One of my favorite smartphone developments of 2016 is that the leading phonemakers in the world, after experimenting with tacky and garish colors for a few years, have realized that, for gadgets, going all-black is still the best. Even though I was never a fan of Samsung's mobile aesthetics and I think the iPhone 6 Plus' top and bottom bezels were hideously large, I still felt a sense of awe when I first unboxed the Galaxy Note 7 and iPhone 7 Plus -- because both devices felt and looked so sleek and sexy. Some women say black has a slimming effect, and it's definitely true here.
Sure, the 7 Plus' bezels (top and bottom, left and right) are still laughably big compared to other 2016 flagships, but the black hides it well at first glance. There's a hefty (in a good way), solid feel to the device that feels really great in the hand. The power and volume buttons do not wiggle one bit, and the redesigned capacitive home buttons feel wonderful.
The iPhone 7 Plus comes with the latest version of iOS, and along with it are some much-needed improvements, such as smarter ways of handling notifications on the lockscreen. Now, the new iPhone's display lights up when you pick it up from a table, or pull from a pocket, so you can glimpse at missed calls or Facebook messages without pressing a button. Swipe right on the lockscreen and you get to a page of widgets -- news, reminders, calendar, whatever. Swipe left, and you go to the camera, which launches really, really fast (probably the fastest launching camera of any phone).
Since Apple develops its own software and hardware to work together (instead of Android, which is developed by Google and then placed inside hardware made by others), the iPhone has always run buttery smooth, and this newest one is no exception. Even though the iPhone 7 Plus' specs mostly come up inferior to, say, the Galaxy Note 7's specs on paper, the iPhone 7 Plus is a better performer when it comes to speed. In fact, according to Geekbench numbers, the iPhone 7 Plus' new A10 chip more than double the iPhone 6S' numbers and even Apple's own computers. This is a fast phone, as fast as the OnePlus 3 (the fastest Android performer out there).
But as someone who uses many phones a year, there are just too many things with the iPhone 7 Plus I find hard to accept. As mentioned before, the bezels up top and bottom are ridiculously huge. Literally every 2016 Android flagship phone has a display of equal or larger size, but comes in a smaller body. And unlike the Note 7, which was clearly designed to be a "big" phone, the iPhone 7 Plus still feels like a "blown up" version of the iPhone 7. Little things, like the placement of the iOS' back buttons (upper left hand corner) and power button (on the right side of the phone, pretty far up), are out of reach when holding the phone with a normal grip.
Yeah, iOS has a "one-handed" mode (dubbed "reachability) that can be accessed by double tapping the home button, but it's a clumsy work-around. Some apps also let you back up by swiping from the left edges of the screen, but not all apps support that. Why not just, you know, move the back buttons to the lower left hand corner and put the power button lower?
This problem is compounded by the fact that each app behaves differently and requires a different way to "back out." For example, Twitter requires you to hit an "X" in the upper right corner to back out of a photo; on Facebook, it's upper left corner. Swiping backs out of some apps, while other apps, swiping does nothing or something else entirely.
The thing is, Apple knows this. Tim Cook and Jonny Ive know the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus' designs are a bit outdated (the latter believes in all glass phones), but they left it as is because they're saving the really cool design changes for next year's 10th anniversary iPhone. This isn't some wild rumor, it's all but confirmed, considering people within Apple told the New York Times. Apple gave the 7 a safe, recycled design, so they can really "wow" people next year, just to time it with some arbitrary anniversary.
The iPhone 7 Plus still brings some serious improvements though. It's water-proof, the phone has stereo speakers now (which makes the sound better than, say the LG G5, but certainly not the Nexus 6P, older HTC One or even Huawei P9 Plus). Yeah, the headphone jack is gone, but since this horse has already been beaten to death (whether this is a deal-breaker or not, you have already decided), I'm not gonna talk about it here.
Next page: the cameras...
The 7 Plus' defining/standout feature is its dual-camera setup, one 12MP normal lens and one 2X optical zoom lens. But while the iPhone 7 Plus takes great photos, I'm afraid all those rave reviews from mainstream media hailing it as the best camera has been exaggerated. As I showed in a previous post, the LG V20 routinely took slightly better photos than the iPhone 7 Plus, while the Huawei P9 can more than hold its own. The most baffling sin to me is the fact that the iPhone 7 Plus' 2X optical zoom lens (which the company claims is a "telephoto lens" and some other reviews have claimed worked as advertise) failed to produce significantly sharper/better "zoomed" images than digital zoom on other phones.
Here, take a look.
The above photos were shot standing about 15 feet away from the banner, at 2X zoom. So the iPhone 7 Plus' image was shot using the dedicated 2X optical zoom lens, while the other two phones snapped the photos via digital zoom. Let's blow them up to 100% and look at the details.
Here's the iPhone 7 Plus:
Here's the LG V20:
And here's the OnePlus 3:
Do you see a difference in quality? Let's look at another set of images, also shot at 2X zoom.
Shouldn't the iPhone 7 Plus, with its dedicated optical zoom lens, beat digital zoom on a $400 Chinese phone by a landslide?
¯_(ツ)_/¯
Look, again, this doesn't mean the iPhone 7 Plus' camera is trash. It still takes great shots, and is a clear improvement over last year's iPhone, especially in low lights situation. It's just not better than the LG V20, and only a tiny bit better than the OnePlus 3's shooters. Am I nitpicking? Yes, but when you're the king of the industry and get all the love and hype and sales, then I'm going to scrutinize.
Here are a couple more iPhone 7 Plus photo samples.
The iPhone 7 Plus' dual camera will also allow you to shoot "bokeh" shots, which is a photography trick that makes it seem like the area behind/surrounding the subject is blurred. It's not ready yet on my device at time of review, but some sites have already begun shilling for Apple and raving about the feature. I mean, put it this way: the Huawei P9, which has been out for months, can do the same type of shots (and then some) -- I don't see them gush about that.
Next page: battery life, conclusion...
Battery life on the 7 Plus is great. Apple's phones always have offered longer battery life than Android phones, partly because they have lower resolution displays (which is fine, because I don't think humans can see the difference between quad HD and 1080p) and the 7 Plus gets me through the day.
Other things about the phone I really like include Live Photos, and the ability to search within the whole phone. And the phone's video recording finally get optical image stabilization. I also really like the new home button and the haptic engine that gives it the clicky feel. Samsung is now the only major OEM left that still uses the outdated physical click-button. But now that even Apple has made the jump, I have a feeling the Galaxy S8 will go that route.
If you've been a loyal iPhone users for years and have no complaints about the phone, then the iPhone 7 Plus brings more of what you're used to, and you likely won't have any complaints other than the same three-year old design. But do you really want to make the jump this year when Apple is clearly keeping the aces in the hole and saving it for next year? The iPhone 7 Plus is a placeholder phone. Next year's iPhone, likely to skip the S branding and go straight to iPhone 8, will bring the revolutionary changes. I mean, we're talking about OLED edge screens, home button embedded onto the display, and a stunning eye-catching design. Unless you buy a new phone every year, you're going to be really annoyed to have purchased the iPhone 7 when you see the iPhone 8 next year.
