Apple iPhone 7
A smaller & similar bag of tricks. The burden of choice moves to you.
Apple’s iPhone 7 was unveiled to the world in September 2016, and had most of the world listening in with rapt attention. While it does mirror the general form-factor of its predecessor, the iPhone 6s, however the new device packs many new functionalities and upgraded internals that make it more than just a ‘old wine’.
First up, the heart of the machine — Apple introduced their latest chip the A10. Not only is it Apple’s fastest-ever processor on a mobile device, it also has the distinction of being an indicator of Apple’s change in direction. Going back in time, Apple had disaggregated processing power in their iPhone 5s (when they used the A7 for general processing and the M7 co-processor to collect data from various sensors on the iPhone 5s, so as to offload the collecting and processing of sensor data to economise on battery consumption and enable better device responsiveness). Now, with the A10, they’ve fused the processors back together.
The A10 Fusion chip has 64-bit architecture with an embedded M10 motion coprocessor in the iPhone 7. The A10 four-core design allows it to have two high‑performance cores and two high‑efficiency cores, marrying performance with power optimisation.
And it shows.
Despite the maniacal competition and rapid growth in hardware in the Android arena, the outgoing iPhone 6s had remained the industry leader in processing speed, however with iPhone 7, we finally have a new leader — that delivers 40% faster CPU performance and up to 50% faster graphics performance over the iPhone 6s!
There’s more good news — on the battery front. The Apple iPhone 7 can last about 2 hours more on a single charge when compared to the iPhone 6s thanks largely to better power management by the A10 chip, and a 15% bigger battery.
The 4.7-inch screen is largely unchanged — it retains Apple’s Retina HD display, an IPS screen (1334×750 pixel resolution at 326 ppi unit), albeit with internal improvements to make it brighter (625 cd/m2 max brightness) and the colors being more vivid via improved color management.
The IPS screen has sent out a subtle message that Apple may not be looking at introducing their users to virtual reality anytime soon since VR screens usually ride on AMOLED displays (but that might change with the next version of the iPhone — if Apple moves to AMOLED).
The iPhone 7 retains the 12 megapixel rear camera but it has a new sensor that helps it work better for low light photographs. For indoor night photography, Apple’s brought in a Quad-LED True Tone flash that is more natural and brighter than it’s predecessor.
The ƒ/1.8 aperture also helps the six-element wide-angle lens fare better with movement — Apple’s finally included Optical Image Stabilisation (which was earlier found only on their ‘Plus’ variants) into the 4.7 inch iPhone variants. All this does translate into better photos.
But once again, the iPhone 7 is bested by it’s bigger sibling, the iPhone 7 Plus; that carries significantly better camera hardware (head over to our page on the iPhone 7 Plus to learn more).
The front camera has been improved to a 7 megapixel FaceTime HD camera, and retains the Retina Flash (first introduced in the iPhone 6s) for your low light selfies.
Now for the storm in the teacup. The 3.5 mm earphone jack. Well, it’s been culled.
Earphones will now use the Lightning port (the charging port) for audio. The reason? First, to enable more technology to be shoehorned into the lithe design; second, the Lightning port is a smart port (it’s always been so) and can be locked down with digital rights management (DRM); is this Apple’s way to subtly restrict audio piracy? Probably.
Users however, will still be able to use their existing headphones (the ones with the regular 3.5 mm audio jack) as the iPhone 7 ships with a 3.5 mm audio-jack-to-Lightning-port connector included in the box.
That’s not all on the audio front. Apple has improved the loudspeaker-based audio experience for their users by introducing true stereo sound. A new speaker sits in the redesigned earpiece on the top, to act as the second loudspeaker giving true stereo sound output. And it’s not bad.
The iPhone 7 comes with an IP67 rating under IEC standard 60529, which translates to the device being dust- and water-resistant for full submersion in up to 1 meter of water for 30 minutes. The first set of iPhones to be officially dust- and water-friendly!
Antennae have been repositioned to the top and the bottom. The Home Button has been redesigned and is now a solid-state button with Force Touch capabilities, similar to what was introduced on the MacBook. This touch sensitive surface utilises haptic feedback since it lacks the tactile click of a physical button.
The iPhone 7 is available in 32 GB, 128 GB and 256 GB variants and has introduced two new colours, while culling their Space Grey color option.
Originally published at chip-monks.com.
