Can anyone point me in the direction of a list of additional features or differences in the iOS (10) experience between a regular iPhone and an iPhone Plus? Thanks!
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Differences with iOS features between an regular and Plus device
- Thread starter roblognick
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Reachability is one of the differences in the software. You also don't get the new 'Portrait' camera mode in the 7 (and earlier).
With the 7 Plus, you get digital zoom up to 10x versus 5x on the 7.
Its also at the hardware side that things are a bit more different:
- dual cameras vs single camera
- 3GB of RAM in the 7 Plus and 2GB in the 7
http://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-7/specs/
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Reach ability is on both phones. Has been since the 6 and 6+.
To add to this, it's not just homescreen. Many apps offer an iPad-style landscape layout that's not available on the smaller iPhone. Think dual pane master-detail views.
For software only features the only thing I can think of is rotate is used differently in more places. Although to be honest I feel like everywhere that rotation is used differently on the plus is garbage. It makes everything so small that it isn't as usable.
Software wise, "Plus" iPhones have a lot more landscape features.
The home screen rotates, messages has a two-pane design in landscape like iPad, settings rotates and has the same two-pane design, etc.. Safari in landscape view has a tab bar like on iPad.
Hardware wise, Plus iPhones currently benefit from the following:
iPhone 7 Plus has 3GB of RAM rather than 2GB on the smaller iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s/6s Plus. You will be able to have more applications ready to go when switching between them without reloading. To clarify, say you have 4 safari tabs open, as well as facebook, instagram, and a game. Devices with more RAM would be able to switch between all this on the fly, with the current state preserved the way you just left it a second ago. iPhones with less RAM would end up running out of memory, thus, closing down things that are in the background. This would cause them to reload when you come back, as if they were just launched for the first time. This could result in the loss of progress, work, etc if there is no autosave feature for that app. Or in the case of safari, it's just annoying to completely lose your spot if you were in the middle of an article for example.
iPhone 7 Plus also has a much larger battery. Expect battery life to be 1-2+ hours longer than the smaller iPhones.
Lastly, camera. iPhone 7 plus has two camera lenses. One is a regular wide angle lens, the other is a narrower telephoto lens which will show objects as closer without losing detail. The iPhone 7 Plus can switch to the telephoto lens in order to get a 2x zoom with no quality loss. Also, the 7 Plus can use these two lenses to detect depth and apply a blur to the background of a photo which gives an appealing "bokeh" effect.
The home screen rotates, messages has a two-pane design in landscape like iPad, settings rotates and has the same two-pane design, etc.. Safari in landscape view has a tab bar like on iPad.
Hardware wise, Plus iPhones currently benefit from the following:
iPhone 7 Plus has 3GB of RAM rather than 2GB on the smaller iPhone 7 and iPhone 6s/6s Plus. You will be able to have more applications ready to go when switching between them without reloading. To clarify, say you have 4 safari tabs open, as well as facebook, instagram, and a game. Devices with more RAM would be able to switch between all this on the fly, with the current state preserved the way you just left it a second ago. iPhones with less RAM would end up running out of memory, thus, closing down things that are in the background. This would cause them to reload when you come back, as if they were just launched for the first time. This could result in the loss of progress, work, etc if there is no autosave feature for that app. Or in the case of safari, it's just annoying to completely lose your spot if you were in the middle of an article for example.
iPhone 7 Plus also has a much larger battery. Expect battery life to be 1-2+ hours longer than the smaller iPhones.
Lastly, camera. iPhone 7 plus has two camera lenses. One is a regular wide angle lens, the other is a narrower telephoto lens which will show objects as closer without losing detail. The iPhone 7 Plus can switch to the telephoto lens in order to get a 2x zoom with no quality loss. Also, the 7 Plus can use these two lenses to detect depth and apply a blur to the background of a photo which gives an appealing "bokeh" effect.
This. I got a 6+ a few years back thinking it would be like having a mini iPad. But I never really felt like the landscape views really added anything to the experience. The screen on the plus simply isn't big enough to really replace a tablet. And since not even all of the stock apps support landscape (unlike on a real iPad), there were these jarring moments where I was expecting an app to open in landscape only to be forced to rotate back to portrait. Also, the landscape keyboard on the plus is an ergonomic nightmare. The bezels on the phone and the random extra function keys make reaching the letter keys a real stretch. The keyboard needs a split mode like on an iPad to make it easier to reach.
All these reasons prompted me to downsize to the regular 7 this year and I'm loving it. It's the perfect compromise of screen size and comfort. Everyone has their own preferences though!
yes e.g. mail has two panes e.g., actually several apple default apps do on the larger models akin to the iPad. Not specific to the 7 series though (since 6 Plus). Only thing missing is two safari’s at once, but likely too small even on 5.5” tho I’d try it. Also music is stuck in portrait which makes it annoying to use sometimes.