On the iPhone 7 Plus

After a few days with the new phone, I have some thoughts…

• iTunes backup from old phone and restore to new phone was painless for the first time ever. No missing data, only took a few minutes.
• Compared to my two year old 6 Plus, this thing is fast. Like, real fast.
• Taptic TouchID is really nice on a naked phone. Because of this (and AppleCare), I’m going case-less on this phone. When it’s inside my BookBook case, it feels weird.
• That being said, even after only a day of using Taptic TouchID, my iPad Pro’s home button feels mushy now. I think I may like Taptic better than physical.
• I went black (regular black, not Scratchtastic Black) for the first time in years. I’m so happy I did. I forget how slick this thing looks in black. And with so many apps offering a “dark mode”, I can easily see a 2017 iPhone that uses OLED and defaults to dark mode.
• My Jaybird X2 Bluetooth headphones are still hanging on, but I’m waiting impatiently for AirPods. The Jaybirds have started to show some wear around the cable’s stress relievers, and I broke of the cap that covers the MicroUSB charging port, so I keep sweating into them.
• This is my first 3DTouch device, and I dig it. It’s probably going to take a while for me to learn all that it does.
• Taptic home button is an obvious evolution towards no home button. And if a future of burying the home button behind the display is coming, might as well get used to it.
• Similarly, AirPods are here because there will never be a headphone jack on an Apple Watch, but there will be an Apple Watch that will work without an iPhone. This is the next step in the wireless evolution.
• The haptics are really nice. Little bumps here and there to denote deleting things, moving things, flipping switches, or reaching the limits of lists are really subtle and helpful. Taptic Engine is key in this, typical vibrations would be overkill.
• Is there even a vibrating motor anymore? Or is the Taptic Engine doing all of it? My guess would be the latter.
• Battery life is dramatically better than my 6 Plus. It may just be because it’s new, but I go to bed with 40-50% now.