Java 7 introduced several new features including underscore in numeric literals to improve readability (e.g. 1_000), binary literals prefixed with "0b", string switching to allow string comparisons, diamond operator <> in collections to simplify generic type instantiation, improved exception handling with multi-catch functionality, automatic resource management with try-with-resources, and new NIO 2.0 APIs including file change notifications. Other enhancements included fork/join framework for parallel programming, dynamic language support improvements, and Swing component decorator JLayer. The presentation proposed upgrading an existing Etrali project to Java 7 for benefits such as improved performance and reduced code size.