September is fast approaching and there are a lot of rumors about the iPhone 7. I compiled five features that Apple has yet to incorporate in any version of their iPhones that would be more exciting than a “post Steve Jobs” innovation. There are some honorable mentions, but these were the ones that stood out the most.
A Better and Removable Battery
iPhones are notorious for having a bad battery life. If the new iPhone had a better battery, it would free users from being attached to the wall to charge their phone. Fast charging is great as well, but I would prefer not to be near a charger at all during the middle of the day or evening. Most flagship phones have at least a 3000 mAh battery at this point, but the iPhone 6s has a 1715 mAh battery. I would love to see a 3000+ mAh battery on the iPhone 7. However, that still would not be enough.
Being able to remove the battery from your phone would be a luxury as well. Whether you need to remove it to replace a bad one, or for troubleshooting, it is a feature that is missing for no reason really. It’s a probably a big money maker because people cannot just replace the battery on their own. However, it would cut that ridiculous line in the Apple store down quite a bit. Which means more happy customers.
A Camera Worth Bragging About
The iPhone 6S camera is not by any means ground-breaking. For the price you pay, it should pack a lot more in this department. The iPhone 6s has a 12MP 1/3 sensor size camera. For some comparison, the LG V10 has a 16MP 1/2.6 sensor size camera and the Lumia 950XL has a 20 MP 1/2.4 sensor size camera.
Now you may say, “How dare you compare these phones! The iPhone was released September 2015, before these other phones,” but that argument would be foolish. The LG V10 and Lumia 950XL came out in October 2015, less than a month apart. It really is lazy on Apple’s part when you look at the specs. I would like to see a 20 MP camera with a sensor size greater than 1/2.6 on the iPhone 7. I’m not saying to make a camera that is absolutely nuts, but something at the very least comparable would certainly be nice.
Expandable Memory
I do not understand how anyone can be okay with buying a phone that limits the amount of saved space you have. You literally just have to delete things to make room. Not everything can go to the cloud, which eats up data if you’re not on wifi. Call me a hoarder, but I like having a lot of my movies, music, TV shows, etc. saved to my phone. I guess I just don’t understand the reasoning for not having expandable storage on the iPhone 7 to be honest. This is a standard feature found in countless phones now.
More PPI
Any screen with less than 500ppi should not be considered a flagship phone. With a 401ppi, the iPhone 6S Plus is the lowest in comparison to others. Pixels per square inch play a huge role in how premium a device can feel.
Take the LG G3 for example. The phone was released in May 2014 with a 538ppi (16 months before the iPhone 6S Plus). At the time, it was the best screen in the market. The other specs were not the best of the best, but the screen made the entire experience more premium despite the lacking specs. Given the premium price that comes with all of Apples products, it would be nice seeing these premium features incorporated into the iPhone 7 before they get any further into their future.
iPhone7 Continuum Equivalent
If you have no idea what Continuum is, please take a moment to watch the video and learn. Apple has been known as the innovators, but what Microsoft has done with Continuum is revolutionary. It was already ludicrous how far we’ve come with the tech we have already, but this functionality opens up a world of opportunities. It does have its kinks currently, but once it is ironed out, I could just take my phone with me and not have to worry about lugging around my laptop. If the iPhone 7 had the Apple equivalent to this, users would lose their minds.
Honorable mentions:
Virtual Reality – VR isn’t something that is way ahead of our time anymore. We have seen the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, Google Cardboard and many others, taking VR to the next level. Countless videos of old people or non-gamers getting their senses blow with VR have been popping up everywhere. I’m sure that Apple could really set the bar in this department if they wanted.
I know several of the VR options I mentioned are not phones, but there is plenty a phone can do with VR. YouTube has 360 degree videos now. Apple could sell Bluetooth peripherals that would make it possible to play games with VR. A virtual UI would be pretty fantastic too. You could be watching a video and a text comes through on a window to your right. Okay, so maybe that last one is a bit much, but holy cow that would be cool if you could do that with a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (Those possibilities tho).
USB Type-C – This version of USB does everything and faster. Video, audio, data transfer, charging. Its kind of like an all in 1 cord. Would be really convenient for many reasons.
Lazer Focus – This goes along with having a great camera. A lazer focus prevents the phone from taking it time trying to find a point to focus on. This tends to be an issue especially with pictures in low light.
It is important to know that I currently use a Lumia 950 XL as my daily driver (THERE ARE DOZENS OF US!), and wrote this article based on what would get me excited about an iPhone 7. I am sure that I am not alone in my opinions. I have had many conversations with Windows 10 Mobile and Android users on this topic. These were typically the talking primary points. Let me know what you think!