I've had my 7 Plus for one week and so now I'll share my experience.
I have been an iPhone owner since the original iPhone, and I typically upgrade every other model. My last two iPhones, for example, were the 4s and the 5s... so I jumped from a 5s to a 7 Plus, which was a very big leap indeed!
The biggest change from 5s to 7 Plus is the size, with the screen increasing from 4" to 5.5". After using this enormously large phone for a week, the old 5s is absolutely puny in comparison. The change is dramatic in almost every way, and has pros and cons. The biggest advantage for me is no more eyestrain, so that's reason enough to keep the 7 Plus. I gaze at my smartphone for hours each day, and text on the 5s is much smaller and harder on my eyes. I clip my phone to my dashboard, and it is far easier to use Waze with the 7 Plus, although some kind of interference pattern appears when I look at the screen through my polarized sunglasses. The larger size includes a much larger, longer-lasting battery than my 5s.
The downside to the large screen is that I can no longer text one-handed. This is a major downside for me, and I've realized that Apple could overcome this if the keyboard were simply drawn at the same size as the keyboard on the 5s screen... this is a software problem! Helpful users on MacRumors pointed me at alternative keyboards such as Microsoft's free "Word Flow," but none of them worked for me; I often tapped the "globe" key accidentally, which would swap keyboards while I was typing. I also found that word replacement wasn't as good on the alternative keyboards. For example, the.iPhone.keyboard.will.auto-correct.text.like.this. However, the Microsoft keyboard will not auto-correct such text. I hope that Apple releases a small keyboard option which is workable, although this issue has been around for over two years, since the introduction of the 6 Plus. Physically, the added size has not been an inconvenience for carrying or using the phone, except that I no longer sit on the phone when it's in my back pocket.
The iPhone 7 Plus has no headphone jack: Totally bad move, Apple. This creates a terrible inconvenience.
The phone's speaker sounds very odd to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the earpiece often sounds more like a speakerphone. Sound quality for phone calls is not as good for me as the iPhone 5s. Maybe there's something wrong with the speaker in my phone, or maybe this is an effect of the waterproof design. Bluetooth calls are just as good, so I think the problem is with the phone's speaker.
The next noticeable change is that the Home button isn't a button! Instead, it's a small indentation, and when you press on it, a haptic feedback occurs which vibrates the phone so that it feels just like a button press! I think this is really cool and I love showing it to my friends. This feature carries into other parts of the system: When I send a text message, if the recipient's address book entry indicates that the phone number is an iPhone, I can press harder on the "Message Send" button, and it will click and I can select text and message effects such as Slam!, Balloons and Confetti. This is a big favorite.
The appearance of iPhones hasn't changed much. I chose the Silver design in an effort to get my phone sooner. As it turns out, ordering 256 GB would have landed me a phone sooner. But so far, 128 GB is more than enough and I have about 96 GB of free space. To protect this phone, I again turned to Tech21, who have provided me cases which protected against many, many iPhone drops. I've bought their cases for all the iPhones in my family over the years, and none of them have suffered a broken iPhone. I purchased the Tech21 "Evo Check Clear," which has a beautiful white band around the edge which wonderfully complements the white face of the Silver iPhone. I could rave about this case for quite some time; I really like the way it looks on my phone. I only hope Tech21 is able to protect my enormous phablet as well as they've protected my smaller phones over the years. They claim they have a special energy-absorbing polymer in their cases. I don't know if they have unique technology or not, but the Tech21 cases do have a thick rubbery outer shell which provides better protection than hard plastic.
The other major hardware improvement is the camera. I'm a serious amateur photographer and the added camera quality is very much appreciated. The 7 Plus has two lenses: The standard wide-angle, and a 2x telephoto for portraits. The UI lets you add digital zoom to either lens while shooting. DPReview.com thoroughly reviewed the 7 Plus camera features, and I suggest you read their review if you're interested in learning more about what the camera can do and how it compares to standard cameras. The 7 Plus camera is dramatically better than the camera in my 5s. It now has two lenses, better flash, a faster aperture and optical image stabilization. Although snapshots are much improved in iPhone 7 Plus, and many casual shooters will greatly appreciate the improvements, this camera doesn't come close to the sharpness and image quality of a basic crop-frame DSLR -- Not by a long shot.
The faster CPU is very noticeable compared to my iPhone 5s, particularly with iOS 10. My remaining criticisms are with the software, which has many UI downgrades which I don't appreciate at all, besides the Balloons in Text Messages, which is pure genius. For example, I use the Timer feature of the Clock App when I cook, and it no longer emits a loud alarm when time's up, it outputs at last used volume, and it issues a very annoying notification, so that I can't simply tap the Cancel button, which is what I want to do when I have a handful of garlic in one hand and a cooking spoon in the other. Apart from the speaker and difficulty in viewing with polarized sunglasses, I haven't encountered any hardware glitches. I'm very happy with the upgrade and I think you will be as well.
I have been an iPhone owner since the original iPhone, and I typically upgrade every other model. My last two iPhones, for example, were the 4s and the 5s... so I jumped from a 5s to a 7 Plus, which was a very big leap indeed!
The biggest change from 5s to 7 Plus is the size, with the screen increasing from 4" to 5.5". After using this enormously large phone for a week, the old 5s is absolutely puny in comparison. The change is dramatic in almost every way, and has pros and cons. The biggest advantage for me is no more eyestrain, so that's reason enough to keep the 7 Plus. I gaze at my smartphone for hours each day, and text on the 5s is much smaller and harder on my eyes. I clip my phone to my dashboard, and it is far easier to use Waze with the 7 Plus, although some kind of interference pattern appears when I look at the screen through my polarized sunglasses. The larger size includes a much larger, longer-lasting battery than my 5s.
The downside to the large screen is that I can no longer text one-handed. This is a major downside for me, and I've realized that Apple could overcome this if the keyboard were simply drawn at the same size as the keyboard on the 5s screen... this is a software problem! Helpful users on MacRumors pointed me at alternative keyboards such as Microsoft's free "Word Flow," but none of them worked for me; I often tapped the "globe" key accidentally, which would swap keyboards while I was typing. I also found that word replacement wasn't as good on the alternative keyboards. For example, the.iPhone.keyboard.will.auto-correct.text.like.this. However, the Microsoft keyboard will not auto-correct such text. I hope that Apple releases a small keyboard option which is workable, although this issue has been around for over two years, since the introduction of the 6 Plus. Physically, the added size has not been an inconvenience for carrying or using the phone, except that I no longer sit on the phone when it's in my back pocket.
The iPhone 7 Plus has no headphone jack: Totally bad move, Apple. This creates a terrible inconvenience.
The phone's speaker sounds very odd to me. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the earpiece often sounds more like a speakerphone. Sound quality for phone calls is not as good for me as the iPhone 5s. Maybe there's something wrong with the speaker in my phone, or maybe this is an effect of the waterproof design. Bluetooth calls are just as good, so I think the problem is with the phone's speaker.
The next noticeable change is that the Home button isn't a button! Instead, it's a small indentation, and when you press on it, a haptic feedback occurs which vibrates the phone so that it feels just like a button press! I think this is really cool and I love showing it to my friends. This feature carries into other parts of the system: When I send a text message, if the recipient's address book entry indicates that the phone number is an iPhone, I can press harder on the "Message Send" button, and it will click and I can select text and message effects such as Slam!, Balloons and Confetti. This is a big favorite.
The appearance of iPhones hasn't changed much. I chose the Silver design in an effort to get my phone sooner. As it turns out, ordering 256 GB would have landed me a phone sooner. But so far, 128 GB is more than enough and I have about 96 GB of free space. To protect this phone, I again turned to Tech21, who have provided me cases which protected against many, many iPhone drops. I've bought their cases for all the iPhones in my family over the years, and none of them have suffered a broken iPhone. I purchased the Tech21 "Evo Check Clear," which has a beautiful white band around the edge which wonderfully complements the white face of the Silver iPhone. I could rave about this case for quite some time; I really like the way it looks on my phone. I only hope Tech21 is able to protect my enormous phablet as well as they've protected my smaller phones over the years. They claim they have a special energy-absorbing polymer in their cases. I don't know if they have unique technology or not, but the Tech21 cases do have a thick rubbery outer shell which provides better protection than hard plastic.
The other major hardware improvement is the camera. I'm a serious amateur photographer and the added camera quality is very much appreciated. The 7 Plus has two lenses: The standard wide-angle, and a 2x telephoto for portraits. The UI lets you add digital zoom to either lens while shooting. DPReview.com thoroughly reviewed the 7 Plus camera features, and I suggest you read their review if you're interested in learning more about what the camera can do and how it compares to standard cameras. The 7 Plus camera is dramatically better than the camera in my 5s. It now has two lenses, better flash, a faster aperture and optical image stabilization. Although snapshots are much improved in iPhone 7 Plus, and many casual shooters will greatly appreciate the improvements, this camera doesn't come close to the sharpness and image quality of a basic crop-frame DSLR -- Not by a long shot.
The faster CPU is very noticeable compared to my iPhone 5s, particularly with iOS 10. My remaining criticisms are with the software, which has many UI downgrades which I don't appreciate at all, besides the Balloons in Text Messages, which is pure genius. For example, I use the Timer feature of the Clock App when I cook, and it no longer emits a loud alarm when time's up, it outputs at last used volume, and it issues a very annoying notification, so that I can't simply tap the Cancel button, which is what I want to do when I have a handful of garlic in one hand and a cooking spoon in the other. Apart from the speaker and difficulty in viewing with polarized sunglasses, I haven't encountered any hardware glitches. I'm very happy with the upgrade and I think you will be as well.
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