It's official—there's a new iPhone coming next week! During an event in San Francisco Wednesday, Apple showed off the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, the next generation of its popular smartphone. The phones are (finally) water-resistant, so they can handle an unexpected dunk in a...pool, and have better cameras and many other features that make them definitely upgrade-worthy.
On the surface, the new phones look a lot like their predecessors with a few small changes, most notably the long-rumored removal of the headphone jack. That's right, the iPhone won't have a traditional hookup for your headphones. Instead, you'll start using Bluetooth or the lightening port (where you connect your power cable) to connect headphones to your phone. There are currently a TON of headphones on the market that work over lightning (that's been a feature of the port since its debut in the iPhone 5), so no need to worry. Apple will be including a pair of headphones in the box that connect that way, as well as an adapter that you can use to connect your regular headphones.
For those that want to go wireless, Apple is will be selling a new pair of wireless headphones called AirPods. They'll be $160, work with Siri, last five hours on a single charge, and come with their own charging case when they launch in October.
While potentially alarming, removing that headphone jack makes room for the iPhone to have a second speaker (louder speakerphone calls!), and gives Apple a little more space inside the phone to upgrade some of the electronics inside. This year's iPhone will have a faster processor as well as better graphics support, things that will come in handy if you like to play serious games on your phone.
The highlight is the iPhone's new camera. Both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus both got serious upgrades when it comes to taking pictures, which is what most of us use our phones for anyway, right? The iPhone 7 has a f/1.8 lens that will handle low light much better than last year's iPhone, and a new quad-LED flash for lighting up your dimly lit snaps. The rear camera is still 12 megapixels like the iPhone 6, but the front-facing camera got a little bump and is now 7-megapixels, so you'll be able to take higher resolution selfies.
If you're really into photography, then you'll want to check out the iPhone 7 Plus. It got even more of an upgrade in the camera department and now has two lenses, one wide-angle lens, and one telephoto lens positions side by side on the back of the phone. The dual-camera setup lets you take zoomed in pics that look more like they were taken on a regular camera, it also enables a new Portrait feature which will let you take pictures of friends where the background in blurred. It's an effect that typically requires you to have a fancy SLR camera with a nice lens, but Apple has figured out a way to mimic the look using the two cameras. They're still working on it, so feature won't be there when the iPhone 7 Plus ships, but expect it to come pretty soon.
Earlier this year, Apple showed off iOS 10, the newest version of its phone's operating system, and what the iPhone 7 will ship with. If you have an iPhone 6 you can also download the new software on September 13 and take advantage of the new features.
Notably, in Messages, you'll be able to do things like change the size of the message bubble, write handwritten notes right on the screen to send as texts, and send stickers and animations. For instance, when you send a friend a "Happy birthday!" message they'll see balloons flying across the screen when the read it. iOS 10 also has a cool new Invisible Ink feature that sends messages hidden under a virtual curtain of sorts. Perfect for surprising a friend, or sending that sext (no judgement!), the recipient has to swipe their finger over the message before they'll be able to see what you've sent. Another new feature allows you to swap out any words you type with the appropriate emoji.
New app integrations also cut down on the number of apps you have to open to get stuff done on your phone. You can make dinner reservations from directly within Maps, Siri can work with other apps to do things like call and Uber, or send a friend cash using Square.
The iPhone 7 will be priced the same as the iPhone 6, with the base model starting at $649. It will also be available in a few new colors: black and jet black, as well as space gray, gold, and rose gold. Apple is doubling the amount of storage it offers in the device. So that $649 will get you a 32GB version this year rather than a 16GB one. The iPhone 7 Plus is a bit more expensive, with the base model starting at $769. Both models will be available for preorder starting this Friday, September 9, and will arrive in stores (or on your doorstep) on September 16.
Source: http://www.glamour.com/story/the-iphone-7-is-here-this-is-everything-you-need-to-know-about-it
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