By Lewis Leong Since the 2007 launch of the original device, perhaps no other year has typified the phrase, “Another year, another iPhone” as much as 2016. Except for Apple’s controversial removal of the headphone jack, the iPhone 7 is almost exactly as expected. It’s an excellent phone, but this year sees only incremental improvements and no surprises to turn heads when you’re seen holding it.
In terms of features, there’s absolutely nothing on the iPhone 7 that’s new to the world of phones. Android phones have had dual-lens camera systems, waterproofing, and capacitive buttons and, yes, even gone without headphone jacks before the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus. But when taken as a whole the iPhone 7 Plus I’ve spent the past week with is still one of the best smartphones you can buy right now based on including a strong combination of those features, plus excellent performance, display camera quality, and battery life.Looking at the iPhone 7 Plus, it’s easy to be disappointed by its stale design. Apple has used effectively the same design language for the last three generations of iPhones, during which time some competitors have released some truly stunning designs. While the iPhone still has large bezels around the screen that add unnecessary size and weight, alternatives like the Galaxy S7 Edge and OnePlus 3 have made a large phone seem smaller by reducing that extra non-screen spacePhysically, the only visual differences on the iPhone 7 Plus are its wider dual-lens camera, relocated antenna lines, new “Jet Black” color option, and a missing headphone jack.(I’ll get to that last one later.) Although the design is overly familiar and feels gigantic in the hand, I never get tired of holding an iPhone. Apple is still a leader when it comes to build quality and materials, and the iPhone 7 Plus is no exception. The entire phone feels like it’s milled out of a single piece of aluminum, and even the buttons exhibit a bank-vault-like quality