Testing
the hype.
We
know, we know... it's been out a month now and you've probably
already read several reviews of the iPhone 7. However, when Three
asked us if we wanted to take a look at one, we jumped at the chance,
making this our first ever review of an Apple product. First product
reviewed, mind; not first product owned, with all of us having had
experience of iPhone and iOS in the past. But – and here is your
disclaimer – by cosmic coincidence we're all dedicated Android
fans, so does the iPhone 7 offer enough to sway us to Apple. Let's
see...
First
up, we were sent a regular iPhone 7, not the Plus model which
features a larger screen and double cameras. But still, the phone
itself is a pleasure to hold in the hand, despite it being slightly
smaller than the Samsung Galaxys and phablet phones we all seem to
prefer. It looks and feels like a very precisely engineered device,
and that should be no surprise considering how much Apple push their
design department, making their chief designer, Jony Ive, a celebrity
in his own right. Do you know the name of the person who designed the
Galaxy S7? We don't.
Take
at look at Apple's product page for the iPhone 7 and that emphasis on
design and style is further augmented. You have to scroll far down
the page before you find out about the actual specs, and even then
Apple are always pretty vague, saying things like “twice as fast as
the iPhone 6” without mentioning how fast that actually is.
The
retina HD display (which is “25% brighter” - than what?) is very
nice indeed, with edges that subtly curve into the aluminium body,
meaning there are no jarring edges to the thing at all. It is 4.7
inches across, with a pixel density of 1334 x 750, which is
admittedly excellent for screen of this size. And a decent screen is
very important when you consider the most celebrated part of the 7's
marketing: the camera.
Although
it might not possess the headline-grabbing double lenses of the it's
bigger brother, the iPhone 7's new shooter is very impressive,
despite not really boasting the best specs. It is 12MP, which might
not ring any excitement bells for people into these kind of things
(considering that some Samsung phones have been using upwards of 16MP
cameras for two years now), but the large aperture means a lot of
light gets in to the sensor. There is image stabilisation running by
default, so even with the digital zoom activated shots were clear,
bright, and blur-free.
We
have to admit, for the fortnight we had the 7, it was the camera that
was used the most, especially thanks to the likes of Live photos
(which snap a few images to create a micro movie of about a second
long – it can be a bit creepy if you don't realise it's on and you
go to look at your photos!), HDR, an easily editable exposure, and
the standard in-camera effects. The focus was quick, time-lapse was
easy to operate, and 4K video was smooth and crisp. As we said, it
was by far our favourite part of the device.
Here's a shot:
But
the iPhone 7 also heralded in iOS 10, something that none of us had
experience with. This is where the Android lovers in us start to
boast a bit, as it seems that over the past five years Apple has very
carefully nudged their OS to mimic some of the things that make
Android great. There is greater integration with Siri now, and a pull
from the left on the main screen will bring up a settings page to
set-up how you want the personal assistant to work. To be fair, we
think Siri runs a little smoother that Google Assistant, and we've
never really enjoyed having to blurt “Okay, Google!” into our
phones.
But
the interface of iOS 10 is still all about the app tray being front
and centre. We don't like that, and never have. We think it still
looks cluttered and messy, and love Android's customisable home
screen with the app drawer accessed by a button. If you're used to
it, iOS 10 will be no bother, but Android users might find it
frustrating. In fact, it seems iOS 10 is still very un-cutomisable,
which is a same. Yes, you can change the background image, and there
are some nice ones to choose from – live images, even – but
that's pretty much it. If you don't mind having a phone that looks
like everyone else's, no worries.
But
once we got over that, we actually started to enjoy using the OS.
It's hot-damn quick, and page transitions are super fast and very
smooth. The A10 Fusion chip seemed to handle everything we threw at
it very well, despite only possessing 2GB of RAM. Wow, we've arrived
at a time in tech development when a phone with only 2GB of RAM is
disappointing. What a time we live in, eh?
But
just like the the distinct lack of pixels in the camera sensor, Apple
seems to have made the best of the RAM. We had it downloading a few
apps while several web pages were open, then fired up a game. There
was never any noticeable lag, and certainly no crashes. Despite this
sounding like a thing a snobbish Android user might say, we can't
imagine the average iPhone user ever needing more processing space
than that. Christ, that does sound bad. Sorry.
And
now the thing that got everyone talking following the keynote speech:
the lack of a headphone jack. Yep, no jack there at all baby, so no
chance to plug in your existing wired headphones. Instead, the
included earpods headphones have a Lightning connector, to plug into
the same port as the charge/data USB cable. They worked just fine,
and Apple always seem to bundle in decent headphones with their
products, at least.
Bluetooth
worked great (as you'd bloody well hope it would!), and as guys who
mostly use Bluetooth headphones anyway, the lack of a headphone jack
didn't really bother any of us. Well, it kinda did late at night. If
you use you phone for watching stuff while in bed, all you really
want to do is whack in a small and comfortable pair of buds... which
you can. BUT... not if your iPhone is also charging, as it tends to
be at night. That was pretty annoying.
So
it is a very impressive device, but one that has impressed us by
working well despite the lower than industry-average specs. The
price, however, is far higher than industry average, as iPhones
always are. Apple are selling you more than just a phone though, and
every bit of marketing the company puts out about their latest device
usually has the same message – that it is “better” than the
last one. They never mention the fat that it isn't better than
Samsung's or HTC's or Google's latest model, just rather that it is
an improvement over the most recent iPhone. But people buy in to
that, because the iPhone is a safe bet. It isn't experimental or
unique or overly exciting. It's a comfortable, crowd-pleaser.
So,
has it swayed our minds away from Android? No. Android still wins out
in terms of customisation, looks, and ease of use, plus the fact that
it can be found on many models of smartphone that are objectionable
'better' than the iPhone 7. However, if you don't really give a toss
about anything but having an excellent camera in your pocket (that
also connects to the net and sends texts and calls) the iPhone 7
should definitely be up there on your list.
If
you're rich, that is.
Three
currently have plans for the iPhone 7 starting at £36 a month, with
an upfront cost of £149.
