Apple products are known for their exuberant pricing which makes some people to think of the company as a fraud or something. Quality over Quantity were the words of Steve Jobs and truly, Apple’s products are made with quality in mind. Although, we always have to pay more for mere storage which unlike Samsung or LG devices offer us a free swappable memory which can be upgraded manually. This is to say that Apple products are really expensive.

The same case goes with the new Apple iPhone 7 Plus which is supposed to be the upgrade of the previous iPhone 6 S Plus. New device they call it but not fully an upgrade.

Not FULLY because it still inherited lots of features from it’s predecessor which makes me think of it as an iPhone 6 S Plus in a new wrapper. Although that’s not totally the case because there are still some few things we should consider here. The device now come with a newer battery and a more better camera…at least we had few upgrades… YEAH we did.

Battery as we know it is an essential tech component that can make or break a gadget no matter how awesome it is. I guess Apple listened to me this time with the battery. The new iPhone 7 Plus comes with a whooping 2,900mAh battery. Not really whooping though but Whooping because it lasts longer than expected.

Also included is a really faster A10 Fusion processor chip and a twin-lens camera for a better image and video capturing. It’s also a water proof device which mean you’re still going to get a real value for every penny spent. Take the words of Steve Jobs.

Design and Hardware

• Looks much like the older iPhone 6S Plus
• Earphone Jack is missing, so get an Apple AirPods
• Device is Water resistance

You’re going to have to turn the device to the back to show people that you’re no longer using an iPhone 6S Plus because the newer and the older looks very alike but thanks to the twin-lens camera which help makes the differences a reality.

Apple iPhones for long had always looked alike especially those in the same production line which is also the same with the new iPhone 7 Plus. The dimensions are identical to the iPhone 6S Plus, but the iPhone 7 Plus is much lighter than the 6S Plus Consider – 188g versus 192g.

Still in terms of comparison with the iPhone 6S Plus, the newer iPhone 7 Plus with it’s thickness around 6.9mm is a little thinner than the 6S Plus which is 7.1mm which means lighter and thinner although both the iPhone 6S Plus and iPhone 7 Plus have 12MP rear-facing cameras but the iPhone 7 Plus’s front-facing camera has been upgraded from a 5MP to a 7MP sensor.

The missing headphone jack might be a sort of inconvenience to some iPhone users since the company had adopted the new innovation since making it’s device water resistance. The Lightning Port is said to improve the device’s quality if used for listening to music rather than expecting the long gone headphone jack.

The color variations of the iPhone 7 Plus are Matte Black and Jet Black, yeah both black but there is a bit of differences. The differences is that the former adds a cool look to the device while the latter color makes the phone sort of slippery and can easily scratch when not pouched. There are also availability of Silver, Gold and Rose gold color variation.

On March 21, Apple added a red model to the lineup, as part of its 10-year partnership with AIDS charity (RED). The (RED) Special Edition comes in red aluminum and is available from March 24.

Hardware

Apple’s decision to exclude an earphone jack from the iPhone 7 extended to the 7 Plus leaving more room for better design i will say. The lightning port is said to be a better substitute.

It’s 2900mAh battery is a great upgrade from the previous 2750mAh in 6S Plus which means you get to use a phone for longer time. Also, it features a taptic engine which replaced the old home button. The new touch sensor responds with a vibration each time you touch on it. When i had my hands on one, it was strange and i had to adjust after some times to the new upgrade.

Just like using XBox or PS4 game controllers, the taptic engine vibrates while playing games. It also clicks when you set an alarm. It’s something cool if you don’t mind though it was creepy at first.

The iPhone 7 Plus also offers an IP67 water resistance. This feature isn’t to be confused with Waterproof as seen on some devices like Samsung’s Galaxy. Although there were differences in test ranges which means the device can hold it’s own when submerged and can therefore perform better than Apple had initially suggested.

The TouchID sensor’s ability to recognize fingerprints is still a good thing as this had gotten far more better compared to the previous version. That’s why the pressure-sensitive Touch ID sensor might take sometimes before you can used to it but once it becomes the easier to use, it feels strange using a previous, button version.

There is also no noticeable speed difference between the Touch ID sensor recognizing our fingerprint compared to the 6S, which was a marked improvement on the 6, and iOS 10 has sped this up for older models anyway.

Control buttons are still visible by the sides of the device while the front facing camera measures up to expectation. 7MP is good enough for selfie.

Software

• Features Apple A10 Fusion Chip
• Ships with iOS 10
• 3GB RAM

The iPhone 7 Plus ships with a faster Apple A10 Fusion Chipset processor and iOS 10 which means a faster performance. It’s 3GB RAM is a slo a good take with memory variations of 32GB, 64GB and 128GB all which come at different prices.

The iOS 10 according to Apple is a big update in it’s history and it’s feature pack. The software upgrade brings the OS close to competitors such as Android. Better typing keyboards which better understands user’s behaviours as time gets by and face recognition in photos are some cool features added up to the newer Operating system thanks to the OS’s machine learning.

The iOS may be restrictive in terms of tweaks that can be made as well as the access it grants to non-Apple software and systems, but it is still the most simple operating system to use and by stripping out some of the options, it makes it feel much more natural than some versions of Android.

Other notable features in iOS 10 include the ability to delete Apple’s default apps – meaning Stocks, iBooks, iCloud don’t have to clog up space, redesigned Apple News and Apple Music apps, larger emoji, smart messages and a bedtime alarm.

Camera

• 12 MP Dual-Lens rear camera & 7 MP Front camera
• Optical image stabilization

The device’s camera is a better upgrade to the older version. For example, the benefit you get from using the dual-lens rear camera includes it’s optical zoom which is up to 2x and it’s portrailt mode which is an photo mode added in the iOS 10.1 update just a month after the initial launch of the device.

We’re also hoping for post-shot refocusing – if you get a photo slightly off, it’s possible with some dual-lens cameras to alter the focus later using the combined data from both lenses – but this looks unlikely. However, we’re certain that app developers will come up with all sorts of clever things to do with this hardware.

Telephoto and digital zooming are major features of the dual lens. For example, one of the two cameras handles telehpoto which enables the  device to offer an optical zoom by switching from lens to another lens. It also has 10x digital zoom, compared to the 5x digital zoom on the iPhone 7 and on the previous generation.