iPhone 7

The jet black iPhone 7 might be a little more prone to scratches and fingerprints with its glossy finish, but that didn’t stop me from choosing the color for my iPhone this year. And I’m glad I did— it’s even more stunning in person than how it appears in photographs.  

The only thing missing was a jet black Apple Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard to match my new iPhone…

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A change to the iPhone’s Home button was long-rumored, but when Phil Schiller confirmed the existence of the iPhone 7’s solid state Home button, that’s when you knew it was for real.

The iPhone 7 isn’t Apple’s first foray into this area, as the MacBook line has taken a similar approach with its trackpad. But the iPhone is way more popular than the Mac and more people own and use iPhones when compared to the Mac.

It’s common knowledge that the majority of Apple’s profits are generated by the iPhone, so a fundamental change to the device’s primary hardware input method wasn’t something for Apple hardware engineers to take lightly.

The good news is that, despite initial criticism, the iPhone 7 Home button is actually quite good once you get used to it. While it does have a few downsides, the change has produced several new positive side effects as well.
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A new video shared over the weekend tests the claim going around that the iPhone 7 camera sapphire lens and Home button covers are less durable than common sapphire covers used in watches. JerryRigEverything compares the iPhone 7 lens cover to a traditional watch sapphire cover in a scratch test to compare hardness levels.

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UK-based consumer testing organization Which? says its tests show that the iPhone 7 has the worst battery-life of all the current flagship smartphones.

Which? testing has revealed that the battery on the iPhone 7 doesn’t last as long as its three major rivals. We compared the iPhone 7’s battery life, when making calls and browsing the web, to those of three top Android competitors: the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and LG G5, and the results were staggering.

The organization is well-respected as it uses highly scientific tests designed to eliminate the many variables that can plague more casual comparisons …

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ProCam 4, an advanced photo and video app for iOS, has been updated to support the iPhone 7 Plus iSight Duo camera. Not only will users find basic support for switching between the wide angle and telephoto lenses, but you’ll also find a new 3D Photos mode. This mode allows users to wield both cameras to take faux “3D” wigglegram photos and save them as GIF animations or videos.
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Jet Black iPhone 7 is highly reflective (with the ceiling in this instance)

iPhone 7 introduces a new finish from Apple called Jet Black, which is a glossy dark color that looks similar to Apple Watch’s Space Black finish. The iPhone is made out of aluminum, however, so the finish is a little different from that of the stainless steel Apple Watch. Here’s how Jet Black compares to Space Black…

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Update: Apple is also showing the October 14 date for Macao, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro and Turkey, and it’s likely we’ll see more countries added soon.

Apple Premium Reseller iStore has tweeted that the iPhone 7 is coming to South Africa on October 14, with the information confirmed on both its website, above, and now Apple’s site too. We heard a week ago that it will be hitting India on October 7.

ET News is also reporting that Apple’s new iPhone is expected to be launched in Samsung’s home market of South Korea a week later, on October 21 – though it notes that this is not yet certain.

Through discussion that took place [yesterday], Apple Korea and three mobile network providers have decided to release the iPhone 7 on the 21st of October, based on final approval from Apple Headquarters.

Apple products are currently sold in South Korea only by third parties, but it appears that Apple has plans to take on Samsung directly on its home turf …

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Bank of America has released another finding from its recent consumer survey, this time revealing the top nine reasons people have chosen to upgrade to the iPhone 7. Interestingly, the new camera capabilities isn’t number one, ranking instead at #3 …

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Apple currently uses LCD display technology for all of its iPhones but this appears to be changing next year with the rumored radically-new iPhone in 2017, following the iPhone 7’s smaller, iterative, design changes. Many reports have said that the next-generation iPhones, dubbed ‘iPhone 8’, will feature OLED displays for the first time. More indicators for this has come to light today with Bloomberg reporting that Apple is negotiating with Sharp to produce OLED panels for its phones.

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As the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus continue to make their way to more and more people, developers are gradually rolling out app updates with new features specific to Apple’s latest devices. Today, a pair of popular apps have been updated: Alto’s Adventure and Adobe Lightroom.

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This iPhone 7 may have exploded, but I doubt yours will

I don’t have any hard data on this, folks, but I have a hunch that the iPhone 7 does not combust in the same way that the recalled Samsung Galaxy Note 7 does. It’s trendy in news to apply one attention-grabbing narrative to an unrelated story, but there’s no evidence that suggests the iPhone 7 explodes in normal use like Samsung’s recalled flagship – despite that virally burned up iPhone 7 image.

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A new Kickstarter campaign is hoping to solve two issues associated with the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. A). the lack of a 3.5mm headphone port, and B). the inability to charge the iPhone 7 while listening to music.

To be fair, Apple does include a Lightning to 3.5mm Headphone Jack Adapter in the iPhone 7 box, so I wouldn’t go as far as to call that a real problem, but the inability to charge and listen to headphones at the same time may pose a legitimate issue for some.

If funded, the Kickstarter campaign for the iLDOCK hopes to launch a small Lightning-enabled dongle that brings back the 3.5mm headphone jack, and features a Lightning input for charging.
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I admit that I buy a new iPhone every year for the camera upgrades. My iCloud Photo Library is up to 14,633 photos and 1,261 videos and growing. Almost every one of those were captured with an iPhone so its camera matters to me. Last year’s iPhone 6s introduced Live Photos which I absolutely love. (This from November is just one of my favorites; you can view it on the web thanks to Tumblr’s new Live Photo feature).

This year includes Portrait mode on the iPhone 7 Plus which intelligently applies a blur effect over backgrounds on still shots. Portrait mode photos often look like they were shot on dedicated cameras, not smartphones. The feature requires the dual camera system on the iPhone 7 Plus to work and is only available in beta on iOS 10.1 beta for now. Apple wants to fine tune Portrait mode’s performance before it hits primetime, and there are a few things we can already learn about it through testing.

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Apple has just posted the latest iPhone 7 ad on their YouTube channel today, entitled ‘Balloons’ for obvious reasons. The video follows a balloon throughout various scenes as it eventually finds it way to other balloons, and into someone’s window. It’s only clear at the end that the ad spot is for the iPhone 7 with the balloon tie-in promoting the new Messages features on iOS 10.

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Apple made the courageous decision to remove the headphone jack with its new iPhone 7, but that won’t stop third-party accessory companies from thinking of every way imaginable to bring the port back. Today, a new Indiegogo campaign went live for the Fuze Case, which promises to bring the 3.5mm headphone jack back to the iPhone.

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Highly respected DxOMark has published its ultra detailed iPhone 7 camera review and the results are overwhelmingly positive across the board. iPhone 7 actually scores higher than the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s, which both tied with lower scores despite an improved camera on both models, which speaks to the advances Apple has made this year on the 4.7-inch iPhone even without the dual-sensor iPhone 7 Plus.

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With the release of the iPhone 7, customers have a lot of choice when it comes to purchasing the best iPhone for their personal circumstances. If you’re in the market for a new iPhone 7, which new iPhone should you consider buying? Have a look as we break down the possibilities inside.
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