Does there have to be a reason to buy a bigger phone other than just a bigger screen? The Plus model of the iPhone has already proved a runaway success with users, but with the iPhone 7 Apple chose to give it something extra – another camera.

The big brother touted two camera lenses to aid zooming in on your subject, and also record depth information used to make any portrait subject really stand out with a bokeh effect. They made a huge deal about this feature when annoying the phone, and also in adverts, but it is hard form me to see the value without sacrificing stretching your palm and your trouser pockets.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=hcMSrKi8hZA

The truth is as good as the portrait mode may be, the amount of times I have missed the other camera is next to none. Perhaps I am just able to get a bit closer to what I am taking a photo of. Maybe I simply don’t take the types of photos others do, but I wouldn’t give up a phone that fits in my pocket for a better zoom. What I really don’t need is yet another camera mode!

Having to worry about what setting to select to best capture the scene in front of me negates the whole point of having an easy to use camera. A camera app should be intelligent enough to know I am taking a portrait without having to access a specific setting. Applying the necessary blurring and bokeh as required and making it customisable to your preference.

Sure enough Apple is half way there, in portrait mode the camera app saves a copy of the photo without any depth effect. So why on earth can’t this happen in reverse like HDR photos? Hopefully Cupertino engineers have managed to stuff enough lenses and computing power into the new iPhone to make this camera more intelligent. However the delay in figuring out something that has been the staple of Sony cameras for a number of years is a little worrying.

Until then a simple, easy to use, single lens suits me fine, I don’t miss a dual camera at all.