience.
Top#02 NO Headphone Jack
It’s both good and bad. The good part is it leaves more room for a lounder speaker and a camera with OIS(Optical Image Stabilization).
The bad part is the sound quality of the EarPods with lightning doesn’t give you a huge upgrade feeling, and I didn’t find the big difference between EarPods with 3.5mm & EarPods with lightning. (Forgive me my bad hearing. 🙂 🙂 🙂
It’s okay that you could go buy AirPods to pair your iPhone with, Apple removed the headphone jack but launched AirPods which became the most popular earbuds in later years.
I love the simple design of AirPods and it’s really trendy on your ears, and they are so light that you can barely notice the weights.
But, for the sound quality, Apple might need to work harder to match the price!
Top#03 Slow Charging Speed
For the safety issue, Apple didn’t offer fast charging adaptor for iPhone 7 & 7 plus. For some Android phones in 2016, they could be charged to 50%-80% in 30 mins.
How about Apple iPhone 7 & 7 plus? You need to charge 3 hours for 100% battery life which feels like forever.
Some Apple fans found out that if you happen to have iPad at home, you could try to use the adaptor that comes with iPad. It will be 2 hours(save you 1-hour life!) for 100% battery life. Or turn on the airplane mode, it could also help.
Since the 3.5mm headphone jack is removed from iPhone 7 & 7 plus, it means you could not charge your phone and listen to the music at the same. Unless you use a wireless earphone.
I cannot help but think this is also another proof that Apple tries to sell more products by changing the design of iPhones and makes more profits from Apple fans.
Top#04 Battery
If you see the great picture of the smartphone industry, the battery of iPhones is always lower than our expectations every year.
Compared to both Samsung Galaxy S7 & hTC’s 3,000 mAh battery, iPhone 7 & 7 plus looks sad.
I have to mention that if Apple adds a larger battery for the new generation of iPhones in 2019, and maybe they could learn ASUS Zenfone 6 which equips with a super powerful 5,000 mAh battery! That would so GREAT!
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Conclusion
I like the dual-camera set on iPhone 7 plus, and it was a big move for Apple’s camera performance that The Best Smartphone in 2016.
But for the rest, I didn’t find any significant upgrades or improvements.
This is what I feel the most when you already had iPhone 6 or 6s on hands, I suggest to changes with more recent iPhones.
I hope you enjoyed this review and if you have any questions about iPhone 7 & 7 plus or want to leave your own personal review, leave a comment below.
(All Photos: Apple)
You may also like:
01.iPhone Xs & Xs MAX review – The Best iPhones Ever
02.iPhone XR review – The Best Value iPhone
03.iPhone X review – The First Proper Notch Phone
04.iPhone 8 & 8 plus review – The Best Phones in 2017
iPhone 7 PLUS
USD$325
This is indeed a nice review on these phones and talking about competition, I love the current competition in the market for better phones and I must commend these Chinese company who posses a great challenge to the toppers.
I like the iPhone 7 product but the life span of its battery give me a lot of problems because I use my smartphone a lot, this gave me much interest in iPhone 7plus because of its battery last longer than the previous.
Hi Dane,
Yes, the plus wordings of the iPhone product line always come with a bigger battery than the standard one.
If you look for a super-powerful battery, you might be happy to check out my review on this phone just like a half of power bank which I prefer to call it “Pikachu”!