iPhone 7+ – First Look

What can I say that you don’t already know?  phone7plus

[Updated Sept 23, 09:19:

To reset the iPhone 7, hold the power button and the volume down button until you see the apple

The battery does seem to last much longer, but beware, it takes much longer to charge ]

The packaging is Apple standard (read beautiful), upgrading from my 6S+ was a piece of cake, activating the phone could not have been easier, and all my stuff was restored without a hitch.

Verizon is buying my old phone for $300, which offsets the new price by quite a bit.

One feature Apple is highlighting is that you can get the phone wet (and it is dust resistant as well).   Not swimming wet.  Not salt-water wet, but you can be out in the rain, or drop it in the toilet and it keeps on ticking.  That  actually matters a lot.

For me, however, the real killer feature is the camera.  This is not just a convenient camera in a phone, this is a beauty.  If you’re serious about the phone as a camera, you really want the plus (get bigger pockets).  Not only do you have a 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom, but more important you have a better lens,and spectacular images.  Both the 7 and the 7+ have greatly enhanced ability to take great pictures in darker places.

They did change the earbuds to use the lightning connector, which helps make the phone water resistant, but which is also a real pain.  The phone comes with one set of the new ear buds and one converter to allow you to use your old buds.  You can get more converters. for $9 each, which isn’t too bad.   The biggest problem is that I sometimes like to charge my phone when listening to it, and you can’t do that.

Note however that the 7+ is not only bigger than the 7, it is considerably heavier (6.63oz vs. 4.87oz)  Two ounces is noticeable, but not significant for what you get.  I don’t think I could go back to the 7 size… reading and images on the plus are just too superior.

The phone now offers 32G, 128G and 256G storage. I bought the 128.

The retina display is beautiful.  The button is a bit funky, but you get used to it pretty quickly.

Oh, yeah, it is faster, using an A10 chip rather than an A9.

Watch out though; even though it is the same size you can not use your iPhone 6 protective case.  The camera is wider now and the old cases block it.

I bought an “Extra Tough” case on Amazon for $14… I’ll let you know.  (I dropped the phone literally five minutes after putting the case on.  It landed face down but was fine)

The new phone every year program is terrific.  You pay a bit more each month, but then again AppleCare+ is included, so it is close to a wash.  Your payments are spaced out over 24 months, but after 12 payments you are eligible to upgrade (trading in your old phone to offset the cost).  The phones are unlocked, so feel free to pick your carrier.  The iPhone 7+ with 128GB is $41.58/month.  Verizon charges a $20 line fee.  Not cheap but not insane.

My phone came with iOS 10, so I had to immediately upgrade to 10.0.1; not a big deal.

This post will be updated as I learn more.  Please leave your experiences in the comments section.

Thanks.

 

 

About Jesse Liberty

Jesse Liberty has three decades of experience writing and delivering software projects and is the author of 2 dozen books and a couple dozen online courses. His latest book, Building APIs with .NET will be released early in 2025. Liberty is a Senior SW Engineer for CNH and he was a Senior Technical Evangelist for Microsoft, a Distinguished Software Engineer for AT&T, a VP for Information Services for Citibank and a Software Architect for PBS. He is a Microsoft MVP.
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