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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Daniel Egger - Sunday, October 16, 2016 - link
Amen to that.techconc - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Blind tests are interesting, but not necessarily accurate. For example, if you take 13,000 random people off of the internet and show them pictures, it shouldn't be very surprising that the majority of them will prefer over saturated and inaccurate images. For the untrained eye, these are often more aesthetically pleasing. However, for real photographers that actually care about things like color accuracy, they are a joke. It also shouldn't be surprising that a much smaller percentage of the random population is able to accurately assess a photo. That's not to suggest that I think the iPhone wins in every photo. Rather, I don't take these random polls very seriously and treat them for what they are.cknobman - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
techconc and grayson you are both correct and if you read the article it does mention the exact points you bring up. People tend to prefer over saturation and colors that pop.Its a very similar reason why TV manufacturers set the default settings so high and why people are drawn to TV's on the showroom floor.
All the same, most people are not professionals, and most professionals do not use a smartphone as their main camera.
techconc - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Fair enough... I'm just trying to understand the point you were trying to make with the blind photo test. If it's to point out that most people viewing such surveys don't know what they're looking at, then I agree with you. However, from the tone of your post, you seemed to be using this as the basis for claiming how much better the S7 was.On a side note, you mention the headphone jack. I think we can all agree this is a minor inconvenience for some in the short term, but I wouldn't agree with your characterization overall. For starters, it comes with lightning earbuds right out of the box. Most people are now using bluetooth wireless headsets anyway. For that matter, I really like what Apple has done with their W1 chip. It really fixes problems with existing bluetooth synchronization. The ability to use the same headphones with all of my devices seamlessly without having to worry about individual pairing is very appealing. Finally, as a fallback, there is always the adapter for legacy equipment. That's not a great solution but it's not the end of the world either. The fact that Apple is only charging $9 for these adapters pretty much makes it a non-issue. Just keep a couple lying around or connected to your headphones, etc.
steven75 - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
In other news, TVs in super oversaturated "demo" mode rated "best display" aware by Joe Sixpack. News at 11!ex2bot - Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - link
I can't see the pixels on my 6 Plus's "tiny" display. At all. Now you *will* miss the display *quality* going between the best AMOLED screens and LCDs. The 7 and 7 Plus have excellent LCD displays with better color space than the 6s, but they're not AMOLED.milli - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
Anand's Apple reviews have been extremely pro-Apple for as long as I remember. Even in the old days when their laptops were having obviously negatives, it was not spoken about.Any iPhone review on this website is generally very positive. They usually accomplish this by not talking about the negatives.
Anand's iPhone reviews are interesting for one thing only and that's the detailed info of the SOC.
mjh483 - Monday, October 10, 2016 - link
It's giving credit where it's due.jospoortvliet - Tuesday, October 11, 2016 - link
Amen, I found this a decent ando balanced article!akdj - Friday, October 14, 2016 - link
Make that three of us ...excellent, well studied review. Many thanks for your work and realize that most of us sincerely DO appreciate your efforts! It's actually become humerus that the same three or four doorknobs continue to frequent, completely manage to miscomprehend and actually take the time and expend the effort to post the same drivel they posted ...last year. Same time. Same place. Year in. Year out. Just have to zoom by the first 80-100 whining posts from said three or four 'knobs and enjoy the remainderThey inevitably tire out or their mother's confiscated their phones and computers.
Looking forward to seeing the 'deep dive' and, my bad for forgetting the author who's daily driver is Android gear ...but one question for him.
Is the iPhone 7/7+ enough _____ to consider jumping ship? :-)
Thanks again, keep up the great work and know a small percentage of your readership will ever even 'venture' into the comments and even fewer will take the time to register and post. There's a huge population that laughs at DBag comments ...even definitions modified to refer to them and their DBagEry. Both as a noun and a verb. "Troll".
J