We have come a long way from first mobile phone that debuted in 1983, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000x, which weighed two pounds, and was priced at $3,995.00, to the contemporary 4.87-ounce iPhone 7, announced on September 16th, 2016, and available for purchase several months later.  Now that students have had several months to use it, one can assess its features in a more in-depth manner.

The iPhone 7 has evolved greatly from its previous predecessor, the iPhone 6, to now incorporate a new design of the home button, an innovative approach to the mobile cameras, and, the most notorious feature of all, the removal of the headphone jack.

Externally, the iPhone 7 has changed in several ways. Its antennas (the gray lines on the back of the iPhone 6) have been modified in color to blend into the phone casing of both matte black and glossy black. However, this feature has not changed for rose gold, gold, and silver. The camera has also been slightly redesigned for a more contemporary look. Along with this, it is waterproof. Lastly, the iPhone 7 has been introduced with a new color “Jet Black.”    

Students at Bronx Science critiqued the remodeling of the home button, its battery life, and the removal of the ear jack on the iPhone 7. Its home button has been changed to not be clicked, but rather tapped. The phone allows one to customize the sensitivity of the finger press, but not to a great extent. At its lightest setting, the home button does not work once the screen is locked.

“I love the new camera! The photos are much more vibrant and clear,” said Taylor Huang ’19.

“Because I use the home button all the time, I find it difficult to adjust to this change,” said Megan Yin ’18.  “On that note, I feel like the battery life wasn’t all what it was hyped up to be.” There are also many more wires (than with previous models) included with the iPhone 7. While there is the usual single lightning cable provided, which is used to charge the phone, there is another lightning connector to 3.5mm, supplied as a dongle to use with non-bluetooth headphones.  

Bobby Ng ’17 also responded negatively, stating, “The removal of the headphone jack is very inconvenient. Instead of using fewer wires, I am forced to use even more wires!”

However, not all aspects of the phone are dissatisfactory. The updates of the iPhone 7 include a wider display of colors on the photos taken with the camera. Along with this, the camera encompasses many new features, such as optical image stabilization, a four-color true tone flash, and a wider color capture, allowing one to take photos of greater quality.

“I love the new camera! The photos are much more vibrant and clear,” said Taylor Huang ’19.

So is the iPhone 7 really worth it?

“On a scale of one to ten, I think it would be around an eight, or maybe even a seven. I think that the phone could have been improved a lot more. This phone definitely felt like a step towards something, but I feel as if it was not truly finished in time for the release. All in all, the phone is still Apple quality, but it never felt like Apple really went past expectations.”