Is the iPhone 7 Plus Worth It? By Austin Evans

- As the 10th edition of what is literally the most popular piece of technology in the world, there's a lot of hype around the new iPhone 7. Is it worth it? Hey guys. This is Austin, and it's safe to say there is a lot of hype riding on these two phones. Don't let the 7 name fool you, these are almost identical looking to the 6 and 6s at first glance. You're still getting the same sized 4.7 and 5.5 inch displays on the 7 and 7 Plus which is an interesting choice. The easiest way to spot the difference is around back where the 7 has a noticeably larger camera hump and the Plus has an even bigger one.

The largest change though is what isn't on the phone. And something else that's I think, super divisive, is the lack of a headphone jack. - No way. - Oh yeah, don't know if you noticed, but there's actually no headphone jack - Yeah. Apple has a long history of killing ports before people are ready, however they may have taken a step too far with the headphone jack.

To make up for this, they include a set of Lightning EarPods along with an adapter to plug normal 3.5 millimeter headphones in. The EarPods are, well, they're EarPods. They're totally fine, but they aren't replacing your high-end cans any time soon. To be fair, the headphone adapter works exactly as you'd expect. Plug it into the phone and your headphones will sound exactly like on previous iPhones, however, it's small and easy to lose.

You'll probably end up needing another, but at least they're only $9. Headphone makers haven't been shy about making their own Lightning headphones though, and some of them are actually pretty good. You're definitely paying a premium, but at least you're getting quality. Your other option are Bluetooth headphones. In addition to the solid selection that have been around for years like the Jaybird Freedom, Apple are about to have their own option available, AirPods.

- There's a lot of good things with the AirPods and the new Beats. - Oh yes, you tried the AirPods. - Right. - What do you think about the AirPods? - I think they're crazy expensive, they're way too much money. - These are fully independent EarPods, that rely on Apple's new W1 chip to make syncing as seamless as possible.

That same chip has made it's way into the new Beats Solo3 Headphones and it really is dead simple to connect with the ability to move between devices that are connected via iCloud. The Solo3s sound like Beats for good and bad but at least the tech inside works. Actually use the iPhone 7 though and you'll find a few problems with this wonderful new future. If you want to listen to music over AUX and charge at the same time, you'll need the Apple Lightning Dock which looks cool but runs a hefty $50. It's not all bad news on the audio side though, in addition to the bottom firing speaker from the last iPhone, you now get an interesting stereo setup with the earpiece also working as a speaker.

- But, we've seen these other phones with bezels the same size and these huge speakers that sound phenomenal, so, - Yeah - Good improvement. We would like that to continue. - One change that feels incredibly weird at first, is the new home button. Unlike before, this actually isn't even a real button at all. Turn the phone off, and you realize it's just a piece of glass that doesn't move.

With the phone on though, it uses a taptic engine that vibrates to give the illusion of an actual button press. I feel like it's 90% there, but for a button, I expect it work 100% of the time. - Right right right. And if you have anything on your finger, there's now way it's gonna work. - There is one upside to the lack of a headphone jack.

The iPhone 7 is now water resistant. It's not fully waterproof. Rated to be under a meter of water for 30 minutes, you should probably leave the iPhone behind on your next scuba diving excursion, but for a quick dip in the pool it should be fine. Or at least that's what I would have said if by getting that last shot didn't kind of kill the phone. So I didn't realize until this morning, however the home button now is being really inconsistent.

Sometimes it works, but the Taptic Engine is way off. So, I'm getting all kinds of weird sort of feedback. However, the bigger issue is with the camera. So, if you look around back, you'll see especially the main camera lens, is seriously fogged up. There's definitely some water that's gotten inside the phone.

Now it's not quite as bad when you look at the telephoto lens or if you try to take a picture, it's pretty blurry. So using the second camera clears things up a little bit, however even with the front-facing camera you can see that there's definitely, uugh! There's definitely a lot of condensation there. Which is disappointing. This phone is rated to be under a meter of water for 30 minutes, however after being under about two inches of water for 30 seconds, it was enough to do some serious damage. To be fair, this is probably an isolated incident with my phone as I've seen a lot of other water tests where people have had the iPhone 7 under water for hours and it's been totally fine, however the next time you decide to get your iPhone 7 wet, you many wanna think twice.

Something else that could be a pain to deal with, is the new jet black finish. At first glance it looks pretty killer with the serious polish but it absolutely attracts fingerprints and tiny scratches. Even Apple admits that you should probably use a case with it, which isn't exactly encouraging for the long-term durability. Personally, I prefer the matte black finish on the 7. It still looks nice, but it handles minor wear and tear a lot nicer.

Both of the new iPhones are also rocking some serious power. Inside you'll find the new A10 Fusion chip, which uses a pair of high-powered CPU cores along with two that are more focused on battery efficiency. - I have no complaints in terms of performance. I saw your speed test and obviously, (Judner laughing) you can see how quickly it moves. - It's actually the best.

- Moving between apps is like a no brainer. - The Plus does have a slight advantage when it comes to memory with three gigs of RAM compared to two on the normal 7, but it's hard to notice much difference in real use. Thankfully, Apple has also bumped up the storage options. The base model now starts with 32 gigs with options to go up to 128 and 256 gigabytes. The bigger difference is in battery life, the 7 Plus still easily lasts me through a full day and then some, but the 7 has seen a big improvement to nearly match it.

While it's not exclusive to the new iPhone, iOS 10 is a big improvement. With a pretty solid facelift, iOS is looking better than it has in years. The super-flat design of iOS 7 has been toned down a bit and the entire interface feels like it has been coated in an extra layer of butter. I have noticed a few crashes here and there, but there's no denying that these are some of the fastest phones out there. Another area where things have improved, is in the camera department.

The iPhone 7 now has a new brighter f/1.8 aperture lens which bring in about 50% more light compared to the 6s. It's a noticeable upgrade. There's a slightly shallower depth of field and low-light has seen a big jump, which is helped by the addition of optical image stabilization on the regular 7, in addition to the 7 Plus. Autofocus is also incredibly quick. It's right on par with the Galaxy S7 as the fastest focusing phone out there right now.

Pictures are nice and sharp with very pleasant color. Apple's always hit a nice middle ground between punchy and over-the-top and this is no exception. - When the Note 7 and S7 Edge camera first came out, I was comfortable saying that that was the best camera on any smartphone. Now that the 7 camera has come out, it's a close one and two. So that's really impressive for both of them.

- The iPhone 7 is rocking a new seven megapixel front-facing camera and it's really not bad. The improvements in color have also come across to the selfie camera and while it's still not as wide as the terrific front-facing cameras on the S7 and Note 7, it's a nice improvement. Where you'll notice a bigger difference is with the new telephoto camera that's been added to the 7 Plus. It's a two-time zoom compared to the main camera which can give you some very different perspectives when shooting, without relying on digital zoom. Apple has done good job of making switching between the two cameras seamless, however the telephoto camera just can't match the quality of the main shooter.

It has a smaller aperture and it's a physically smaller sensor which hurts especially in low light. On the other hand, video on both the 7 and 7 Plus are absolutely top notch. The stabilization is the best in the business right now even when shooting in 4K and the slow motion option delivers some really cool results. On one hand the iPhone 7 is a solid improvement, you're getting blistering performance, water resistance, improved cameras and better battery life. On the other though, you have a nearly identical design and the total lack of a headphone jack, borders on a deal breaker for some.

As always, they're expensive and not for everyone, but if you're looking for some of the best phones out right now, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are worth it. So what do you guys think about the iPhone 7? Let me know in the comments below and definitely be sure to subscribe to the channel to catch more Is It Worth It episodes like this. Anyway guys, thank you so much for watching and I will catch you on the next one. iPhone 12 is 12 times more revolutionary than iPhone 9 - Well see, that's what I thought but then I would make the, wait, what? Nine? - Yeah. - Oh - The actual number of subpixels is not a crazy difference between that and 1080p, what was that? - I think there was a cat.

Source : Austin Evans