It’s been nearly a month since the new iPhone 7 and 7 plus were released. Apple released the new phones on September 7th, 2016, and, at first, it was unclear to me whether or not it would be a huge hit, similar to the release of the iPhone 6 and 6s was. I had heard from my friends and people around school that they probably wouldn’t get the new phone just because of the absence of the headphone jack. While most of my friends and family don’t like the idea of not having a headphone jack, I personally don’t mind it. I didn’t get the iPhone 7 plus, so I can’t tell you all the cool features about the new double camera, but here’s my impression of  the iPhone 7.

No Headphone Jack

Many students at West high have a car that they drive to school that they prefer to play their own music in. Most students that I know have an aux cord that they plug their phone into to play their music. There is an adapter called a “dongle” that comes free with the purchase of the iPhone 7/7 plus that allows you to use your old headphones with your new phone. The dongle is about 2 inches long and has a charger on one end and a headphone plug on the other. Knowing me, I will probably lose this dongle sometime in the near future, but it’s surprisingly pretty cheap to replace. On the online Apple store you can buy another headphone jack adapter for only 9 dollars. I can understand how it could be annoying to need another piece of equipment to play your music in your car via an aux cord, but I have bluetooth in my car, so I am not as bothered by it.

Another complaint with the updated devices is that people will want to charge their phone while listening to music, but there are a few adapters that you can purchase. I’ve seen some cheap ones and some pretty expensive ones. I haven’t had the issue of wanting to charge my phone while listening to music yet, but I might look into a different adapter if I do. I don’t really understand why Apple took the headphone jack away in the first place and I don’t have a problem without it, but if all of these extra cords and adapters are needed then was it worth it to take the headphone jack away in the first place?

Water resistant?

I heard that the iPhone’s 7/7 plus are water resistant, but what does that really mean? I don’t think my phone would still be in good working condition if I took it to the beach with me and tried to take some cool photos of the sharks. On the Apple website it says “The enclosure is splash and water resistant.” So, it’s not really waterproof. According to a rating by iP67, the iPhone 7/7 plus can be submerged in water 1 meter deep for a maximum time of 30 minutes. I think it’s pretty cool that the iPhones are be water resistant but I don’t see the whole point because they could still get water damage.

Home button not actually a button?

When I was at the Verizon store getting my new iPhone 7, the salesperson handed me my new phone and I was surprised to notice that the home button isn’t actually a button. I pressed it a couple times, feeling the vibrations that the phone made after each press of the “button.” It felt really strange at first, but now I don’t notice a difference at all. On the Apple website it said “The Home button on iPhone 7 is an advanced solid-state button designed to be durable, responsive and pressure sensitive.” You can even adjust your home button click in your settings. When you go to your home button settings you are given three different click settings. The first click is the lightest of the clicks. It seems like you’re barely tapping the button at all. The third click has the most movability. It seems like you’re pressing on the button really hard. And the second click is somewhere in between. I don’t notice a huge difference between the last home button and the new one because you can still press down on the button.

Overall

Overall, I really like the iPhone 7. I think it works super fast and the camera is really sharp and clear. If you wouldn’t mind the absence of a headphone jack and you’d like accidentally dropping your phone in the pool and having it probably being okay, then you should definitely invest in the new phone.

New iOS Update

Along with the release of the new iPhone, Apple has featured its newest iOS update on September 13th, and the upgrades have come along with praise as well as criticism. The most apparent change to many is that the phone will turn on simply by picking it up. The convenience is attractive to many.

“Although it doesn’t make a huge difference, I’m saving one second of my life everyday which will probably add up to a lot,” Abby Jans ’17 said.

Additionally, the notification features have changed quite significantly. Exiting the homescreen is no longer necessary for simple responses to texts and utilizing apps such as Uber or the Calendar.

Siri has been revamped heavily as well. Siri is now able to understand a wide variety of phrases that all mean the same thing, which improves the likelihood of its understanding of the user. Additionally, Siri is now able to use third party apps, compared to when it was originally only able to utilize Apple’s apps.

“Siri has never been that useful to me, but now that it has more capabilities I think I will be able to have more use for it,” Jans said.

However, as with all updates, some problems have risen. The main issue has been the battery life, as many users have experienced a significant decrease in battery life.

“I had the beta version of the update and it glitched with almost every feature, it’s a lot better now though. It still has a pretty bad battery life and tends to lag,” Jans said.

Overall, there an abundance of factors to consider before getting the new iOS update. However, it is clear that any decision made will have its pros and cons.