Apple iPhone 7 review: Jacked up

20 September 2016
On the seventh day the designers rested. In came the engineers. And the master of controversy struck again...

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  • AnonD-70078
  • 3J2
  • 21 Sep 2016

AnonD-448401, 21 Sep 2016buy s7 edge it has better battery life and same performance... morenot a chance.. apple any day over that junk

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    • Iuli
    • Mfx
    • 21 Sep 2016

    Wxy, 21 Sep 2016These were all my concerns before I jumped in to Apple. Mi... more"Micro SD card - I selected the 64GB 6s+ and I no longer require SD card..."
    Yeah, but at what cost??? I bet that a fast 64GB mSD card is cheaper than the difference you payed for the extra memory!

    "Customization - of what? UI customization - for children"
    ....sour grapes...Don't you have your own personality and don't you want to customise your things in your own, unique way???

    "Higher display resolution - Can you tell the difference between 720p, 1080p, 2K with your bare eyes? Do you really need to use your phone that close?"
    If you can't tell the difference between 720p and 2k than I think you need a medical eye exam...

    "stereo video recording - yeap I still wish for this but not that of Android but that of Lumia 1520. Their High Definition sound is so good!!!"
    Come on! This is 2016. You can shoot 4k but record mono sound??? And that coming from the most expensive, presumably best phone on the market???

    "Fast and wireless charging - I had a 1520 before with wireless charging, never used it at all. I find current charging as acceptable. I never dreamed of super fast charging..."
    Again, this is 2016. Other phones are able to wirelessly charge their phones faster than iPhone can using a cable...This really is pathetic from a company that pushes wireless technologies forward (see below)

    "and of course.. headphone Jack. - I wished they didn't take this out though... but to innovate means to disrupt... but let's see where is this one is going..."
    They got rid of the headphone jack and now you are stuck with a dongle that for 9$ you can imagine what kind of a DAC contains!

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      • AnonD-448401
      • YPe
      • 21 Sep 2016

      Wxy, 21 Sep 2016Note 7 with GSMArena's 81h rating vs iPhone 7 (take note no... morebuy s7 edge it has better battery life and same performance that of note 7.its simple

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        • Monti
        • Hxf
        • 21 Sep 2016

        I just do not see people who were arguing since long time on GSMarena in the comment section that Apple do not know how to design SoC (chip-set) and they were debating that apple is saving money or robbing the iSheeps by providing them with lower specs.
        For those I say, time is the best prove of the truth.
        NB, I can see someone saying, fast phone, bad camera, bad battery and bad design. FYI the bad camera, bad design and bad battery iphone 4s lived 5 complete years now and still fully functional and is better than 3 year old or less of the competitors. No more to be said!!

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          • AnonD-428852
          • Nka
          • 21 Sep 2016

          AnonD-539412, 21 Sep 2016Performance tests prove that iPhone is the best out there s... moreSo , you can say also that oneplus 3 is better than S7 , Note 7 , G5 , motoZ ... etc just because its performance is better ?
          Strange logic !!

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            • Lex79
            • gL@
            • 21 Sep 2016

            AnonD-258858, 21 Sep 2016Anytime LG G5 over iPhone 7 or 7Plus.. Much better in al... moreCertainly the G5 camera is very impressive.

            There is one area, an important one at that where it pales in comparison to the iPhone 7 (and Galaxy S7 for that matter) and that is speed.

            There is practically no lag whatsoever in the camera's of either the iP7 or S7, where as the G5 isn't quite as quick to capture or write.

            This is important for more action oriented photography.

              • W
              • Wxy
              • vLx
              • 21 Sep 2016

              AnonD-448401, 21 Sep 2016haha a phone with only performance is incomplete so lets fa... moreNote 7 with GSMArena's 81h rating vs iPhone 7 (take note not 7+) with 61h rating.

              It's ok to me the 20h difference as long as my hand or pocket is safe. and I can get my phone on board the plane. and I cannot expose others to danger...

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                • Anonymous
                • sS0
                • 21 Sep 2016

                AnonD-448401, 21 Sep 2016haha a phone with only performance is incomplete so lets fa... moreAll I need is performance. Battery can be charged everywhere. 😂

                  Wonder whose approach is better: sonys mid-to hi end xcompact or iphone with 4K,ipxx,fingerprint s. for hi price. Well sonys compact was cheaper even in full power. I guess it's about money after all....

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                    • AnonD-448401
                    • YPe
                    • 21 Sep 2016

                    AnonD-539412, 21 Sep 2016Performance tests prove that iPhone is the best out there s... morehaha a phone with only performance is incomplete so lets face the fact . its battery performance is Sh***t.apple may have best chipset but there battery performance is Sh***t

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                      • AnonD-444894
                      • Lbf
                      • 21 Sep 2016

                      They Changed the home button to make the phone water resistance .. duh ...

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                        • AnonD-539412
                        • fqq
                        • 21 Sep 2016

                        Performance tests prove that iPhone is the best out there so let the haters hate.

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                          • Wxy
                          • vLx
                          • 21 Sep 2016

                          Note7, 21 Sep 2016Obviously, if you are fine with all the negatives, you woul... moreAgree with you about that...

                          Do you know that Microsoft have voice command and dictation as early as 2002-2003...
                          Was that ever use-able?

                          I think the best thing Apple and the new MS is doing on their ecosystem is to wait and refine the technology and make sure it is useable before they put it in their product and sell it to people.

                          The issue on the high battery capacity and fast charging is one example of that. Samsung pushed the limit too much and too early... Is the current technology that we have really can support what they wanted to achieve?

                          I am not a blind follower... it so happen that I learned about Human Center Design... I've had an android before. My first smart phone is P990i, then I used Windows Mobile, then Android, then Windows Phone, then iPhone.

                          I criticized iPhone a lot of times before... Then I realize, they really good in making products that are humanly useable...

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                            • AnonD-258858
                            • 7kH
                            • 21 Sep 2016

                            Anytime LG G5 over iPhone 7 or 7Plus..

                            Much better in almost every aspect.

                            Specially the G5 Camera is unbeatable.

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                              • ikke
                              • mt$
                              • 21 Sep 2016

                              I really do not understand the continuously extreme over hyped situation for a phone that (also and again) has at least two problems (home button and sizzling sound).

                              In my view this 'new' phone is actually noting new, or a least not a lot. In terms of design it is miles behind the competition, especially that of Samsung, but also most other brands make nicer phones that this one.

                              For the 'fans', I am objective to this and will admit if there would be any great innovations... but I cannot find them.

                                Wxy, 21 Sep 2016These were all my concerns before I jumped in to Apple. Mi... moreObviously, if you are fine with all the negatives, you would definitely love Apple. This is the case for any other brand and their products.

                                But for those who objectively look at various options, will see them as deficiencies....Apple iPhones in terms of specs and features, way behind the competition. They are excellent in few areas but thats about it. They ask too much for doing few things great!!!

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                                  • SH.T
                                  • RdL
                                  • 21 Sep 2016

                                  Weight is good but i wouldn't disappoint also if it has bigger battery for more weight(i prefer 7 plus for this matter-battery scores are not so good)
                                  display is good and .... iphone loses some of it's wow factor every year.
                                  A10 Chip would be impressive if it was 4 months ago and for now i think qualcomm would kill it in less than three months(nothing i care, SD600 series are good enough for me) ...
                                  I just want to say common apple... what happened to you, until iphone three and three S there we used to had an iphone and till next iphone we absolutely could say it is the best phone in the market.

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                                    • AnonD-576060
                                    • D7E
                                    • 21 Sep 2016

                                    AnonD-454153, 21 Sep 2016Fast phone with average display ,average battery and averag... moreand higher price

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                                      • AnonD-501550
                                      • 7XY
                                      • 21 Sep 2016

                                      Anonymous, 21 Sep 2016Thank you for the review! My next phone will now be LG V20,... moreCongratulations! You're not an iDiot! :D

                                        Hello. I want to address a few things I found you are concerned about in the comments section.

                                        1. GeekBench 4. The GB4 scores are incompatible with the GB3 ones because the test routine is different - hence the different numbers you are seeing now. Also, as far as I know, GB did something that made Kryo better in single-core than A72 when it shouldn't have been.

                                        And don't you worry - no developer will push Apple in its scores as some of you are thinking. There is no conspiracy, just great CPU design.

                                        2. The battery test. Before Jan 29, 2016 (the review of Redmi 3), we tested the phones at 50% brightness set by the brightness slider. We didn't measure them first say 500 nits and then set them to 250, we just put the brightness slider in the middle and that's it.

                                        You can see in the case of the iPhone 6s that the 50% brightness equals 150 nits - it's in the table in the review section. In fact, you can use these tables in the old reviews to get an idea of the nits difference.

                                        And while we now use 200nits fixed brightness, the final endurance ratings are rather comparable as the biggest impact has the standby test (21 hours, no screen involved), then we have 1 hour of 3G talk (no screen involved), and 1 hour in each video and browser where the screen is active component. So while the separate video and browser scores will be VERY different if the brightness was set to 150 or 300 nits, the final endurance rating would move +/-3 hours at best.

                                        3. iawnaek, thank you :)