Should you get an iPhone 7 or Watch series 2?

So Apple pulled off another amazing event, which I have covered here. As for my thoughts on them, you'll find them down below.

Lets kick things off with the Apple Watch(es).

The Apple Watch series 2 is an basically the first gen Watch updated with waterproofing which is nice for the people who wanted their first gen Watch to be more than just splashproof. The built-in GPS allows you to keep the phone at home while going for a run. But perhaps the best feature of the Watch series 2 is the new dual core Apple S2 which is a much needed update from the slow Apple S1 found in the original Apple Watch. Even though I'm not dropping $370 on what's basically an accessory for an iPhone, the new features make it better for fitness enthusiasts & is a cool upgrade if you like your Apple Watch but hate its speed. But if you're not much of a fitness junkie or you're okay with the splashproof first gen Watch minus its slow Apple S1 (everyone hates is), Apple has added the new Apple S2 from the series 2 watch into the original Apple Watch and they're calling it the Apple Watch series 1 for $269.


If you're owning an iPhone 6 or below, you're mostly going to upgrade to the new iPhone 7 or 7 Plus regardless of what anyone says. But if you're on the line, wondering if you should upgrade to the iPhone 7 or change to Android, keep reading. The iPhone 7 is aesthetically almost identical to the iPhone 6/6s, but the ugly antenna lines have been redesigned to be less intrusive. As usual you get the camera & performance upgrades, so in short, it's faster, clicks better pictures & records better videos than its predecessors. The 7 Plus does have a secondary telephoto camera, so if you're a lot into smartphone photography you might want to check it out. If you have an iPhone 6s / 6s Plus, you've already got a really good camera, 3D Touch & an extremely fast processor.... so you're not missing much. 
The hideous antenna lines can be hidden by a case, which you are most likely going to put on your iPhone 6s or 7. But there's one feature which doesn't need a case anymore on the iPhone 7 & that is waterproofing, a feature unofficially there on the 6s & 6s Plus with cases but officially present on the iPhone 7 & 7 Plus (they're IP67 certified: Totally protected against dust & protected against the effect of immersion between 15cm and 1m).

And lastly, the AirPods......... I'm going to be totally honest here. They're completely wireless which means you're gonna misplace frequently. Also the 5 hour battery life is impressive but other bluetooth earphones/headphones give you better battery life and won't get misplaced easily. Therefore I feel you can use that $159 to buy a better wireless headphone or earphones like the Jaybird x2 or a Lightning powered earphone.

Recap of Apple's iPhone 7 event (07/08)

I watched the live stream of Apple's September 7 event & as usual, I was impressed by their presentation. 

Again, nothing new here, they started it with updates and here's the important ones:

1. Apple Music now has 17 million subscribers.
2. 5,00,000 games in the iOS App Store.
3. Mario is coming (officially) to iOS! It is an endless runner game (like Temple Run & Subway Surfers). It will come later this year.

And now on to the much anticipated product announcements:

1. Apple Watch series 2

The Watch series 2 is (according to Apple) completely re-engineered allowing it to be waterproof (upto 50 meters), unlike the last one which was only splashproof. The most significant upgrades are the newly designed speaker which has been resigned to allow for the aforementioned waterproofing, a brand new processor and graphics (called the Apple S2) featuring a dual core processor which is 50% faster and a new GPU which is 100% faster than the first generation Watch. The display is now 2x brighter (1000nits to be precise), it has built-in GPS for tracking your runs without needing to have your iPhone in your pockets & the gold edtion has been replaced with a glossy ceramic version. The Apple Watch series 2 will start at $369.

2. Apple Watch series 1

If you think $369 is too much to shell out on an accessory for an iPhone, you're not alone. Apple knows about it, I guess, because they've updated the painfully slow first generation Apple Watch with the new dual core processor found on series 2. The updated first gen Apple watch will be called series 1 to differentiate it from the original one and will cost you $269.

3. Apple iPhone 7 & 7 Plus

It's 2016, an even numbered year, which means we should be getting a redesigned iPhone, right? Technically speaking, it is redesigned..... but it is in many ways an iterative update to what was already a great phone. The iPhone 7 also plays catch-up with its Android competitors by including a quad-core processor (2 performance cores & 2 power saving cores) like the Snapdragon 820, waterproofing & dual stereo speakers. Apple to remove 2 iPhone standard designs which have existed ever since the first iPhone back in 2007: the 3.5mm headphone jack (which Apple popularized with the iPhone) and the single Home button thats been there on every iPhone ever. Don't worry, on first sight you might not think that the home button is missing because the Touch ID fingerprint sensor is still there in that very location. Unlike previous iPhones, this one is pressure sensitive like the displays of newer iPhones, Apple Watches and the touchpad of newer Macbooks. The lightning port serves as the new digital headphone port & Apple is kind enough to bundle new Lightning EarPods and also a Lightning to 3.5mm jack adapter in the box of every 7 & 7 Plus.

Apple also upgraded the cameras. The iPhone 7 features a 12MP camera with optical stabilization, a f/1.8 aperture, 6 element lens, 4 LED flash, a new ISP and a wide colour gamut like the displays, which aside from the colour gamut and max brightness are untouched from the previous phones. The 7 Plus rocks the same camera on the back with a second 12MP telephoto camera for better zooming. They now break the tradition of previous iPhones by making 32GB the base storage and adding a 256GB option too. Speaking about adding options, the new iPhones now come in a glossy black called Jet black & a new matte black which replaces Space Grey. The silver, gold & rose gold versions also remains. The iPhone 7 & 7 Plus will start at $649.

4. Apple AirPods

We knew this was coming, but we didn't know it was coming so soon. Apple's new iPhone natively supports 2 types of headphones/earphones, first through Lightning and the second is wireless. The new EarPods take care of the first type & Apple introduced the AirPods to cover the second type. The AirPods are completely wireless. They aim to provide the same listening experience for up to 5 hours and can be used with their charging case for up to 24 hours. 

Preorders for, Apple Watch series 1 & series 2 and the iPhone 7 & 7 Plus will begin on September 9 and they will start shipping on September 16.

If you liked the article, click right here to check out my first thought on the Apple's new devices.