The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus Review: Iterating on a Flagship
by Joshua Ho & Brandon Chester on October 10, 2016 8:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iOS
- iOS 10
- iPhone 7
- iPhone 7 Plus
Video Performance
While still images probably constitute a significant portion of what a smartphone camera is used for, video performance still remains important as anything moving or with a notable sound requires video or something that is but quite isn’t a video. In order to test video performance, we use direct comparison with two devices recording simultaneously on the same rig.
| iPhone 7 Video Encode Settings | ||||
| Video | Audio | |||
| 1080p30 | 16 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 86 Kbps, 44.1 KHz AAC | ||
| 1080p60 | 25 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 86 Kbps, 44.1 KHz AAC | ||
| 4kP30 | 48 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 86 Kbps, 44.1 KHz AAC | ||
| 1080p120 | 38 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 86 Kbps, 44.1 KHz AAC | ||
| 720p240 | 38 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 86 Kbps, 44.1 KHz AAC | ||
Before we get into the actual results I want to discuss the video encode settings. It's kind of interesting to see how the iPhone only records mono audio, which I suspect is a function of not having enough microphones to do noise cancellation and useful stereo recording. It's also interesting to see how Apple can actually encode AVC High Profile for all video – including 4kP30 at 48 Mbps – which is more than I can say for a number of high-end flagships this year. This suggests that the encode blocks are capable of keeping up without any strange problems.
| 1080p30 Video |
Looking at 1080p30 video I'm just profoundly disappointed by how high-end Android devices perform in comparison. The state of affairs here is so depressing there's really no reason to compare 1080p60, 4K, or slow motion capture because it's clear to me that something is just fundamentally broken (or consistently misconfigured) with Snapdragon 820's encode blocks. Even casual examination reveals massive macroblocking any time the sky comes into view, which is something we've consistently seen with the HTC 10, Galaxy S7, LG G5, and OnePlus 3. Other than this, the LG G5 and Galaxy S7 both have extremely oversaturated color rendition which just doesn't represent reality. The iPhone 7 and 7 Plus clearly have better output than any other Android device. The iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 7 with the 28mm focal length camera perform quite similarly to the iPhone 6s Plus other than some improvements in dynamic range and noise reduction, so I'd refer back to the iPhone 6s review for those interested in learning about how the iPhone 7 stacks up because the state of the art in Android has not progressed since then.
| OIS Video |
In the interest of trying for completeness anyways, I also tested image stabilization performance. Relative to the Galaxy S7 we continue to see how the lack of software stabilization to go with the hardware stabilization leads to really shaky and jerky footage when recording while walking. The iPhone 7 still shows large motions, but it's much smoother and also handles wind noise better. The HTC 10 is much more competitive with the iPhone 7 here but I would say that Apple's software stabilization appears to be slightly better and the lack of PDAF on the HTC 10 camera is definitely noticeable in the focus transition testing but it's important to keep in mind that the HTC 10 has no software stabilization if you enable 4K video. The LG G5 has basically all of the same traits as the Galaxy S7 in this test and needs improvement in all of the same areas as a result. If you're upgrading from either the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, or 6s you're going to also see a major improvement as the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus both have OIS which works with the software stabilization to maximize the reduction in hand shake when capturing video.
I also went ahead and tested the iPhone 7 Plus with some quick footage to see what difference it provides when capturing video, and it's fairly obvious that the secondary camera lacks OIS but also dramatically increases captured detail which makes it useful for static shots where you can avoid inducing hand shake but its utility rapidly decreases in low light or high hand shake conditions.
Overall, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus remain the best phones on the market for video capture. Strange issues with Snapdragon 820 video encode blocks mean that all Snapdragon 820 devices are just barely passable for video capture. Considering how OEMs have had almost a decade to get this right, it is truly incredible that phones costing 600 US dollars still have these obvious problems, and that Apple remains among the few to get it right.
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indifferent - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
I second blackcrayon, UtilityMax you need to read more about iphone.UtilityMax - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
I don't need to read more about the iphone. I have used all the models up tp 5S. There is no way to upload my media into the iphones without using the garbage software that's known as itunes. (The last time I installed it on a PC, it literally deleted my BluRay drive), There are some also very ridiculous an inferiour methods to by pass that such as the using a third party software like VLC. None of that works as well as plugging my android phone with USB cable into a PC and copy/paste directly all the files that I need on the phone.blackcrayon - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
Ahh, I guess you meant to say there is no way to upload music to the stock music app (unless you use streaming/cloud which I find a much better solution anyway), or upload photos to the stock photos app (unless you stream, which I find a much better solution anyway). You didn't clarify. But you still don't *need* iTunes to put "media" on the phone. Also, you might consider that 802.11ac probably gets data onto an iPhone faster than using USB at this point...jlabelle2 - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
No Blackcrayon, UtilityMax is correct. If I want to put my FLAC on my iPhone (because Qobuz and others sites only propose FLAC and not ALAC), I need to 1/ open iTunes, 2/ look for the apps section, 3/ find the app like VLC that allow file transfer 4/ make a drag-n-drop, 5/ turn on the app on the iPhone and wait the synchronization.That is really CRAZY that in 2016, you just cannot simply drag-n-drop from the computer on the iPhone.
"unless you use streaming/cloud which I find a much better solution anyway"
if you do not care about audio quality, have unlimited data, and have ALWAYS an internet connection wherever you are, 100% of the time, ...yeah, it can be a good enough solution for you.
"Also, you might consider that 802.11ac probably gets data onto an iPhone faster than using USB at this point"
The time where you will even remotely transfer as fast 30Go of music with wifi than USB you will call me buddy. But you are in dreamland.
techconc - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
No jlabelle2, blackcrayon is correct. There are multiple solutions for accomplishing file transfer without iTunes. Some as simple as AirDrop. For PC users, there are file transfer apps. There are cloud solutions, including iCloud itself. I would suggest that the majority of iPhone users don't even use iTunes at all anymore for any sort of phone syncing. This isn't 2007 anymore... time to update our memes.jlabelle2 - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
"Some as simple as AirDrop"No help, I have a Windows PC, like 93% of the population out there. Beside, can you AirDrop FLAC?
"For PC users, there are file transfer apps"
Great, so your answer to "you have to use a special program like iTunes to transfer dumb things like music" is "no, not true, you can use ANOTHER special program"???
What an answer is that?
"There are cloud solutions, including iCloud itself."
How do you transfer FLAC into your iPhone with iCloud? Could you share your workflow?
"This isn't 2007 anymore... "
It is and this what we are complaining. Changing ringtones, putting some music in your phone... in 2016? like we were 10 years ago? Really?
techconc - Monday, October 17, 2016 - link
Your complaints seem to be focused on FLAC. For starters, if you insist on using FLAC, you can do so with VLC, etc. It's not a real barrier. For that matter, you ask about alternate workflows. Have you tried something like WALTR? It's a free application that's available on both Mac and Windows. It allows for drag and drop of your media in basically any format, including FLAC. You drag and drop the files onto the application and it does real time conversion (losslessly in the case of FLAC) to a native iOS format in order to work properly with native apps. The point being, even your edge case scenarios have viable solutions.adrift02 - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
You mentioned UI fluidity in the review, and that none of the recent iPhones are the most fluid mobile devices you've used. So what device tops them? I'm asking because that's why I switched to iOS when the iPhone 5 was released -- I was sick of animation stutters and progressive slowdown among Android devices. I'm now looking to switch back to Android (for audio reasons, as I want a headphone jack and the 7 dongle's DAC wasn't great) but am torn re: choices. I'd like an experience that's as smooth as iOS and am considering the Pixel (waiting for reviews), as well as the V20 (just for the DAC, but it's waaay to big for me).Crono - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
Disable animations in developer options. Install Nova Launcher, enable Aggressive Desktop, select "Faster than light" in animations. On a clean ROM or.a debloated device - I'm using am Honor 8 - it's a less stuttery/faster UI than the iPhone 7 fresh out of the box.Crono - Thursday, October 13, 2016 - link
^ please ignore the typos, it was a quick reply and there's no edit feature :(