iPhone 7 Vs iPhone 7 Plus: What's The Difference?

iPhone 7 Vs iPhone 7 Plus: What's 

The Difference?

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It’s that time of year again: new iPhones. But the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are not like any previous Apple iPhone ‘number change’. Instead, from the outside, they look virtually identical to both the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. So are they a huge let down or not?

In short: yes and no. On the downside, the leaks proved almost 100% accurate so there were no surprises on the night. But the flip side is Apple has changed a lot internally and provided a major camera overhaul to both models.

So let’s break down the key differences to the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus…

Apple's new iPhone 7 (single rear camera) and iPhone 7 Plus (dual rear cameras) are likely to be two of the biggest selling smartphones of 2016 and 2017. Image credit: Apple

Design & Size - More Durable, More Controversial

First the elephant in the room: yes, it’s disappointing that Apple has made virtually no changes to the external design of its iPhones for the third year in a row. And yes, this does make them look somewhat outdated compared to more radical designs like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Galaxy Note 7.

But changes have been made and some are significant while others are very controversial. First the big one: both models are missing a headphone jack:

iPhone 7 using an Lighting to 3.5mm headphone jack adaptor, which comes bundled in the box. Image credit: Apple

Yes Apple has done the unthinkable (though what I predicted two years ago) and fitted both the new iPhones with just a single Lightning port. Adaptors are bundled in the box, but users will now not be able to charge their iPhones and listen to music with wired headphones at the same time. This decision to going to divide a lot of users.

While the practicality of this decision is questionable, elsewhere the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are the most durable iPhones Apple has ever made. They add IP67 dust and water resistance (good for full submersion in up to 1 metre of water for 30 minutes) for the first time while still retaining the rigid Series 7000 Aluminium introduced last year with the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

Both the iPhone 7 (pictured) and iPhone 7 Plus are now IP67 water resistant. Image credit: Apple

Also aiding durability is the replacement of the physical home button on both models with a touch sensitive surface which provides haptic feedback to mimic the feeling of a click. App developers can also harness the haptic feedback for custom vibrations, which could prove interesting.

Apple has also tidied up the antenna bands, removing them from the back of the phone so they only now appear at the top and bottom edges. Meanwhile the eagled eyed among you will have spotted a small physical change:

• iPhone 7 - 138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm (5.44 x 2.64 x 0.28 in) and 138 g (4.87 oz)
• iPhone 7 Plus - 158.2 x 77.9 x 7.3 mm (6.23 x 3.07 x 0.29 in) and 188 g (6.63 oz)

The answer? While the dimensions are identical to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are both fractionally lighter at 5g (0.17 oz) and 4g (0.14 oz) respectively. Then again they are still notably heavier than 2014’s iPhone 6 (129g) and iPhone 6 Plus (172g).

Both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus now have dual speakers. Image credit: Apple

Lastly both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus gain dual speakers for the first time. Interestingly this is not from what seems like dual speakers at the bottom of the new iPhones (one side is the mic for phone calls), but through upgrading the speaker earpiece so it is loud enough to be an external speaker in its own right. Better external audio is a long awaited iPhone catchup.

As for finishes, you’ll get a wider array of options this year with Rose Gold, Gold, Silver, Black and (for just 128GB and 256GB options) Jet Black but wave goodbye to Space Grey.

iPhone 7 Plus in all its color options. Image credit: Apple

Displays - Upgraded But Still Showing Their Age

This year there’s not much to see here. The much marketed 3D Touch is carried over from the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, but wasn’t name dropped once during the entire keynote (perhaps reflecting its stagnation in recent times).

Meanwhile on paper the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus look identical with OLED panels missing yet again and native resolutions moored far behind their flagship 2K (2560 x 1440) Android counterparts:

• iPhone 7 - 4.7-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD, 1334 x 750 pixels (326 ppi), 65.6% screen-to-body ratio
• iPhone 7 Plus - 5.5-inch LED-backlit IPS LCD, 1920 x 1080 pixels (401 ppi), 67.7% screen-to-body ratio

iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus displays have been upgraded but are still lagging behind rivals. Image credit: Apple

That said, Apple is loudly proclaiming improvements to the quality of both displays highlighting a 25% brighter "cinema standard" Retina HD display. There is also a wider (P3) colour gamut and improved color management, though Apple stopped short of labelling them ‘True Tone’ displays like that on the iPad Pro.

Performance - Major Speed Upgrades

According to some metrics, the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus are still the fastest smartphones on the market one year on, but Apple has not stood still:

• iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus - Apple A10 Fusion chipset: Quad Core CPU, 2GB of RAM (3GB rumored for Plus, but unconfirmed)

The A10 Fusion chipset makes the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Apple's fastest ever iPhones. Image credit: Apple

Yes the big news is these are the first iPhones to be equipped with quad core processors. Apple claims they will deliver 40% faster CPU performance and up to 50% faster graphics performance than the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus.

Some will bemoan that the iPhone 7 Plus hasn’t got the 3GB of RAM many had predicted, but new iPhones will still deliver performance that even 2017 Android flagships may struggle to live with. Update: some leaks are claiming the Plus will have 3GB but Apple has not confirmed that yet. 

Performance upgrades in the last two years are significant. Image credit: Apple

In addition to this Apple has upgraded the 4G modem to support speeds of up to 450Mbit. Though it made no claims to have improved the Touch ID fingerprint sensor, though it doesn’t really need to be any faster.

Cameras - The Big Differentiator And Main Selling Points

There’s no denying Samsung has taken the photography crown from Apple in recent years, but the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus may steal it back:

• iPhone 7 - Rear: 12 megapixel sensor, f/1.8 aperture, Focus Pixels, Optical Image Stabilisation, quad-LED (dual tone) flash, 4K video recording. Front: 7MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 1080p recording
• iPhone 7 Plus - Rear: Dual 12MP sensors (f/1.8, 28mm & f/2.8, 56mm), Focus Pixels, OIS, 2x optical zoom, quad-LED (dual tone) flash, 4K video recording. Front: 7MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture, 1080p recording

The iPhone 7 has a single camera, 6-element lens. Image credit: Apple

We’ll get to the iPhone 7 Plus, but first the iPhone 7 as it has made some significant improvements with a much larger f/1.8 aperture to let in more light (better for low light snaps in particular), a new 6-element lens and the long awaited addition of OIS. There’s also wide color capture for more color accurate photos and a new Apple-designed image signal processor which does the hardwork optimising images after they are captured.

But it is the iPhone 7 Plus which will capture all the headlines as it is the first iPhone to use a dual camera setup. One camera is identical the wide-angle lens in the iPhone 7, but the second is a telephoto lens enabling 2x optical zoom and far greater depth of field (something Apple pointed out is particularly good for portrait shots).

iPhone 7 Plus dual cameras have different functions. Image credit: Apple

In addition to this both phones get an upgraded four-LED True Tone flash which is 50 percent brighter, but uses warm and cool lights to produce more natural results. Both phones also have an upgraded 7MP front camera with 1080p video recording, though disappointingly this camera has a slower f/2.2 aperture (the same as last year’s models) so it waits to be seen how it performs in low light.

Apple sample shot showing the additional depth of field attainable in portrait shots using the iPhone 7 Plus. Image credit: Apple

Can the new iPhones topple Samsung’s Galaxy range? It’s going to be very close.

Battery Life And Charging - Minimal Improvements

Apple failed to disclose the exact capacities of the batteries in either of its new iPhones, but it did say iPhone 7 owners could expect up to two additional hours of usage compared to the iPhone 6S while iPhone 7 Plus owners will get one additional hour compared to the iPhone 6S Plus. The full breakdown is as follows:

iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus battery life has improved slightly. Image credit: Apple

Any improvement is welcome, but this isn’t close to the major gains made by Samsung this year and I’d have expected a much bigger increase given the loss of the headphone jack and the internal space it frees up.

Meanwhile Apple still hasn’t implemented fast charging or wireless charging. The omission of both is getting pretty ridiculous at this stage with fast charging having been around for years on rival phones (and resulting is 50% faster charge times) while the latter should really have launched this year so users could still charge the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus while also listening to music.

Storage And Price - The 16GB Curse Is Lifted

Far better news comes with storage and value for money, however, as Apple has at long long last ditched its useless 16GB of base level storage. In fact the company has double storage capacities at every tier so 16GB, 64GB and 128GB have been replaced with 32GB, 128GB and 256GB.

Consequently while prices are unchanged from last year this look better value for money:

• iPhone 7 - 32GB ($649), 128GB ($749), 256GB ($849)
• iPhone 7 Plus - 32GB ($769), 128GB ($869), 256GB ($969)

Needless to say that hardcore iPhone fans will grab the 256GB model, but I suspect many buyers of the previous 128GB flagship may now be happy to save $100 and opt for the same storage as a mid tier option.

As a package, the iPhone 7 (pictured) and iPhone 7 Plus are better value for money thanks to their upgraded storage. Image credit: Apple

Such is the significance of these upgraded storage options, they may well be enough to persuade buyers unconvinced by omissions such as the headphone jack, fast charging and ageing design to stick with Apple for another generation.

Bottom Line

2016 will not go down as a standout year in the history of the iPhone and the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus feel more like ‘iPhone 6S 2.0’ and ‘iPhone 6S Plus 2.0’ upgrades. The removal of the headphone jack is also going to polarise users and may lead to some defections to rival brands.

And yet Apple has still done a lot of good work with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus behind the surface. They are more durable than ever before, much faster and have generous storage options. They also have the potential to steal back the coveted camera crown from Samsung, particularly the dual camera iPhone 7 Plus.

As such Apple has done the opposite of what its detractors claim: it has eschewed style in favour of substance and, while I wouldn’t expect sales records, it should be enough to keep Apple ticking along nicely for another year.

And it is next year where the interest already lies because it is increasingly clear Apple has saved the big fireworks for a radical ‘all glass’ Edge iPhone to celebrate the line’s 10th anniversary in 2017

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

Review: Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0

It seems like we’re saying this too much lately, but we have another member of the Galaxy family. We actually have another member of the Galaxy Note family. Unfortunately, it’s not necessarily the one most people are waiting for. No, it’s not the Galaxy Note 3, but the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet – the smaller derivative of the Galaxy Note 10.1 we tested at the end of last year.

When it was announced at MWC back in February it took a lot of flack because of the fact that it can make phone calls. To be honest, we agree in this regard. No one would be caught dead with this behemoth on their ear. But in fact, it won’t be predominantly used as a smartphone, but as a stylus enabled tablet easier to handle than its larger sibling.

Here are some of the key features:

• 8.0″ 16M-colour LCD capacitive touchscreen of 800 x 1280 pixel resolution
• Android OS v4.1.2 with TouchWiz launcher
• 1.6 GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, 2GB of RAM, Exynos 4412 Quad chipset
• S Pen active stylus with deep system integration
• 5 MP wide-angle lens autofocus camera with face detection
• 720p HD video recording at 30fps
• 16/32/64GB internal storage, microSD slot
• Stereo Bluetooth v4.0
• microUSB port with USB host and TV-out (1080p) support, MHL, charging
• Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
• 1.3MP secondary video-call camera
• 4600 mAh battery

Is this device any good? We have spent quite some time with it, and we feel that we have a verdict. It has many positives, but the list of negatives isn’t non-existent. Let’s investigate further.

Design and Build

Let us talk about the first things first. We tore the Galaxy Note 10.1 to shreds because of its shoddy build quality. The plastic was ugly, felt unpleasant and it would creak and bend under normal use. It was a massive let down from a company that was on the top of the world when it came to smartphones but was still trying to get a foothold in the tablet market. Luckily though, the Note 8.0 is built more like the Galaxy S range and it makes a world of difference.

While we are still not massive fans of the design of the Galaxy S range and then by extension, the Galaxy Note 8.0, it is a massive improvement on the larger tablet’s design. That being said (and we have said this multiple times before), we feel this design language is now starting to become dated, even though Samsung decided to stick with it for the Galaxy S4. We are really getting tired of the plastic aesthetic; hopefully the Galaxy S4 was the last of its kind.

Overall the device feels very similar to the Galaxy Note 2. Whether that is a good thing we will leave to you to decide, but using it was quite comfortable. It is also very light, which helps a lot.

Battery

The battery comes in at 4600 mAh, which seems like a pretty substantial amount of juice. Considering the screen doesn’t have a massive resolution we certainly expected it to last a couple of days under regular use.

Unfortunately that was not the case. Use it sparingly and you will get about two days’ worth of use from the battery. Under normal use though, don’t expect to get much more than a day. Heavy users might need to plug in every night.

Screen

As you might have guessed with the name Note 8.0, the screen is now 8 inches in size. It has a 1280 x 800 pixel resolution and the quality is actually quite nice.

The Note 8.0 has a standard LCD – Samsung has given up AMOLED in tablets for the time being with the Galaxy Tab 7.7 remaining its only attempt so far. And this is said not without regret. AMOLED screens are now reserved for the Note phablets, while tablets get LCDs. The one in the Note 8.0 gets the job done.

While the display quality is understandably far from what you’d see on a new 1080p flagship smartphone, for example, it’s fairly crisp to the naked eye, and offers a sharper image than many of Samsung’s other tablet offerings, such as the Tab 2 7.0. It also beats out Apple’s iPad Mini in terms of ppi, or pixels per inch, coming in at 189 ppi.

Performance

The Galaxy Note 8.0 has a 1.6GHz quad core processor and it runs on 2GB of RAM. It is a powerful device suited to the multitasking capabilities it is meant to handle. Samsung is touting this capability more than ever and believes this is the direction tablets have to take to become a fully-fledged computing machine.

While we found the performance of the operating system adequate, it inevitably had the same problems we have seen with every iteration of Samsung’s Touchwiz interface. In some strange places you do tend to have a bit of a lag, which is a shame with these kind of top notch internals.

User Interface

We won’t hammer on about the incompetency of certain aspects of Touchwiz – we have done it on many other Samsung devices. How about a quick summary? Well, Touchwiz is a double-edged sword. There are many redeeming qualities to it, but ultimately, they include more options and settings than we care for or will ever use and TouchWiz really is more of a mess than ever before. Some are new to this Note.

Now that it is done and dusted, we can move on and look at the positives. The biggest change Samsung has made in this Note variant is the ability to trigger navigation using the soft keys with the S-Pen, which many Note users have been asking for for years. This makes a big difference in your everyday use of this Note, and it is the easiest Note to use. With previous Notes it was quite cumbersome to be using the stylus on the screen and then suddenly needing an option from one of the soft keys where you then had to use a finger. While this might seem like a small change or enhancement, it actually completely changes the effectiveness of how you use a Note and we are sure it will be included in the Galaxy Note 3.

It runs Android 4.1.2 out of the box and comes with all the bells and whistles we saw with the release of Jelly Bean, like the brilliant Google Now and enhanced Google Maps.

WatchOn, a programming guide and remote control app turns this Note into a universal remote. Functionality in SA is still a bit limited, but we have hopes that it will increase with time. It also comes with a reading mode, where it adapts this Note for e-reading which takes away the harsh light of an LCD screen. Then we have air view; while this isn’t anything new it now works on the Note’s custom Flipboard app which is pretty neat.

Overall it is the same Samsung UI experience we have seen in the past couple of years with a couple of minor changes and tweaks. If you didn’t like the Samsung interface before, steer clear from this Note variant.

Camera

The Samsung Note 8.0’s main camera can capture stills of up to 2592 x 1944 pixels and 720p videos, while the one on the front takes 1.3MP pictures and VGA video.

The interface is typical for a Samsung droid – a right column with the essential controls (virtual shutter key surrounded by a still/video mode toggle and a gallery shortcut) and a left column with six customizable shortcuts.

The camera app offers a bounty of features including geotagging, touch focus, Panorama, Smile shot, face and smile detection with Best faces, low-light mode, scenes, effects and more.

The actual image quality is pretty good for a 5 megapixel camera. There’s lots of fine detail and the noise levels are kept under control. Colours are decent too if slightly on the cold side. That being said the Note 8.0 is by far not the most comfortable device to take out and about and shoot a lot of photos with, as we have said with all tablets in the past.

Conclusion

In the end, the Galaxy Note 8.0 likely isn’t the standout tablet with the potential to be positioned as Samsung’s flagship slate. It isn’t the Galaxy S4 of tablets. It is a terrific addition to Samsung’s tablet lineup though, and it fills a gap between 7-inch tablets and larger 10-inch tablets. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 used to fill that gap in Samsung’s lineup, but the new Note is better in every way.

While flawed, there may be many people out there that will really get great use out of it. It is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is one of Samsung’s better forays into the tablet world.