Apple Inc. has done the inevitable. Taken a classic best-seller and turned it into a product we are already familiar with and never considered good enough to compare to Apple’s products in the first place. The iOS 7 makeover will see the OS lose its airy textured iconic effects in favor of a flat monochrome look that Android users should be familiar with. Word within the tech community is that this innovation came more as a power struggle between two powerful groups within the company, but the real story is that many tech pundits believe that the complete transformation is too dramatic for Apple fans to digest at one go and may work against the company. Let’s take a look at some of the key and dramatic new looks and features in iOS 7.
iOS 7 Features You’ll Love
The Control Center
It’s supposed to give you a one swipe access to just about every control settings you need. Swipe to access the Airplane Mode, Wifi settings, Brightness settings, Do Not Disturb options, as well as to pick up apps like calculator or a flashlight.
Notification Center
The Notification Center notifies you if you’ve got new mail, missed calls, to-do tasks and all that jazz. The Today feature will summarize your day’s events such as birthdays, weather reports, traffic troubles you’re likely to have and a heads up on what to expect the next day as well. Again a single swipe down action should take you there, even if your lock screen is enabled.
Switching Apps
Pressing the Home button to access a preview screen showing apps you have open is a great way to multitask and switch between commonly used pages. And just like Android, you can swipe away a page if you don’t plan to use it for the rest of the day.
Scheduling Updates
iOS7 understands your battery saving and internet consumption needs. That’s why it schedules updates when your device is connected to WiFi.
Camera Conveniences
Camera shooting formats such as still, video, panorama, or square are now available at more convenient places on the screen. And how about swiping to capture a quick shot? There are also some cool new filters that you will enjoy using if you love to dramatize your photos.
Photo Library
iOS 7 brings a better way to organize your photos; Collections, Moments, and Years let you group them by images or videos based on time and place. Each Year holds a collection of pictures and within a collection are moments captured at a specific place and time. Now finding an image should be much easier.
iCloud Photo Sharing
If you crave to share your photos and videos with the world, you can use iCloud to share photo streams. The new Activity view displays all your shared streams in one place.
AirDrop
AirDrop is a great way to share just about anything on your iOS device with someone who is right next to you. Just tap Share, choose a person you want to share with, and bada boom bada bang its done, via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth of course. Since transfers are encrypted, you can feel safe about your shared data.
Browsing with Safari
Browsing is now more wholesome, no more buttons and bars to distract you. In fact, you won’t see them until you scroll. Plus navigating pages is simply a matter of swiping back or forward. The new tab view lets you see all your tabs at one go too!
iCloud Keychain
The iCloud keychain secured with 256-bit AES encryption will remember your account names, passwords, credit card numbers and key them in automatically. So no more signing in every time you need to shop online. And if you ever need to set up a new account while browsing, Safari will auto generate a unique, tough-to-crack password and remember it for you.
iTunes Radio
iOS 7 brings a radio streaming service for the U.S so that you create the channels you want to hear or choose from over 200 genre based stations, Features Radio, and even download tunes you want from iTunes.
Siri
Something had to be done about this voice assistant and iOS 7 makes yet another attempt at providing better answers to your questions. So yeah, its redesigned, its faster and it takes on more tasks than before and yes, you might get answers from Wikipedia and Twitter too.
The App Store
The App Store includes a new feature that shows apps relevant to your location. There’s also a Kiddie corner that displays apps based on age. And the nicest thing that can happen to the App Store, automatic updates.
Find my iPhone
The next time you lose your phone, you can be assured that no one can use or resell it. That’s because they will have to input your Apple ID and password if they want to erase your device or turn off the Find my iPhone feature. This feature alone seals the deal for me!
There are many good things to look forward to with the iOS 7. It is said to be designed keeping in mind simplicity and efficiency, but tech pundits are skeptical. What’s your take on the iOS 7?
I’m quite excited about the new iOS 7. It’s a bit like buying a brand new car. You just want to find any excuse to take it out for a spin! The new UI and icon set, should have been done a long time ago. Looking at my iPhone 4S, it is incredibly dated looking compared to other devices on the market, including the handset. I’ve had very annoying problems with iPhone 4 and 4s, and feel that the quality has slipped somewhat. I can only hope that it’s not just a “minor” upgrade for the next iPhone, but a brand new look and feel experience. One of my mates commented about a tweet of mine on iOS 7. He said, “Crap as usual, they really are falling behind now.” My response to that, “Shut up Dave lol They aren’t behind now if they’ve caught up.” Apple, don’t leave things so last minute. I hate playing catchup and one expects a tech giant who prides itself on innovation, to constantly being on the cutting edge. Better late than never.