The new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were revealed last week and they begin shipping towards the end of this week.
There is no doubt the two handsets have an amazing set of features, even though they look almost similar to their predecessors.
In this highly competitive smartphone world, it is hard to please buyers when you don’t have new and innovative features to showcase. Apple has often been seen as a leader when it comes to the said new and innovative iPhone features, however, the just-announced iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus lack a lot on this aspect. Of course, the “new” and “innovative” features we see on the 2016 iPhones can still be seen to be exactly that by Apple diehards, however, for those who have also treaded the Android path, there is nothing new and innovative with Apple’s newest iPhones. In fact, we have a list of the 5 features that are for sure great for the iPhone family, but they are nothing really new in the Android family.
Dual-lens camera
Apple packed the iPhone 7 Plus with a decent 12MP dual-lens camera. This is for sure a great move in competing the likes of Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10, Sony Xperia X Performance, LG G5 and Huawei P9, among others. In case you didn’t know, the LG G5 and Huawei P9, just to name but a few, already boast of this capability.
Apple diehards will still argue that the iPhone 7 Plus dual-lens camera works in a totally different way as its Android counterpart, but the fact remains that it has actually borrowed this feature from the Android family.
Dual speakers for enhanced audio
Apple noted that the iPhone 7 has a dual-speaker system that promises the best audio listening experience for those who prefer to do away with the headphones. There is a bottom speaker and an amplified earpiece that also works as a speaker. Apparently, the phone should give you sound that is twice as loud as the iPhone 6S. However, this has been here with the likes of HTC One M7, Google Nexus 6P and even the new HTC 10, just to name but a few.
IP67 certification
Samsung Galaxy S5 was introduced in 2014 and back then, it came in with IP67 certification for water and dust resistance. Fast-forward to 2016, Samsung Galaxy S7 boasts of IP68 rating, the best certification in the market so far. On the other hand, Apple’s jump to the water and dust resistance bandwagon comes in with a lower rating, which also means that the iPhone 7 is more likely to get damaged in water as opposed to the Galaxy S7, for example. Sony has also had the same IPX7 rating on its phones for years now.
A missing 3.5mm headphone jack
Apple made a drastic move in doing away with the 3.5mm headphone jack on its most successful product. Instead, the iPhone 7 comes with a Lightning Connector that Apple claims offers superior audio quality. Despite the audacious move, the 2016 iPhone is not the only device to have done away with this traditional feature. Before the announcement of the iPhone 7, we had already seen the 3.5mm headphone jack removed on the likes of Motorola’s Moto Z family as well as the LeEco Le2 and LeEco Le Max2.
Enhanced memory
Apple upped the iPhone 7 storage options from 16GB, 64GB and 128GB and doubled every offering, meaning you get a 256GB unit as well. While you might not come across so many Android devices with similar offerings, the ASUS ZenFone 3 Deluxe already offers the same package. It gets even more interesting as far as the RAM is concerned, with recent GeekBench benchmarks revealing that Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus has 3GB RAM – a figure that started hitting major Android devices back in 2014.