The iPhone lineup has finally graced us and I must say, despite the “courageous” omission of the headphone jack, I am quite impressed with what the Cupertino giants had to offer this time around. Sure, the iPhone 7 could have been given a sceen bump up to at least 5 inches, but hopefully Apple will realise that and the next family of iPhones will give us what we need in terms of screen size. The iPhone 7 Plus though, is a whole other monster, and that is what we will be reviewing today.
When Apple first announced their intentions to release a phablet device, people had a mixed reaction. Instant comparisons were drawn with the dominant series, with some going as far as saying that a phablet was just Apple trying to catch up with the market. Now, while that claim isn’t completely false, we must admit that despite facing the harrowing Android threat, Apple, with its small family of smartphones has managed to stay alive in the competition, while giving its users a bang for their buck all the time.
While the iPhone 6 Plus got Apple a taste for the phablet competition, the snappier iPhone 7 Plus is here to finally take a shot at the title of phablet king. Does it have what it takes to win?
Lets find out –
Table of Contents
Design and Display
Apple is a company that is synonymous with good designs. Over the years, the Cupertino based Tech giant has revolutionized the way people look at gadgets, and has also set the benchmark for the design to beat everytime they bring out something new for the world. The iPhone 7 line up , though not new in terms of design, still have a few neat changes made to the looks. The antenna bands have now been moved up so as to hug the top of the device ,while the new ceramic finish option looks like the stuff of the gods.
The iPhone 7 Plus stands at the phablet standard of 5.5 inches diagonal, but what I notice is that although the 5.5 inch tag is perfect, the screen to body ratio is around 67% which means that the device itself is a tad bit on the bigger side. The display itself is Full HD IPS LCD panel with a pixel density of around 400 ppi, which is decent enough to keep your text nice and sharp despite those zoom ins. The iPhone 7 Plus is IP67 certified, which means that it is water resistant and dustproof. Apple has also announced that the glass panel on the front is a special ion-strengthened glass ,with the standard oleophobic coating. This put together is apparently at par, or even better than Gorilla Glass protection. As far as the display performance is concerned, the Wide colour gamut is surprisingly apparent on use, and the colour accuracy is also quite a talking point. The taptic engine has been improved, making the force feature seem a lot less experimental than before. The Touch ID has also been given slight tweaks to improve the overall accuracy of the sensor. All in all, the iPhone 7 Plus comes out strong in terms of display and overall design. Sure, Apple can work on their screen to body ratio, but seeing as they are finally listening to the fans and critics, I will let that one slide for just this once.
Camera and Storage
I have been a huge fan of the cameras on the iPhone devices, and when I saw the dual camera setup on the iPhone 7 Plus, I was sold at an instant. Don’t get me wrong, I know dual camera setups have been around for a while now, and companies like HTC have already settled that technology in nicely in their devices, but Apple seems to have done its homework, which is why, when you see a dual 12 MP rear camera setup coming from Apple, you know its going to blow you away. So coming to the camera on the iPhone 7 Plus, we have the all new dual 12 MP rear camera setup. The first sensor is a 28mm unit with an f/1.8 aperture and OIS. The second sensor is a 56 mm unit with an f/2.8 aperture. Other features include phase detection autofocus, 2x optical zoom and a stunning quad LED flash setup. The picture quality is stunning and I can safely say that the camera setup on the iPhone 7 Plus will surely be one of the best setups of the year. When it comes to selfies too, the iPhone 7 Plus has an enticing setup on offer. What we have is a 7 MP HD facetime camera sensor with a solid f/2.2 aperture. The front camera too features Autofocus and panorama. Video recording on the iPhone 7 Plus maxes out at 2160p, which is at par with current standards. The video recording samples are under way, and you will get to see some samples soon.
LOW LIGHT
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CLOSE UP SHOTS
When it comes to Storage, Apple got a lot of stick from the fans when they gave up on the 32 GB variant . The argument was that when users are ready to pay the exorbitant price for the iPhone lineup, they deserve atleast 32 GB of space minimum, more so since Apple doesn’t allow memory expansion. This year, Apple announced a revamp in their storage schemes, which is why, to the joy of us all, the iPhone 7 Plus will be available in new storage options. We have the basic model with 32 GB, the mid level model with 128 GB and the upper end model with 256 GB storage. Another new addition is the 3GB of on board RAM. With the light nature of the iOS software, the 3GB RAM will surely make your multi tasking experience a breeze.
All in all, Apple seems to have hit all the right notes this time, in terms of the Camera and the Storage. An all new camera, better storage options and 3GB RAM will surely give you a solid reason to buy this device.
Performance
The iPhone 7 Plus packs in the all new Apple A10 Fusion chipset. This new chipset is said to be faster and more fluid than its predecessor. According to the folks at Apple, the new A10 Fusion chipset is a Quad core unit which clock in at 2.23 GHz. The benchmark scores will be put up soon, along with the gaming performance. Apple has also said that they have put in a six core GPU into the iPhone 7 Plus, which means the gaming performance will be stellar for sure.
In addition to the amazing performance bump up, Apple also decided to give its fans a bit of a treat in the audio department by including stereo speakers into the iPhone 7 Plus making it one of the best sounding iPhone devices to date.
All in all, the iPhone 7 Plus, with all its upgrades is truly a remarkable device with positive changes being made in all its areas. Until last year, the iPhones were lagging behind the rest of the competitions in terms of features, but with the iPhone 7 lineup, I am happy to report, that those days may finally be behind Apple.
The pricing is bit on the higher end this time around, which is the only deal beaker for someone keen on using the latest Apple tech.
