“After nearly a week of using the iPhone 7 Plus, what stands out to me is its excellent camera and the fact that we finally have an iPhone that can get wet,” Edward C. Baig writes for USA Today. “The funky-looking optional wireless AirPods aren’t bad either.”
“Is the controversial removal of the standard headphone jack a big deal?” Baig writes. “Less so than I thought, though its absence is a minor nuisance. Apple includes EarPods that connect through the Lightning port on the phone, as well as a dongle that lets you use your own standard 3.5mm headphones… I left the dongle connected to the Bose headphones I often use. If you’re prone to losing things like this, it’s $9 to replace. By using the Lightning connector you’re tying up a port that you also use for charging the phone, meaning you’ll need a dock or separate adapter to do both simultaneously. Belkin for one has announced a $40 dongle to solve this problem.”
“The $769 iPhone 7 Plus is a solid, albeit incremental, upgrade to the company’s seminal smartphone,” Baig writes. “I’d buy it and can recommend it to those of you in the market for an upgrade, though it’s not leaps and bounds ahead of the rival Galaxy Note 7, which before its exploding batteries necessitated a recall, posed a formidable challenge to the iPhone.”
MacDailyNews Take: Oh, really? Based on the hardware alone (which – oh, by the way, explodes and causes fires, burning garages, vehicles, legs, hands, etc.), we assume, since the Apple ecosystem is unmatched and the South Korean dishwasher-maker’s so-called “ecosystem” (a cobbled-toghter mishmash of stores and services) pales in comparison. No, that’s too gentle. Samsung’s so-called “ecosystem” is TOTAL JOKE compared to Apple’s and anybody who ignores or glosses over that very salient fact is doing readers of their reviews a tremendous disservice.
As far as hardware goes, no Android peddler has an answer for Apple’s A10. Not even close.
“Whether a water-resistant phone coupled with an excellent camera will drive you to the store remains to be seen,” Baig writes. “This is a strong handset for sure. But if you can hold out, there’s already talk that the truly dramatic leap forward for iPhone comes next year when this seminal smartphone celebrates its tenth anniversary.”
Read more in the full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: As we wrote earlier today:
If you always “wait for next year,” you’ll never get anything. We plan to fully enjoy this year with our 256GB Jet Black iPhone 7 Plus units. On that you can safely bet.
SEE ALSO:
WSJ reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: ‘Get over the headphone thing and upgrade’ – September 13, 2016
Mossberg reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: It’s a great phone, but where’s my headphone jack? – September 13, 2016
The Verge reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: ‘The future in disguise’ – September 13, 2016
Customers begin queueing for Apple’s iPhone 7 five days ahead of release; pro line-sitters charging thousands to save a spot – September 13, 2016
No headphone jack? No problem: How to listen to music while you sync and charge your new iPhone 7/Plus – September 8, 2016
No doubt the stock price will drop as soon as analysts report supply cannot keep up with demand.
Not to mention lack of important features such as curved display and exploding batteries.
My only negative is the wait I tom November for my 7plus 256 jet black to arrive.
It’s not leaps and bounds ahead of Galaxy Note 7?
Seriously?
Ok, Mr. Baig. But it does not explode and has not been banned by the FAA.
Get a grip …
That has to be the worst review he has ever done – Clearly he is bitter about something at Apple – Incremental update? Really? Wait till next year?
This is the first time I think I can’t trust his review.
This guy haven’t heard of the Apple iPhone upgrade programme. And in case of Samsung, there are better Android phones thats cost about 1/5 the price that does the same job. And doesn’t explode either.
Surely this guy hasn’t heard of the Great Apple iPhone Upgrade Programme. And about Samsung, There are better Android phones at 1/5 the price of Samsung s7 thats does a better job and plus it doesn’t explode either.
So T-Mobile is going to pay me up to $265 for my iPhone 6s with 128 GB RAM when I send it to them after I receive my iPhone 7 Plus with 256 GB RAM. in addition, they’re going to give me a credit of $16.04/mo. for 24 months towards the balance of $720 on the 7 after I pay them $249.99 plus tax on $969.99. I didn’t subscribe to JUMP, and I didn’t have to wait in line for my upgraded phone. I don’t know if I’ll get it on Friday or not. Depends on how much stock Apple set aside for T-Mobile, but there’s a chance that I will. In total, I will receive $649 for my 6s as trade-in, assuming their 3rd party returns processor deems it worthy of the $265, which i suspect they will. How does it not make sense to take advantage of this offer? Why would I wait? I don’t know what happens with the 12 months of $16.04 that T-Mobile won’t have paid me when I trade the 7 Plus in on the 8, but frankly, I’m not sure I care.
I think this will be a more exciting upgrade for people than next year. Ok we’ll get a more dramatic redesign in 2017, but that’ll be negated by the cases most people use anyway. The camera this year is a big upgrade, it’ll be incremental in 2017, and the screen improvement was this year, it’ll be the same in 2017, headphone jack gone this year, etc. Maybe some people will be excited about the home button integrated into the screen, I’m not, I prefer having that mechanical element, especially when touch disease strikes.