iPhone 7 Plus preview: Big changes, but some you’ll still have to wait for

It’s September and that means new iPhones. In particular a new iPhone 7 Plus, the updated 2016 version of the almost ubiquitous smartphone from Apple. But has Apple created a flagship device that the Apple faithful will lust after, or merely and incremental update that will see Samsung being the number one choice for Power users?

Pocket-lint was at the Apple Special Event in San Francisco to get a hands-on preview with the new dual lens packing camera phone to find out ahead of it being available in the shops.

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­iPhone 7 Plus preview: Similar design with some tweaks

The new iPhone might come in a similarly designed chassis to the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6s Plus models, but looks vastly different thanks to the removal of the awkward looking antenna lines, and new colours; Jet Black and Black.

The first is a very fingerprint friendly gloss model that is hugely reminiscent of the iPhone 3G but now made of metal rather than plastic, even if Apple did once call it unapologetically plastic.  

The Jet Black hides the newly designed Antenna incredibly well, while the colour also makes the transition from metal to glass also almost impossible to see. It is “proper shiny”.

In contrast, the new Black model is more the stealth option to the Jet Black Patten design. The colour, which replaces the Space Grey option, is less likely to be prone to smudges and scratches – those old enough will remember that issue that made the iPhone 3G look rather tatty by end of the first year – and it is a much blunter and brutal colour to the whimsical Rose Gold or Gold colouring.

It is on those models that the new antenna design is more apparent. It now cuts around the top edge of the phone rather than intersecting top and bottom. It is as noticeable as it isn’t.

New colours aren’t the only design changes. Like the standard sized iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus also loses the headphones socket, instead replaced with a speaker grill. The physical Home button has also been changed to one that doesn’t move (more on both in a bit).

Those changes mean Apple can now waterproof the iPhone to IP67 meaning you’ll be able to get it wet without it being the end of the world. Yep, dropping your phone down the toilet or in the swimming pool isn’t going to be the major headache it once was.

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iPhone 7 preview: Cameras

The big differentiator of the iPhone 7 Plus over the iPhone 7 is the introduction of a dual camera setup. Found on the back of the device you’ll find two cameras to the iPhone 7’s one. Apple isn’t the first to offer a dual camera setup on a smartphone, but it does take a different approach to how other manufacturers are tackling it.

Apple’s offering is two 12-megapixel sensors on the rear – one of which is wide-angle, the other telephoto. The wide-angle lens has an aperture of f/1.8, while the telephoto lens has an aperture of f/2.8. This new setup means the iPhone 7 is capable of optical zoom at 2x and digital zoom up to 10x. 

In the camera app and this zoom is represented with a single 2x icon that you can tap at any time to instantly switch the lens you want to use. A longer press means you can zoom beyond the optical zoom and achieve up to 10x optical zoom over the current 5x offering on the iPhone 6s Plus. Designed to be used one handed, by pressing and then moving your thumb in an arc, it works really well in the flesh when we tried it on the new smartphone at the event.

Beyond basic zoom controls, which can be used in any of the cameras shooting modes including video, Apple has also tried to be clever by merging the results of the two lenses together to create something Apple calls “Depth Effect”.

Depth Effect promises to deliver a more DSLR like photo with a greater depth of field by combining photos from the two cameras together. It will only be available in a new Portrait mode though.  

Disappointingly the new feature won’t be available at launch and will come as a software update later in the year. It wasn’t available to see in action at the hands-on event after the Apple keynote presentation, but the pictures showed by Apple in its presentation look very impressive indeed. 

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In theory it should work, but in practice we’ve seen other manufacturers try and fail to produce good results. The problem lies in the software struggling to find and compute the finer details of the photograph.

If Apple can crack the problems presented by effectively merging two photos together it should be great and we look forward to testing it when it becomes available. But the sheer fact that it’s not ready for launch suggests Apple is still tweaking the experience.

Like the iPhone 7, the iPhone 7 Plus camera protrudes from the design on the back more so that Its smaller counterpart. The rectangular design means your old cases won’t fit. The protrude is visible, however it’s not enough to warrant any concerns and certainly not enough to make the phone wobble when laid on a desk or table.  

The shots we’ve seen on the phone taken with the camera look good, and a quick play in the demo room proved useful, but again we are going to reserve judgement until we get a handset to test in more testing conditions.

The iPhone 7 Plus has a number of other features too including a Quad-LED True Tone flash, body and face detection and wide colour capture for photos and Live Photos. The front camera also sees an increased resolution to 7-megapixels with an aperture of f/2.2.

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iPhone 7 preview: New home button

The Home button is one of the most used elements of the design, and on hearing Apple were ditching the physical element and replacing it with the same technology found in the Apple Watch and Macbook trackpad did leave us worried.

Thankfully in the flesh it’s really good. The button is as responsive as you want it to be, still allows you to flawlessly use it for double tapping or Touch ID, and yet gives you a very similar experience to the Watch and the Macbook Trackpad. Tap the button and the Taptic Engine inside the phone vibrates making you believe that the button is moving when in reality it isn’t.

Gushing to say this but once you try it you’ll wonder why Apple hadn’t changed it earlier.

iPhone 7 preview: Taptic Engine

The same Taptic Engine that is there to convince you the Home button is physical is also used to greater affect across the iOS 10 interface. Playing Codemaster’s F1 2016 game we could feel the nuances of the crashing into the barriers or going over bumps throughout the phone. Feeling your phone is going to be a thing now. The same went with other “Taptic” enabled apps. We are looking forward to seeing how much of a difference it will make to everyday use.

iPhone 7 preview: Audio

Apple has ditched the headphone socket. For those somewhat panicked by that move, an adapter is included in the box if you aren’t going wireless. The space is now replaced with a speaker and the iPhone 7 features stereo sound from a speaker top and bottom.

In a very crowded demo room at the event we were able to hear the speakers in action. It’s much better than the current iPhone 6s, but we are going to reserve judgement on this aspect until we’ve managed to listen to a number of different sounds (music/video) when we get the iPhone 7 in for review.

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iPhone 7 preview: Speed and performance

A new iPhone means new speed and the iPhone 7 Plus gets the same Apple A10 Fusion processor found in the iPhone 7. It promises to increase the power and performance over previous iPhones by 120x over the original iPhone launched in 2007 in fact.

Ultimately it means your phone will be able to load things faster, process things faster, and generally not be in any way sluggish.

In our quick play with the iPhone 7 it was as zippy as you would expect, loading powerful games and processing video with minimal effort. We look forward to testing this fully in our full review.

The screen also feels a lot brighter and more responsive, but Apple has held back from adding the Tru Display technology found on the iPad Pro 9.7.

Storage options are 32GB, 128GB and 256GB. Apple claims the battery capacity for the new device is also an hour longer than the iPhone 6S Plus but these gains have been made through processor power improvements rather than a bigger battery.

First Impressions

Unlike the iPhone 7 where you could be forgiven for it being a rather lukewarm upgrade, the iPhone 7 Plus is a very big jump over the iPhone 6s Plus launched in 2015. 

For your money you’re going to get the tweaked design, the option of new colours, the stereo speakers, the new Home button, bigger storage options up to 256GB, and that new dual camera system.

Frustratingly the dual camera system won’t see its full potential from day one, but has the potential to be great if all the pieces can come together.

Like the iPhone 7 though, this is Apple continuing to refine a design that has worked well for them over the last two years, rather than tear up the blueprints and start again.

The technology that Apple has added is great and works towards making the iPhone a state of the art smartphone.