Let’s start right off with the nasty stuff. The Apple iPhone 7 and 7 Plus do away with your trusty 3.5 mm headphone jack. And boy is that getting a lot of people upset.
In case you haven’t heard, the earbuds that ship with the iPhone 7 connect through the lightning port. This means you can’t listen to the headphones while charging. The good news is that Apple packs a headphone to lightning connector in the box. The bad news is that if you 
lose the little sucker, then all the headphones you already have are expensively useless. Apple is coming out with a completely wireless set of Airbuds next month for $159. One reason Apple gives for the change is to help make the iPhone 7 water resistant. The company has also used the space vacated by the headphone jack to install stereo speakers.
I, for one, have a real problem with the lack of the headphone jack. You can’t use Bluetooth on airplanes. I like to switch among Hi-Res and Noise Cancelling on-ear and over-ear phones, alternatively with wireless, and with earbuds. And on plane flights or train trips, it’s not unusual for me to charge up my device while I’m listening. The only way you can get around that is with a $49 lightning dock that gives you a second lightning port, but that’s going to be difficult to use while you’re traveling.
We’ll give you a complete review after we’ve had an opportunity to spend some serious time with the 7, which won’t be for a few weeks. But some of the new features include an upgraded camera for the iPhone 7 and a dual lens camera for the 7 Plus, along with a host of software and hardware improvements to bring what Apple considers professional quality imaging to the phones. The battery lasts longer and the design is slightly changed with more finish and color options, including a jet black case.
Base memory for the new phones is 32GB instead of the paltry 16GB in prior models. The new processor is faster. Apple has also changed the nature of the “home” button. It is now a “Force Tracking” button, so that various functions can be called up depending on the pressure on the button. Sounds great, but I will reserve judgment until we see how well it does with seniors who may have arthritic fingers or have lost some of their manual dexterity.
As I mentioned, some of the changes were made to make the phone water resistant. We all know of instances of phones being dropped into a toilet, a washing machine, or even a puddle. This will make the resulting failures a thing of the past.
There’s lots more info out there on what’s in the new iPhone. You might like to look at this report from the New York Times. Pricing for the iPhone 7 begins at $649 without a carrier contract, though you can also pay $32/month. That’s for 32GB of memory. The iPhone 7 Plus with 32GB begins at $760.
Apple also announced the Apple Watch Series 2. Among the features is built-in GPS, which is a real help for runners, hikers, and bikers. You can go for your workout without your phone, then have the watch sync with the phone later to show the route and stats for your trip. Another big thing is that the new watch is intended to frolic in the water, making it ideal for swimmers (not so much for divers). It features a faster, more powerful processor and has double the brightness of the original version. Apple has kept many of its series 1 designs, but has added many more including a fitness-oriented watch that’s co-branded with Nike, and a ceramic case Edition watch priced at about $1300, which is said to be four times as hard as stainless steel. One issue Apple did not resolve with the new watch is its limited battery life, rated at 18 hours.
Pricing begins at $369 and heads all the way up to $1300.
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