Apple iPhone 7: good continuity without jostling
At almost fixed date, Apple returns each year with a new batch of iPhone. For 2 years now, the Californian firm has declined its flagship mobile object in two models, one “normal”, the other very large, the “Plus”. You can already find our full test of the iPhone 7 Plus. The one that interests us here is the Apple iPhone 7. The differences in size are always the same between him and his big brother, since the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus: the iPhone 7 has an LCD touch screen with IPS HD panel of 4, 7 inches, when the iPhone 7 Plus is equipped with a display of the same technology, in Full HD and 5.5 inches.
As we can see in detail later, the iPhone 7 changes without actually changing the premium compared to the iPhone 6s, at least from the outside. Except that the structure, of identical appearance, introduces this year an IP67 certification offering a seal up to 1 meter deep for a limited period of 30 minutes. The other novelty of weight is finally a disappearance, that of the jack mini-jack and audio output that is now only by the port owner Lightning (charging, data transfer and music listening, so). We remember then that Apple had been the big promoter of this mini-jack 3.5 mm jack with its very first iPhone, the time when each manufacturer proposed its own usable audio jack with a unique proprietary pedestrian kit.
Apple finally deigns to equip its basic iPhone with optical stabilization on the main camera. Previously reserved for the Plus version, it accompanies a slightly revised module and a 12 MP sensor. The Plus, to stand out, switches to a double photo module system at the back. The North American giant is also putting the top gear on the heart of the device, with a mobile chip, still of his own name, called A10 Fusion and equipped with 4 cores, two of which moderate frequency to handle almost all the classic tasks a smartphone and two surviving hearts broken exclusively to heavy tasks, such as photography, video capture or 3D video game.
Added to this is a 2 GB RAM, a non-expandable storage capacity available in 32, 128 and 256 GB, a photo-video sensor before that goes from 5 MP on the iPhone 6s, 7 MP on this iPhone 7 and a front central button that is no longer mechanical, but sealed (especially to ensure the total waterproofness of the device) and managed by the haptic engine that offers since 6s 3D Touch interaction with the screen. A button that also keeps its built-in fingerprint reader, called Touch-ID. Also note the battery that is gaining capacity and a brand new operating system, iOS 10, filled with novelties.
ERGONOMICS AND DESIGN
You know what ? Well the iPhone 7 … is an iPhone. Take the last two years of aesthetic proposals with the iPhone 6 and 6s and you will have the very big lines of this edition 2016. The changes in details sometimes heavy sense. The first of all, necessarily, is the disappearance of the jack mini-jack on the lower edge of the product, which then leaves the Lightning port to express itself in the middle of two grids, one right for the exit of the speaker, the other on the left which serves as well of decoration, heat dissipation and decompression because connected to a barometric valve — thank you the site disassembly in rule iFixit — related to the waterproofness of the product.
Then come the replacement antennas on the upper and lower edges and finally a main photo module on the back of which the protrusion — no, really, dear builders, continue to dig in finesse for finesse to achieve this kind of thing … — is a little more prominent than the 6s, because we must fit the new optical stabilization. As for the iPhone 7 Plus, if you are looking for the visual break on this new iteration, it is on the side of the matte black and glossy “jet black” models that you have to turn. The first makes it possible to almost disappear the antennas of the visual field, when the astonishing treatment of the aluminum on the second gives the impression of having in the hands a product made of one and the same piece of
However, if Apple wants to clarify that the version “jet black” is subject to a risk of micro-abrasion, it is for a reason. In just over a week of testing only with this model and without mistreating it, we have seen scratches, scratches on several areas of the back (see below), while the corners seem to us perfect victims in power for pronounced wear and slip. A bit like the leather shell of the LG G4.
But back to our Californian sheep. Despite these observations on the Jet Black, it is clear that Apple has once again done an excellent job of construction and finishing. The grip is excellent, the aluminum does not slip too much, always except for the jet rink — you have it? — and the whole gives off a great feeling of solidity. We regret, however, that Apple evolves so little, not understand at all, in the optimization of space. Thus, the screen occupies only 66% of the front panel, one of the worst ratios of the market, when a Samsung Galaxy S7 will spread over more than 73% of the surface. With such a ratio, Apple could then offer a 5-inch screen in the template of the iPhone 7.
And this famous button is moulting, with the abandonment of mechanical operation for an inert round sealed in the glass and encircled by the fingerprint reader Touch-ID; effective parry if it is to cloisonne the device in its sealing — some advance the idea, also, that Apple puts a little more the hand on the classic circuit of repair with this button which is not any more one. But how does a button that is not a button give the sensation of moving then? Well it’s your brain that interprets the vibrations of the haptic motor, just as it gives your fingers the feeling of sinking on the screen in the 3D Touch already at work since 2015.
To ensure its effect, Apple includes a menu capable of managing the level of depth of the click (3 choices) felt during the support. It is certain that users will have to take a little time to get used to this new interaction between the physical and the sensitive. Around him, the fingerprint reader is still reacting so quickly. And it is also his contact with the skin that triggers the normal operation of the button; no need to register a fingerprint.
But we must also take into account that Apple is turning much more things now around its haptic engine. The sacrosanct vibrator for calls and notifications is also sacrificed on the altar of the Taptic Engine. This allows Apple, as on his Watch, to get a finer variation of vibration based on notifications. Video games will also benefit.
As for the temperature rise of the device, it remains contained under or around 38 degrees (see below), on the top and the center of the back of the device, in moments of strong stress of the system, to know in video games or a modem mode. It happens that the terminal rises the mercury still a notch in case of use web or social network in situation of minimum network grip.
