“With the iPhone 6s review I showed a number of clear and present issues in Android devices relative to the iPhone, and these issues continue to appear time and time again,” Joshua Ho and Brandon Chester write for AnandTech. “More than ever it’s obvious to me that most companies in the Android ecosystem don’t really care about the details as an organization.”
“It’s been 3 years at this point since the iPhone 5s brought a desktop-class CPU to a mobile SoC, and Apple continues to stand alone when it comes to high-end SoCs. SoC vendors lack the incentives to actually bring anything that can compete with Apple’s SoCs to market because OEMs by and large are content to advertise simplistic specs that don’t really have any connection to user experience,” Ho and Chester report. “Whether it’s SoCs with clock speeds that are practically impossible to reach due to TDP limits, IP blocks that are visibly (and visually) broken, or compromised cameras with huge sensors but not much else.”
“This sort of divide is something that I’ve seen time and time again with something as simple as proper video stabilization, post-processing, encode quality, and a whole host of other issues present in Android devices that continue to be glossed over and ignored in the broader discourse, which leads to a self-perpetuating cycle,” Ho and Chester report. “The major players that can actually put the engineering effort into making a change don’t really have any interest in anything other than shipping something that gets close enough for government work.”
“Overall, I think that if there’s any phone that is worth 650-750 USD at its base, it’s the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. If you’re upgrading from the iPhone 6s Plus you probably won’t find a ton of differences, but it’s still a significant step up in display, camera, speaker quality, battery life, and system performance,” Ho and Chester report. “The iPhone might not excite like smartphones once did, but the amount of attention to detail and execution in the hardware is unparalleled and a cut above anything else in the industry.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Comparing real iPhones to Android wannabes is just plain mean-spirited. It’s like comparing Rory McIlroy to some guy you found playing mini golf or even your local club champion. To the uninitiated, they look like they’re doing the same thing. They’re not.
Android is an inferior product peddled to cheapskate tech illiterates who do not value their privacy and/or who are unable to recognize a half-assed knockoff from the revolutionary original.
Android is a BlackBerry clone that was hastily rejiggered by Google at the last minute to mimic Apple’s revolutionary iPhone. Obviously, mistakes were made and corners were cut. Look no further than beleaguered Samsung for a rather explosive example.
So, the Android rush-job is a privacy, security, and safety nightmare. It’s a fragmented morass. It’s too many cooks in the kitchen. It’s crap-by-committee, lowest-common-denominator junk.
SEE ALSO:
Computerworld reviews Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus: There’s never been a better time to switch to iPhone – October 7, 2016
PC Magazine reviews Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus: Editors’ Choice – September 20, 2016
Tom’s Guide reviews Apple’s iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus: Great upgrades, but one is greater – September 20, 2016
More evidence Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus is more than a modest refresh – September 20, 2016
Professional photographer Benjamin Lowy puts Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus cutting-edge camera to the test – September 20, 2016
Apple’s A10 Fusion chip miracle – September 20, 2016
The iPhone’s new A10 Fusion chip should worry Intel – September 16, 2016
Apple’s remarkable new A10, S2, W1 chips alter the semiconductor landscape – September 15, 2016
Wired reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: ‘Fantastic’ – September 14, 2016
Sprint, T-Mobile: iPhone 7/Plus pre-orders up 4X over last year; Apple shares surge – September 13, 2016
USA Today’s Baig reviews Apple’s iPhone 7/Plus: ‘A strong handset for sure’ – September 13, 2016
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
Everything is clearly better in the iPhone 7, but as they said there is not as much to really excite in this upgrade. Personally I’d love the 7 plus camera, but as I’ve said before, I just don’t want a phone that big so I’m perfectly happy to postpone my upgrade for one generation (actually 9 months in reality because I typically upgrade in December) and have bought an Apple Watch this time around.
?????…….If you’re upgrading from the iPhone 6s Plus you probably won’t find a ton of differences, but it’s still a significant step up in display, camera, speaker quality, battery life, and system performance……??????
WTF? Lets read it again shall we… “a SIGNIFICANT step up in……..Display, Camera, Speakers, Battery life, System Performance” …..and some that they forgot……waterproofing, Taptic Engine.
I upgraded from the 6s to the 256gb 7 and found it to be very sharp, fast and coupled with the AW2 to be a notable upgrade.
Frankly I wasnt sure what to expect but i was very pleased with the upgraded overall product quality and better user experience…..
I too upgraded. From 6s plus to 256GB 7 plus jet black.
Stunning looks, very fast, and (with grandfathered
unlimited data from AT&T) it’s like carrying a small
iPad in my pocket. Love it!
Boring.
At least Samsung can add pyrotechnics to its stable of features for its devices; thinking about this, Samsung were ahead of Apple inc. in firstly releasing devices that were Waterproof, followed by exploding devices that could crucially be Slung it in the pool to put out the fire! Absolute stunning foresight, “skating to the where the fun would be!”
LOL
Went from my trusty iPhone 6 to a 7 last week. The battery life is awesome compared to any other iPhone I have owned. Most excellent if it holds up.
Turned the stupid 3D Touch off after I was assured by a guy at the Apple Store that it was impossible, which was wrong:
Open Settings General → Accessibility → 3D Touch
Now the apps behave as they should- moving apps should be default and actions the long press instead of the other way around. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel, Apple.
Maps/Navigation is still not improving- the Navigation app seems not to notice when you have arrived it should turn off and keeps trying to direct you back. It just works seems to be a concept lost on the Apple Maps team.
The phone is nice but I use it mostly as a Phone except in the car when it is drives CarPlay. CarPlay is still shy of third party apps and some get broken with every update. Tune-In Radio and Tune In Radio Pro get fixed and then Apple updates iOS, breaking the app. Maybe Apple should send someone over to the company that makes it and help them out.
Cue Fandroids accusing Anandtech of “bias”.
Yoohoo… fandroids…?
Major props to Apple engineering and software.
I’ve said here before that they’ve been the unsung heros. The design team had slept a little and delivered questionable work, but the core Apple team keeps Apple as the only premium brand today.
But with the 7 and 7 plus even the design team was able to deliver the minor details that made a huge difference. The 7 and 7 plus unlike the 6 are sexy.
Yes little details matter. Matter a lot.