Apple iOS7

Apple has finally caught up with the rest of the mobile OS world. The keynote at WWDC has revealed a slew of new features, and yours truly has access to the beta to test them out for you, my dear reader. A little disclaimer, since I only have beta access, my experience may not be the same as the final product. I found that the music app is quite buggy, crashing several times. However, all in all, the beta is already quite smooth, with very few major problems. Now to the actual review. Keep in mind I will only be reviewing things I myself used on amajor basis and found important.

Design

All previous iOS versions, right from the very start, were dripping with skeuomorphism (i.e. making programs look like their real life equivalents – for example, notes looks like a yellow notepad) a favourite of ex-design chief Scott Forstall. But when he was fired, and Sir Jonny Ive installed in his stead, a lot of critics hoped for a more updated look in iOS 7. Ive, an award winning designer, who was previously solely in charge of the hardware design, was, and still is a known lover of simplicity, straight lines and a “flat” look as is exhibited in the iMac, iPhone etc. Therefore, the consensus on the internet was that Ive would try to apply this approach to the software that ran the devices he designed. And, boy, did he deliver. Right from the loading screen his influence is felt, all the way to the absence of the felt texture of the folders. However this just feels “right”. Apple device’s futuristic look clashed with the green felt and faux leather of previous software iterations.

The new lock screen just emphasises the beauty of the retina display, with no more grey bars in the way. Then when the lock screen gives way to the home screen, the animation looks just (sorry for the cliché) awesome. The new designs of the app icons, without the shadowing, are just great to look at and much more modern. An added touch that does speak volumes of Ive’s creativity and attention to detail is the opaqueness of various messages and screens. This means that your home/lockscreen really affect the look of your phone as the colours do really bleed through. There is so much more I could tell you about the new design, however I would run out of space and time, so I apologize if I forgot any new design features. However the last thing I have to mention and also the thing that impressed me the most (I know, easily entertained), was the funky 3-D thing. My backscreen that moved depending on my viewing angle was just great! That touch was just something I found to be absolutely stunning, and the first thing everyone asked to see.

One con I just wanted to utter was that I found that when I first saw the actual icons, while nice, I thought that the added colour palette did make it feel a bit less serious. However I guess that was just the new experience of it all.

All in all the design is exactly what Apple needed to do and is a great way to start off the Jonny Ive era.

Utilities

There are several things that Apple has finally implemented features that the world had already a long time ago including a more efficient multitasking, notification center, control center, a new camera app as well as air drop. Firstly lets talk about the multitasking, in fact it’s directly stolen from Windows 8. However it just looks great in iOS 7, and works perfectly. The swiping up to quit apps is just divine and much more intuitive than tapping the red cross. The notification center has been revamped in iOS 7, getting rid of the fake texture, introducing, in black and white, different sections for “today”, “overall” and “missed”, that should finally (hopefully) add some actual use to the notification center. Till now it hasn’t really done much for me. Next on the agenda is the control center. This feature, directly stolen from android, is something that apple users have cried for for a long time. Directly swiping up on your phone brings up a mini settings area where you can easily turn wifi, bluetooth, screen lock etc. on and off, and aids you in avoiding the cluttered and complex settings app. This a great addition to iOS 7 and one of the reasons I decided to update early. Lastly we have the camera and air drop. The camera has been totally redesigned, and now, is just a dream to use. Instead of having to flick a switch, or go into the settings to change camera mode, you just flick from mode to mode. Also Apple have now hipsterized the app with different filters, so for all ya’ll instagrammers out there will certainly enjoy this. Lastly the air drop. This feature seems sick! The idea that I can instantly exchange files over wifi is great, however at this point I couldn’t find anyone to do an iPhone to iPhone transfer, so future updates on that.

Conclusion

This is the update that iOS really needed. At a timewhen confidence in Apple has been failing, they have released a much needed boost. It has given the ageing system a new look while remaining true to the iOS roots. The features are poignant and are what is needed to keep iOS competitive.