A week ago I upgraded from my iphone 6 plus to the new iphone 7 plus. The phone is essentially the same with the exception of a few somewhat drastic changes.

The new iphone 7 plus has some distinct differences from its predecessor. For starters there is no headphone jack. This does not seem to be as major of a problem as some media outlets try to proclaim it is. Included in the packaging on the phone is a “lightning headphone jack adaptor”. This accessory can plug into your charge port and then you can plug headphones into the other end and listen to music. It might be a little annoying to have to carry around a headphone jack with you aswell headphones but over time it becomes second nature and does not become a nuisance. Another concern among consumers, and specifically teenagers, was the fear that they could no longer use their aux cords in their cars to listen to music but the headphone adapter works for aux cords too. Apple may have officially gotten rid of the headphone jack but there is no need to go buy bluetooth headphones and bluetooth aux cords if you are considering buying this phone.

Another new feature is the camera which can take “action shots” which was a feature on the iphone 6s as well. Action shots are essentially many pictures taken at once in a short period of time to create a small video. All pictures taken on the iphone 7 are action shots.  While the overall quality of pictures taken on the iphone 7 are noticeably clearer it’s not as amazing as the apple commercials make it out to be. The action shots are kind of neat for a day or two but eventually become annoying due to the fact that the pictures always are moving even when you don’t want them to. This feature has little to be desired.

The last major change that Apple had in store and the only change that I believe is a valid reason to buy this phone is the fact that iphone 7’s are water resistant. Finally a water resistant phone! You know how many iphones i’ve lost to water damage? Too many!

According to Apple the iphone 7’s are water resistant up to a meter (a little over 3 feet), however, many videos on youtube show iphone 7’s being left in over 10 feet of water for hours and experiencing no damage. Truly amazing! I have yet to throw my phone in a pool and try it out but I was caught in a rainstorm the other day and my phone did get wet yet there was no difference in how it functioned. If I still had my iphone 6 i’m not sure the outcome would have been the same.

Overall the iphone 7 has 3 major differences between the iphone 6. In my opinion, only one is a true reason to pay the upgrade fee. Also you will have to buy a new phone case as phone cases for the iphone 6 are not compatible with the iphone 7. If you have a working iphone 6 I wouldn’t rush out and buy the new one, but, if you’re due for an upgrade and are around water a lot, maybe it’s not a bad idea.