Impressions of the New iPhone 7

By brandon armstrong, 16 September, 2016

Forum
Apple Hardware and Compatible Accessories

hi all, well, the day is finally here, the day we can all get our hands on the new apple iPhones in stores. I got mine this morning at t-mobile, and have had a few hours to play with it. In short, I love the faster processor, apps seem to load much faster then before, gps is much more stable then on the previous phone, the sound quality of voiceover and siri is much improved through the two speakers, so you don't have to raise your volume passed seventy percent to hear something. the home button, took a bit of getting use to sense it does not move anymore, but it still have a ring around it, so you can tell where the button is located. for reference, when you now press the home button, the bottome half of the frame on the phone pushes in, as if you are pressing the home button, and yes, it felt a bit weird to me this morning when i first tried it out, but sense this morning, I have gotten use to this. I haven't tried the lightning headset yet, but i plan to do so in the near future. over all, I give this phone a good 10 out of 10 in my book. it's has lots going for it. before I close, I would like to point out to you all, when adding a card to your wallet to use with apple pay, the taptic engine now vibrates a short tap to let you know the card was added and voiceover now even says card added, so you know that it went smoothly. hope you found this helpfull and exciting.

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Comments

By Indra on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

Hi, how did you activate VoiceOver for the first time on the activation screen? Is the tripple click home button work to turn on VoiceOver?

By Mitchell on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

I have a 5S right now, and I'm wondering how much longer the battery in the iPhone 7 will last then the 5S. Also, since I haven't ever actually been able to use a phone with the taptic engine, how and when will the taps happen? What are the taptic engine used for besides 3D touch?

By kevinchao89 on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

1. Lightning EarPods and lightning to 3.5mm audio adapter with Bose SoundSports work great with VoiceOver.
2. Bluetooth latency is still present when using LG Platinum BLE headset, but it does allow charging and headset access (I look forward to the AIrPOds at the end of October).
3. Triple-Click Home to enable VoiceoVer at setup wizard does work and it stil toggles VoiceOver.
4. iPhone 7 and VoiceOver works great with Apple Watch and Baum VarioUltra 40.
5. My experience is very similar to the original post.

By Indra on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

In reply to by kevinchao89

Hello kevinchao89. How about the stereo speaker quality on the iPhone 7? Is it good or the same like the former iPhone?

By Chris on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

What is the home button like? Is it like the onscreen buttons you would find on an Android device? Do you press the glass roughly in the bottom center of the screen. Are there any tactile indicators for the home button?

By Indra on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

If you don't mind, may be you can submit a podcast to the applevis website, so that we can hear and discuss more things.

By kevinchao89 on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

1. Speakers are good with some bass: nice for light music listening or being able to use VoiceOVer in a louder environment without being required to use ear/headphones. Definitely, much improved over the mono-speakers on 6S and earlier.
2. Home button feels similar to 6S and earlier, where it's recessed some and there is a circular ring that I can align thumb with. THe main difference is that when pressing down it on to unlock, go to home screen, app switcher, toggling VoiceoVer--it doesn't physically move, but instead provides a taptic (haptic-vibration) feedback.

By techluver on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

Anyone try the pods with their 6s/6/5s?
And do they sound better? I'm thinking of buying a pair.

By Brian Giles on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

for everyone wanting a podcast, Jonathan Mosen did a very thorough unboxing and first impression yesterday. Just search for the blind side in your pod catcher of choice.

Only question I have is with the lightning earpods. do they still have the lil case? It'd be nice to have a set, but I'm not paying 29 bucks to pick some up when I've got the regular ones.

By MelodicFate on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

Hi, I just wanted to let you all know that the lightning EarPods will not work on earlier phones. At least, not on an iPhone 6. I tried plugging them into one, and all that happened was I got the two-tone VoiceOver alert sound, as if your battery was low. I also wanted to say that I agree about the iPhone 7. Coming from a 6, it's amazingly fast, the lightning EarPods and stereo speakers sound really good, and the home button is nice. Hope this was helpful.

By Justin on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

Hi. For the comments asking about the battery. I'm gonna go into specs here, and use some terms that apple doesn't use in there iPhone literature. If you want to find info on the batteries go either to apple insider or fixit or something like that.
I'll say this much however. The 5s has a 1450 Mah, Milliampere hour battery and the 7 has a 190 MAH battery. If you step up to the 7 plus, you get a 2900 MAH battery, 200 <AJ ,pre [pwerfi; then the 6S plus. The plus had a 2900 MAH like the 7 plus,
HTH.

By kevinchao89 on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

1. It's supported in 6S+/6S, but "accessory is not supported" is message that 6 and 5S returns.
2. I did a 3.5mm analog and lightning digital EarPod comparison:
a. 3.5mm analog are more comfortable and feel more substantive
b. Lightning digital have more bass and slightly-better audio-quality
3. It doesn't have the nice-plastic case, but is wrapped in a cardboard jigsaw with the 3.5mm to lightning adapter embedded in center of holder

By JN.V on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

Interesting that you say the entire bottom of the phone/screen vibrates if pressing the home button. One of the mainstream media sites also commented on that and was actually disappointed that the home button vibration isn't more pinpointed to the button only, but they mentioned it's probably a thing that Apple will be able to fix in software later.

I know there was a lot of concern amongst blind users about the home button and being able to locate it if the entire screen is just a single glass panel, so I'm glad to hear that Apple kept the ring around it.

By Troy on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

Jonathan Mosen's blindside podcast I think does a great job talking and demonstrating the home button.

By Holger Fiallo on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

Learning to use it I sometimes I get siri when I try to open the home screen. It is hard but not impossible. Just need to figure it out.

By Toonhead on Sunday, September 25, 2016 - 22:09

One thing not mentioned here, but is demonstrated in Jonathan Mosen's review is the sensitivity setting for the home button's haptic feedback. On an iPhone 7, go into settings/general/home button. on that screen there are 3 different sensitivity settings for the home button so you can choose how sensitive you want this to be. Also, you will want to turn off Siri before going into this screen. I tried to demonstrate it last night to a few friends and Siri kept coming on when pressing the home button instead. I personally chose option 1 because it's sensitive enough that I can feel the taptic engine do its work, but not so over-powering. Option 3 almost makes the entire phone shake, which is a bit unsettling. The first time you use the new home button it's pretty trippy, man. I like it though and if you're due for an upgrade soon, an iPhone 7 is a beautiful thing.

By Holger Fiallo on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - 22:09

In reply to by kevinchao89

I am not able to use power and home button. When I hold power and button at the same time, siri comes up and I hear power off. I attempted this several times without any success. Any help be good. May the apple be with you.

By Mitchell on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - 22:09

Hopefully I can try out everything once I get my iPhone 7 next week.

By Indra on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - 22:09

Hello @Holger, if you want to do hard reset on the iphone 7, you must press the power and volume down button. You can not use home button anymore to do that.