Disclaimers up front: I do not have one, and have not seen one in real life yet. I have one pre-ordered (but won’t get it until October). These thoughts are mostly based on reviews and articles online.

Up until tonight, it wasn’t clear how successful this iPhone launch was going to be. The hardware design was certainly not significantly different from the previous two generations; something of a diversion from the previous rhythm of a new physical look every other year. Tonight though Apple seems to have announced that the iPhone 7 Plus models are totally sold out in pre-order (all colors), as is the jet black color iPhone 7. That suggests that there was still plenty of demand for the new phone.

There were clues: the jet black 7 was showing delivery into October less than half an hour after pre-ordering opened. The website & store apps were also struggling during that early period of ordering. Of course, the cynical will state that selling out can be a result of having too few available, intentionally or otherwise, as well as because of demand. Unless we get sales numbers from somewhere, there is no way to answer that.

The announcement, while much of it had leaked ahead of time (Apple’s famous security seems to be struggling to contain the details these days), has a few interesting points, some controversial, others less so.

Headphone Jack

Let’s get the most controversial (apparently) issue out of the way first: the removal of the 3.5mm headphone jack. Who cares? Really, why are you not using wireless headphones already? For the few occasions when you can’t, use the adapter or the included lightning headset. Apparently, most people just use the included headphones with their phones anyway, so for the majority this is totally a non-issue; for the rest, get a Bluetooth headset or headphones. Using Bluetooth headphones also resolves the charging while listening issue (I do it all the time in the office).

I have a set of Tzumi sports buds that I use for calls and listening to music on my commute. In the office, I use a set of AncStudio Noise Canceling headphones which, while not being the best noise canceling headphones out there, seem pretty reasonable to me (our CEO and VP of Engineering play Jenga a few feet from my desk, and the AncStudio noise canceling is good enough to totally mute the sound of collapsing Jenga towers). They claim to be able to work for calls too, but my experience with that has been disappointing (people say it is hard to hear me clearly and I usually switch to the Tzumi ones for calls now).

For more serious listening, I bought a Voxoa BTunes adapter for my Bose QC-3 headphones, though if I was buying headphones today I would probably go for the new Bose QC-35 ones with Bluetooth built in. Both options get you a microphone too, and unlike the AncStudio experience, the BTunes adapter on my QC-3 works well for calls.

What About AirPods?

Seriously? Fancy Bluetooth extensions aside, these seem more than a bit overpriced, especially for something that just looks odd. My Tzumi ones cost me less than $20 (on sale at Old Navy believe it or not), and while I’m sure they don’t sound as good as the AirPods, they were simple to pair with my phone, connect instantly I switch them on and they stay in my ears better than any of Apple’s headphones have ever done. They also sound just fine to me for what I use them for.

Jet Black

This was a tough one for me. My decision was always between black and jet black, but the susceptibility to scratches worried me. In the end though, I fell for the shiny object and plunked for jet black. I keep my phones in sleeve cases, so they are well protected in my pocket, but naked in use. My iPhone 6 & 6s have lived in a sleeve from Joli Originals which has worked really well. The iPhone 7 will start in the same sleeve, but I might treat it to a new one in a month or so 🙂

Cameras

I still believe the iPhone 7 Plus is too large for me, so despite the new dual camera trick being interesting, the camera that I looked for improvements in was the one in the smaller phone. OIS was a nice addition there, as was the new optics.

I do wish they’d remove the bump though (a slightly thicker phone would be fine IMHO), but I notice it more because I use the phone without a case. So, when I put it down I have to remember to place it on the case rather than directly on the desk. (On a positive note, that behaviour pattern, already learned from the 6/6s, will hopefully keep the jet black finish looking good for longer.)

As for the effects available with the twin camera design, I carry my tiny, but exceptionally powerful, Canon S120 almost everywhere. I’m pretty sure it will outperform even the fancy dual camera setup in the iPhone 7 Plus.

Water Resistant

I’m not sure how much I care about this, but I do think it is about time a premium phone like the iPhone was at the very least water resistant. I was shocked when the first generation of Apple Watch was not truly waterproof (something I see they fixed for the second generation). I don’t expect to swim with my phone, so water resistant is fine.

Storage Upgrades

A big factor in my decision to upgrade was the fact that the 128GB storage drops from the top price tier to the middle tier. That means my monthly payments for the new phone will be lower than for the old one, even with the same storage (and I don’t really need 128GB – I still have plenty of space even with the 7000+ photos and videos I have on it).

I’ve said a few things about this on Twitter already, but what amazes me here is that they are not asking Apple to turn over the key, or even to decrypt the data using a key they already have. Instead, they are trying to say they can force a private company to dedicate resources to writing a special version of their software, installing it on a device and then allowing the FBI remote access to the device.

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One of the new toys that arrived last week was my new Pebble Time Steel watch. This was one I was excited about as, despite some occasional problems with my original Pebble & Pebble Steel watches, I am still a believer in the platform and decided to go with the Pebble Time Steel rather than an Apple Watch.

I’m not going to do the traditional unboxing photos, suffice to say it came presented more like a watch this time (in very retail-friendly packaging, so I expect to see these hanging in my local Target store soon alongside the other Pebble watches they carry already).

The other big change is the style aspect. Personally, I like the new style, though I do agree with some of the other reviews I’ve read that the black border around the screen seems very large on the Time. It would have been nice to see a screen that went much closer to the edges of the watch. Of course, that would have made the screen a different pixel size to the current ones which introduces a bunch of complexities for developers, but we cope with that on Android and iOS, and even on the Apple Watch.

My watch shipped with only the leather strap. The metal bands for the Kickstarter orders are on backorder and will be coming later; I believe the retail orders only come with the leather bands though.

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With what seems like my entire Twitter timeline getting excited about their new Apple Watches (arriving, one after the other today it seems), I thought it would be a good time to review some of my thoughts on smartwatches, and in particular why I have not pre-ordered an Apple Watch. In fact, not only have I not pre-ordered an Apple Watch, but I have “pre-ordered” (through their Kickstarter campaign) a new Pebble Time Steel watch.

What are the pros and cons of each in my opinion (and remember, that’s all this is – my opinion; you are welcome to disagree with me and choose whichever smartwatch works best for you, or even not get one at all).

Battery Life

This is the big one for me. I already charge way too many things every day (I carry multiple phones for work, typically an iPad and a laptop, and I also have a Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire and a pair of bluetooth headphones that I have to remember to keep charged). My Pebble and my Fitbit One are my best friends w.r.t. charging since they’re roughly once a week! Getting a 20% battery life warning on my current Pebble Steel doesn’t bother me – that’s still at least a day of normal use.

Less than 24 hours seems like a big miss to me. That means one more thing I need to find an overnight charging spot for. The new Pebble Time Steel claims up to 10 days with a colour screen. I just think that Apple could have pushed the technology here.

Overall Design

I think this one is actually a tie for the new Pebble Time Steel vs the Apple Watch (in fact, I’ve seen some photos that suggest they look pretty similar). Neither wows me as much as the Moto 360, but there are plenty of reasons why I am not interested in that family of smartwatches. I do have to concede that the circular design looks stunning though. I would have loved to see a rectangular and a circular design from Apple rather than just two rectangles in (barely – just 4mm) different sizes.

That said, my two existing Pebbles look fine to me, and more importantly don’t scream smartwatch to everybody. I wear my black Pebble steel every day and get very few comments about it. I ordered the new one in black too.

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