iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2: what's changing?
7.9.2016
Translation: machine translated
At a keynote event on Wednesday, Apple presented its latest innovations. We now have a clear idea of what to expect with the new iPhone and Apple Watch.
Rumours have been flying thick and fast. The iPhone is expected to have more cameras, the Apple Watch will be equipped with GPS and the mobile phone will no longer have a 3.5mm headphone jack. But the time has come to put an end to all that speculation. Because now that Apple CEO Tim Cook has presented them, we know everything.
The essentials of the new iPhone 7:
- The iPhone 7 no longer has a 3.5mm headphone jack.
- The iPhone 7 comes with headphones that can be connected to the device via the Lightning connector.
- The delivery also includes a Lightning to mini-jack 3.5mm adapter.
- The Home button can no longer be pressed; it is no longer physical, but tactile with haptic feedback to simulate the feel of a physical button.
- The iPhone 7 Plus has a Retina display with a diagonal of 5.5", so 13.97cm.
- On the back, the iPhone 7 Plus has two lenses with a resolution of 12 megapixels each.
- One camera is a wide-angle lens and the other a telephoto lens. The latter is used to zoom in better - up to 10x.
- The iPhone 7 has only one camera on the back, with a resolution of 12 megapixels.
- The front camera now has 7 megapixels.
- This generation of iPhone is available in five colours: gloss black, matte black, white, rose gold and gold
- Models are available with memory between 32 and 256GB.
What's new with the Apple Watch and other products:
- Nintendo will be releasing a Super Mario game in the App Store. It's called Super Mario Run.
- Pokémon Go will be available on the Apple Watch.
- The second generation of the Apple Watch is called Apple Watch Series 2.
- The Apple Watch Series 2 is equipped with a Dual Core processor and an all-new graphics card.
- The Apple Watch Series has a clearer screen, making it easier to read when the sun is shining.
- The second-generation Apple Watch has a built-in GPS module.
- Manufacturers Hermès and Nike will release special models of the Apple Watch Series 2.
- The Apple Watch Series 2 will be available in aluminium, steel and ceramic.
- The water resistance of the Apple Watch has been improved: it is now water resistant to 50 metres.
- Apple sells wireless headphones called AirPods.
- iOS 10, watchOS 3 and tvOS 10 are coming.
iPhone with no headphone jack
A lot of people expected it, and it's now a sure thing: the 3.5mm jack for headphones is a thing of the past. All headphones will be plugged into the mobile phone via the Lightning port. But wait before you throw away those good old headphones that kept you isolated on the bus or train to listen to music because you couldn't stand other people. A Lightning to 3.5mm adapter is included.
New products from Beats by Dr. Dre, which have the new Lightning adapter connectors are compatible.
Apple also presented its AirPods, wireless headphones that connect to the iPhone via Bluetooth. Very interesting: manufacturer Bragi released a new model of wireless headphones, the Bragi - The Headphone model, a day before Apple's keynote.
Farewell button, hello cameras
To make the new iPhone even more water-resistant than its predecessor, the thinking heads at Apple have done away with the Home button. There's now some kind of tactile surface with haptic feedback that simulates the feel of a physical button. The Home button, which has kept its name but not its design, is now one with the glass and aluminium casing. The technology used for the new Home button is called Touch 3D. It was first seen in the 2015 version of the MacBook Pro (known as Force Touch).
The camera setup is much more striking. On the back of the iPhone 7 are two cameras. This is the result of a purchase: last year, Apple bought Israeli company LinX, which specialises in taking breathtaking HD images with several small cameras. This technology has only been incorporated into the largest variant of the iPhone. The 4.7" version only has one camera. This dual-lens feature is not new, but ensures great photos. Since April 2016, Chinese manufacturer Huawei has already been selling devices with this feature and the new LG V20 also has two lenses on the back.
High earners and those with very high standards will be able to enjoy the new photo quality. Because Apple isn't skimping on storage capacity. The iPhone 7 is available with between 32GB and 256GB of memory. The Jet Black high-gloss edition will not be available with the smaller memory.
Technical data
Here is a selection of the main technical data for the iPhone7 Plus and its smaller version, the iPhone 7.
iPhone 7 Plus
- Height: 7.3mm
- Width: 77.9mm
- Length: 158.2mm
- Weight: 188g
- Screen diagonal: 5.5 inches - 13.97cm
- Resolution: 1920x1080 pixels
- Main camera resolution: 12 megapixels
- Main camera brightness: 1.8f
- Front camera resolution: 7 megapixels
- Front camera brightness: 2.2f
- Processor: A10 Fusion Quad Core
- Fingerprint reader: yes
- Force Touch: yes
- Navigation: GPS and Apple Maps
- Resistance: complies with IP67 standard
iPhone 7
- Height: 7.1mm
- Width: 67.1mm
- Length: 138.3mm
- Weight: 138g
- Screen diagonal: 4.7 inches - 11.94cm
- Resolution: 750x1334 pixels
- Main camera resolution: 12 megapixels
- Main camera brightness: 1.8f
- Front camera resolution: 7 megapixels
- Front camera brightness: 2.2f
- Processor: A10 Fusion Quad Core
- Fingerprint reader: yes
- Force Touch: yes
- Navigation: GPS and Apple Maps
- Resistance: compliant with IP67 standard
Software with no major new features
With the new iPhone comes the new iOS 10 operating system, named by Tim Cook as the biggest update of all time. The keynote did not unveil any major new features, as the main innovations were already presented at Apple's WWDC World Wide Developers Conference in June.
The main points:
- iOS 10 supports Home Automation with the HomeKit app.
- Messages now allows you to send handwritten things.
- Different sending modes for Messages. Example: messages are first displayed large, then shrink to normal size.
- Developer Access for Messages.
- Newly arranged lock screen with additional functions.
- Customisable Home app, bringing all content together on one screen.
- More compatibility with other Apple devices.
- Revisited design of the Music app.
- Better display of Points of Interest in Maps.
- New camera layout.
The new iPhones as well as the new Apple Watch will be delivered by Apple on 16 September. Switzerland is also among the launch countries. To pre-order from digitec, click on the following link:
Header image: iPhone 7 and Apple Watch Series 2 unveiled
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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