IPhone 7 - good, bad or indifferent?

Rocker

It has been suggested to me that I should get an iPhone 7 to replace my faulty HTC phone. It is probably expensive, or fairly so, is the 7 a good phone to get? Thanks.

TheMarlin

The camera sucks. Get a 6S Plus or 8

Jez6345789

7 is fine if you are happy to enter the Apple world way better than my 6 which is still my daily ride the 7 is used abroad more. Need to unify them when I get time and ditch the 6.


a lot depends on what you want all the business stuff I use is always iOS first so it makes sense. A lot of people like the savings In Android phones but been with Apple since the first one Doubt I could,ld restrain myself.

cruxiform

TheMarlin said:

The camera sucks. Get a 6S Plus or 8

The camera on my 7 plus is superb

Wazmeister

cruxiform said:

TheMarlin said:

The camera sucks. Get a 6S Plus or 8

The camera on my 7 plus is superb

Yep, the camera was the big improvement on the 6, which itself had a very good camera.

stickyfiddle

The camera on the 7 is excellent. Later ones are better, but the 7 is excellent.

prowla

The thing the iPhone 7 has over the 6 is that it's waterproof(/resistant?).

It hasn't got an earphone jack socket though, so you have to use their dongle, but you can't charge it at the same time.

Otherwise, it just works, no dramas.

mikeyrob73

i have recently upgraded from the 5s to the 7,theres a big difference but i have to admit i probably dont use half the capabilties of the phone 

randella

We're still on the 7 at work (not me like, I don't qualify).  They're rock solid, it seems you do have to go out of your way to destroy one.  A few do manage it too, but day-to-day they're good phones.  Nice design, decent camera (I'm told) and the screens are pretty good.  Not saturated like Samsung's OLED panels (which I like) but very colour-accurate.

Do you get on with iOS?  That's the question.  Some don't some do.  Whatever the operating system (Android, iOS) some at work complain that they "can't even use this stupid phone it's so clunky OMG it's like it wants to kill my children but I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SWITCH IT OFF EVEN".

Coming from Android you'll probably be OK, iOS is very simple to use.  You'll have less control over certain things, chiefly homescreen personalisation and the phone's file system.  If either of those is of paramount importance, stick with Android.

boogieman

cruxiform said:

TheMarlin said:

The camera sucks. Get a 6S Plus or 8

The camera on my 7 plus is superb

Yup I don't know why Marlin thinks it's so bad? I've got a i6, my bro in law has a i7. The camera on his is way better. 

crunchman

Battery life on it is meant to be very poor:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/iphone-7-review-poor-battery-life

I can't find the link and it will probably be behind a Paywall, but there is a Forbes article which says that Which? did some tests which came out with a 12 hour battery life for the iPhone 7, 24 hours for a Samsung (not sure which model), and 31 hours for an HTC (again not sure which model).

If you are willing to go the usual Apple route and upgrade every two years it probably won't matter.  If you want to keep the phone for a decent amount of time, then you will run into trouble as the battery can only be recharged a certain number of times (1000?).  I've got a friend with an iPhone that is basically dead unless he gets the battery replaced.  I've got an Android of a very similar age that is still ok on it's original battery.  The difference is that he had to charge every day while I could get close to 3 days out of it (with my usage) when it was new so it's got a lot less charging cycles on it.

Be aware that not all Android phones are equal on battery life but it is one of my top priorities when buying a phone.

prowla

crunchman said:

Battery life on it is meant to be very poor:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/sep/23/iphone-7-review-poor-battery-life

I can't find the link and it will probably be behind a Paywall, but there is a Forbes article which says that Which? did some tests which came out with a 12 hour battery life for the iPhone 7, 24 hours for a Samsung (not sure which model), and 31 hours for an HTC (again not sure which model).

If you are willing to go the usual Apple route and upgrade every two years it probably won't matter.  If you want to keep the phone for a decent amount of time, then you will run into trouble as the battery can only be recharged a certain number of times (1000?).  I've got a friend with an iPhone that is basically dead unless he gets the battery replaced.  I've got an Android of a very similar age that is still ok on it's original battery.  The difference is that he had to charge every day while I could get close to 3 days out of it (with my usage) when it was new so it's got a lot less charging cycles on it.

Be aware that not all Android phones are equal on battery life but it is one of my top priorities when buying a phone.

In contrast, I've had charging issues with Samsungs, which put me off them.

The iPhone (or any) can eat power if you have bluetooth, background apps, shoot movies, etc.

I think any smartphone is semi-tethered to a charging point!

I don't know about 1000 charging cycles and suchlike; my various iPhones have been OK.

crunchman

prowla said:

The iPhone (or any) can eat power if you have bluetooth, background apps, shoot movies, etc.

As far as I know the point of those Which? tests though are that they do the exact same things with each phone.  If one has Bluetooth etc. on all the time the others will as well.  The other 2 phones mentioned lasted twice as long (or more) for the same tasks.

I worked with a guy with an iPhone (not sure which version) who couldn't actually get through a day on a charge.  He's now got some kind of Android and he doesn't have that problem.  Ok he's a heavy user but the battery life would rule it out for me.  The lack of headphone socket is just the icing on the cake.

cruxiform

boogieman said:

cruxiform said:

TheMarlin said:

The camera sucks. Get a 6S Plus or 8

The camera on my 7 plus is superb

Yup I don't know why Marlin thinks it's so bad? I've got a i6, my bro in law has a i7. The camera on his is way better. 

Totally. I took this picture this morning, while I was in (strangely enough) a camera shop. I rely on having a decent phone camera when I'm motorcycle touring. I used to take a DSLR as I'm a little precious about my pictures but have been well impressed with iPhone cameras since I had the i6 so have relied on them for a couple of years now. These were taken with my 7 Plus this year:





Great camera!

capo4th

Had my iPhone 7 for nearly a year it works perfect with good battery life and the camera is great. 

Danny1969

There's no limit on charge cycles on a lipo battery in an iPhone but rather the battery life depends on how traumatised it is .... drawing heavy current regularly (using phone as Sat Nav) will shorten battery life, as will charging in low temperatures

I haven't done an iPhone 8 or X yet but I've changed batteries in all previous models, the process is pretty easy and straighforward

@Rocker personally I think you will get on with an Iphone, very easy to use but superior to Android  phones in the music making stakes  

Travisthedog

Just ditched apple - got a google pixel 2xl
Never looked back  - the camera pisses all over every other phone around

prowla

crunchman said:

prowla said:

The iPhone (or any) can eat power if you have bluetooth, background apps, shoot movies, etc.

As far as I know the point of those Which? tests though are that they do the exact same things with each phone.  If one has Bluetooth etc. on all the time the others will as well.  The other 2 phones mentioned lasted twice as long (or more) for the same tasks.

I worked with a guy with an iPhone (not sure which version) who couldn't actually get through a day on a charge.  He's now got some kind of Android and he doesn't have that problem.  Ok he's a heavy user but the battery life would rule it out for me.  The lack of headphone socket is just the icing on the cake.

You get a tidgey little dongle for a headphone socket (it sits permanently on my headphone cable, so the net effect is nada).

Apparently' we're all supposed to ditch our existing (expensive) headphones/earplugs and buy the Apple wireless ones instead. Me - I've got Etymotics ones and I'm not ditching them because Apple want to sell me new ones!

Rocker

I checked out the mobile phone stores in our local town: Eir, Vodafone, 3, Tesco Mobile and Carphone Warehouse and am amazed at the price variations for an iPhone 7 and very similar data packages.  Most charge €199 for the iPhone and €60 per month for a 24 month contract.  The cheapest of the lot is Eir, iPhone at €149 and €25 for year one, rising to €45 for subsequent years [contract period is 2 years].  Our home phone & internet package is provided by Eir, the quoted price is arrived at by bundling the iPhone package with our home package.  So Eir it is.  Opting for my present PAYG system is completely out of the question as the phone would cost around €800 and €30 per 28 days.

All the packages offered have unlimited calls, texts and 15 Gb data per month.  On my present PAYG package, I am allowed 5 Gb data which is more than enough for my requirements.  I hope to pick up the new phone next Tuesday.

RandallFlagg

cruxiform said:

boogieman said:

cruxiform said:

TheMarlin said:

The camera sucks. Get a 6S Plus or 8

The camera on my 7 plus is superb

Yup I don't know why Marlin thinks it's so bad? I've got a i6, my bro in law has a i7. The camera on his is way better. 

Totally. I took this picture this morning, while I was in (strangely enough) a camera shop. I rely on having a decent phone camera when I'm motorcycle touring. I used to take a DSLR as I'm a little precious about my pictures but have been well impressed with iPhone cameras since I had the i6 so have relied on them for a couple of years now. These were taken with my 7 Plus this year:





Great camera!

Lovely photos them are @cruxiform

ICBM

I would get an iPhone SE if you want an iPhone. Way cheaper than the 7, and a more comfortable, less fragile size.

I just got one to replace my much-loved 4S which finally started to cause trouble. All my kids have SEs too, and given the hammering they give them there's no problem with battery life.