In front of me I have a brand New iPhone 7.
Whether you are Team Android, or Team iPhone... anyone can appreciate a well built phone...
And that is what we are here to find out.
Can the matte Black iPhone 7 survive my durability tests?
I've tested 38 different phones so far.
Including the previous iPhones.
So lets see how this newcomer does.
[Intro]
Lets start with the scratch test.
I have a set of mineral pics that tell me where the hardness of the glass falls on Mohs
Scale of Hardness.
Sapphire glass would be around an 8 or a 9 on Mohs Scale, Or plastic screens like the
Galaxy S7 Active scratch at a level 3.
Normally the average smartphone will scratch scratching at a Level 6.
And that appears to be the case with this New iPhone 7.
Its on par with typical smartphone screen hardness.
Coins and keys wont scratch it, but you should keep it protected anyway, There are still
plenty of abrasive minerals in the environment, hiding in the pockets of your jeans or purse,
that can cause scratches to the screen of your phone.
Lets jump down to the home button, or better said the “Home touch pad” now, since it
doesn't click anymore.
There have been rumors that the home button and camera lens are made of sapphire, which
would make them extremely scratch resistant.
Nearing the point of diamonds, which would be nice!
Some smartphones, like the Galaxy phones, use a plastic home button, that can scratch
easy.
So far this touch pad can resist the scratching of my razor blade.
But is it sapphire?
Or is it just normal glass?
The easiest way to find out is using hardness picks.
Like I mentioned before, glass will scratch at a 5 or 6, but sapphire should be around
an 8 or a 9.
And since this button had a deep scratch with a level 6 pick, we know for sure that it is
regular glass, and not sapphire.
The earpiece is made of metal, and is very solidly stuck in place.
It wont be sliding around or falling out like the old iPhone 4's did.
Now the back aluminum.
I will be scratching a Jet Black version very soon, but so far this Matte black holds up
extremely well to my keys.
You can hardly tell its been scratched.
Razor blades on the other hand, will scratch the phone just fine...
[Nazgûl Screaching]
... this is why I always keep my razor-blades in a separate purse.
You should too, unless you want one of these 800 dollar aluminum curly cues.
Now for the camera lens.
This glass piece is protecting the new 12mp camera inside of the phone.
And it is definitely scratch resistant, which is awesome!
My razor blade does nothing to it.
But is it sapphire?
It still scratches deeply with a level 6.
So it doesn't look like anything on this phone is sapphire.
Sapphire does have its pros and cons, but Ill save those for another video.
Next to the camera lens we have what Apple is calling a “Quad LED True Tone flash”.
Initially I thought that this might be 4 different colored LEDS, bringing even MORE life to pictures
than just a dual colored flash would.
But while indeed there are 4 LEDS, it is still just the normal 2 colors that the iPhone 6
has, the flash is just brighter now, because there are more LEDs, which is still good.
Checking out the build quality of the rest of the phone...
We find out that all of the buttons are metal.
Which is ideal.
Plastic buttons tend to discolor or pop out more often than metal buttons do.
So thumbs up to Apple for sticking with quality materials.
The antenna bands are still plastic, but thats also a necessity with Apples design at this
point in time.
If you remove these antenna bands... no more cellular connection.
If we look down here, we see where the headphone jack doesn't exist.
Now this is a problem on multiple levels, Ill go more in depth about this in my next
video, but looking at it from purely a durability perspective this is an extremely bad move.
Just like any piece of electronics, the charging port component has a finite life span.
Nothing lasts forever.
Its designed to withstand a certain amount of physical wear and tear.
This means its designed to withstand 5,000, or 10,000 plugs and unplugs.
Nobody knows the exact number but Apple.
But essentially Apple is combining the headphone jack AND the charging port into one . Now
we have at least 2 accessories using the same single port.
Doubling the rate of wear and tear.
So once this singular lightning port dies, or reaches the end of its lifespan, your phone
is toast.
There is no wireless charging backup either.
So if you are a person whos ever had a charging port stop working on a previous phone...
You can sit back and watch your iPhone 7 port die in half the time.
Unless you fork over the dough for some wireless headphones.
Which is what Apple wants you to do anyway.
I plan on making a video more in depth about the headphone jack in the next few days.
It'll be... revealing.
So subscribe and turn on your notifications for that!
What do you think?
Is it good that Apple killed the headphone jack?
Let me know in the comments.
Onto the burn test!
The IPS LCD of the iPhone 7 lasted almost 10 seconds under direct contact with flame
before the pixels got hot and turned off, going completely black.
It is interesting to see which screens recover and which ones don't.
Samsung AMOLED screens currently turn white, and do not recover from flame.
The iPhone however, completely recovered.
And functions as normal.
It is cool to the touch within seconds.
Now the bend test.
The iPhone 6 had a nifty little trick that would permanently match the phone to the curve
of your body if you ever sat on it...
The iPhone 7 does not appear to be as flexible.
It is interesting to watch the waterproofing adhesive between the frame of the phone and
the screen.
You can watch it tear as I heavily flex the phone.
So while this phone will not suffer from bendgate, or catastrophic failure.
I still would not sit on it, just to keep that water resistance intact.
Once the adhesive is torn, it will not be as resistant as it once was.
Overall Apple has made another solid phone.
I appreciate the build quality.
I still have plenty more to say about that headphone jack... but that will come in another
video.
All my behind the scenes stuff can be found on Instagram and twitter.
There is a very good chance Ill start an iPhone 7 giveaway on twitter in the next week or
so.
So follow me there if you are interested in that kinda thing.
And if you aren't subscribed yet, but love technology, hit that subscribe button!
I review tech from the inside.
Thanks for watching.
Hope to see you around.