iPhone 7. Opinions?

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

so, Apple just finished their keynote presentation of the new iPhone.
I knew beforehand, that real innovations would be rare and the whole thing would feel like just more of the same.
But I can't help but feel really disappointed.
I really hoped that Apple finally learned that basic features are just as important if not more so than all this style innovations.
Honestly.
They finally build some features into it that by now are all but industry standard in many other smartphones like, splashwater resistance, 32GB memory, stereo speakers and quadcore processors.
But STILL can not manage to give the damn thing a battery that supports all those "revolutionary" features? Really?
In the presentation they promise a measly 2 additional hours of battery life for the average user which basically means jack shit for high performance users.
How difficult can it be to integrate a battery like even freaking Samsung is using now (minus exploding capabilties) that would run 2-3 days for an average user?
I see virtually no killer feature worth upgrading for.
What are your thoughts?

 

[Marc]

I don't think we'll see any real innovation in smart phones for a while - we've hit a bit of technological brick wall so can only really evolve.

Yes splash resistance is good (though Samsung seem to have exagerated their phone's capabilities in this area), stereo speakers good. Quad core process not so much. Apple design their own SoC and if you look at the benchmarks on the sites like Ars Technica and Anandtech, the Dual Core in the current generation phones were a match for the quad cores used in the Android units. It's a combination of their processor design

For example in some tests last year's iPhone 6 out performs this year's Galaxy 7.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10196/the-samsung-galaxy-s7-and-s7-edge-review-part-2

Reguarding batteries
a) the iPhone 6 can get better battery life than the Galaxy 7
b) again we've at a bit of a technological brick wall regarding energy density in batteries.
c) Apple is using the same type of batteries (lithium-ion) as Samsung.
d) Samsung's claims about the battery life don't hold water. https://www.androidpit.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-battery-life
e) even with the advances in processor design, they still chew a chunk of power - as do the screens. Want longer battery life? Get a lower resolution screen but people don't want that.
f) you can make the batteries bigger and last longer but you either make your phones bigger or find a way to squeeze a larger battery in.

 

[Scout101]

Opinion? Meh

First 'whole number' iPhone to not really bring anything new. No real advance, not even a form factor change to tempt me.

3G brought 3G, 4 had a form factor change, 5 was LTE, 6 got much bigger... 7 didn't do anything that I gotta have, so I'll keep my 6.

For a 600-700 phone, why am I upgrading? Doesn't do anything mine doesn't.

Also, wondering how lack of phone subsidies will affect sales. Carriers used to sell for 299 and eat the difference. They've gotten greedy, and now don't subsidize. So can buy it for 700, or pay 35/month for 2 years, same thing. Plans didn't seem to get cheaper to justify the lack of subsidy though.

Used to be that I got one every 2 years. Bought for 300, sold my previous one for about 300, basically got phones for the cost of a 36 dollar activation. This year, it would be 350 out of pocket instead. Sure, not locked into a contract, but haven't changed since 2002, so why do I care about being contract portable?

Also rumors that next years phone will be a much bigger deal as the 10th anniversary phone. We'll see, but I'm passing on this lukewarm offering, suspect I'm not the only one.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

I've been iPhone user since 3, but I don't feel any compulsion to upgrade until the inevitable iPhone 8.

 

[Kemaiku]

I only upgraded to the 6S last year so I'm good for a while. Some are speculating that this year is more of a second S year because of next year being the 10th anniversary of the iPhone. The iPhone 8, or a unique name altogether for the 2017 edition, may have a much more drastic overhaul.

 

[Scout101]

That's where I'm at. Nothing new, nothing wrong with my iPhone 6, no more subsidies from the carrier to make it cheap/free for me to upgrade, so I'm standing pat for now. Maybe next year

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Any opinion on the headphone jack or lack thereof? I personally think it's dumb.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I think it's hilarious they said it took "courage" to remove the headphone jack.

In reality, they just wanted to free up space inside the phone because hardware design is hard.

 

[Kemaiku]

^The 3D engine is now a much wider chip that takes up the space vacated, it connects to the screen above but also sits right under the home "button" which is solid to the chasis now, giving tactile feedback when it's pressed.

They've been toying with the idea of extending the screen to remove the button altogether, having the taptic engine recognise a circular portion of the screen as it instead, this is partly to experiment with that.

Apparently enough people serious enough about listening to stuff on the phones for extended periods of time are investing in wireless headphones anyway. The phone comes with Lightning cable equipped earphones *and* an adapter for a 3.5mm jack to pop right into the port so...whats the problem?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

1. Yet another proprietary port, so you're either fussing with an adapter or buying hardware that doesn't work with any other devices you own.
2. Wireless isn't an option for everyone.
3. You can't both use wired headphones and charge your phone at the same time, thanks to the consolidated port. This is a loss of a feature no matter how you slice it.

It's all academic to me since I won't be buying one of these anyway, but those are the common arguments.

 

[John Clark]

Any opinion on the headphone jack or lack thereof? I personally think it's dumb.

I'm not likely to get an iPhone anytime soon and if I were to do so, this probably wouldn't affect me as I don't tend to use my phone for music (My iPod classic is fine for that) but yeah, not having the headphone jack would bother me, especially if everyone starts to go that way. (Probably not likely, but you never know)

Sure, you can get the airpods (another thing to charge) or Lightning ear plugs but I like the ones I have now.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

 

[Kemaiku]

1. Yet another proprietary port, so you're either fussing with an adapter or buying hardware that doesn't work with any other devices you own.
2. Wireless isn't an option for everyone.
3. You can't both use wired headphones and charge your phone at the same time, thanks to the consolidated port. This is a loss of a feature no matter how you slice it.

1. It's the same port that's been there, in exactly the same position for 4 years now.
2. It's the prevailing option among people who own the largest portion of iPhones.
3. You'd normally be charging it at home at the end of the day, in the comfort of your own home so that the earphones would not be in use. And I know very few people trying to do both at the same time anyway. So again, not something that happens enough to negate the change.

Other phones will be following the basic idea soon enough, even of Android will largely have USB-C making that option a little easier.

But most smartphones are heading towards magnetic charging anyway, the Lightning port will drop out of use as the primary charging port by 2019.

Honestly, the 3.5mm jack is such an anachronism these days. It's been getting weirder to see it still included with most technology. Like seeing a 2016 computer with a 3.5" floppy drive.

 

[Ronald Held]

Apple wants everyone to move to wireless earpieces.

 

[John Clark]

Honestly, the 3.5mm jack is such an anachronism these days. It's been getting weirder to see it still included with most technology. Like seeing a 2016 computer with a 3.5" floppy drive.

I'm actually using the 3.5mm jack right now, though it's on my pc rather than phone.

One of my older phones didn't come with a jack (instead it used the charging port - a Motorola slvr if I recall).

As for floppy's, yeah, the only time I use them now is on the Amiga.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I preordered the iPhone 7 for my wife and the iPhone 7 Plus for myself this morning. We're upgrading from the 6 & 6+, so I'm really looking forward to the force touch (love it on my Apple Watch) and the new camera. I never try to convince people what is better, because there is only what is better for you.

 

[Marc]

I preordered the iPhone 7 for my wife and the iPhone 7 Plus for myself this morning. We're upgrading from the 6 & 6+, so I'm really looking forward to the force touch (love it on my Apple Watch) and the new camera. I never try to convince people what is better, because there is only what is better for you.

Not going going for the apple watch2 while you're at it? Initial impressions seem very good.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

Not going going for the apple watch2 while you're at it? Initial impressions seem very good.

I would love to have the Ceramic version but yeah, I'm not ready to upgrade yet. We currently upgrade our iPhones every two years. We hold onto our iPad's about 4 years. (we both still have the iPad air.) Macbook Pro's we update about every 6 years. I recently had to upgrade my 2008 Mac Pro because it died. I however went with the 27" iMac 5K instead of the Mac Pro. That's a long winded way of saying I will be holding onto my Apple Watch for a while. I love my Apple Watch, it has come in very handy. I love a lot of the functionality of Series 2.

 

[Scout101]

Bad timing for Samsung to have to put out a massive recall for exploding batteries in phones? Probably...

 

[Ronald Held]

Preordered my phone, but it is backordered.