At today’s WWDC 2013, Apple unveiled the latest version of iOS, iOS 7. The changes seem mostly cosmetic, the biggest change being the replacement of skeuomorphic elements with flat colours. This is probably due to the departure of 2 supporters of skeuomorphs: Steve Jobs and Scott Forstall. My opinion of skeuomorphs ranges from tolerance (Notification Center) to dislike (Voice Memos and Podcasts apps), but now iOS is starting to look like Windows 8/Phone. And they added a camera mode just for square aspect ratio photos
Other changes include intelligent multitasking, notifications on Lock Screen, and swipe up for Control Center, to turn on/off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, etc. These are only the changes I’m most interested in, you should search for the full list of changes, e.g. Apple Introduces iOS 7 | TechCrunch.
iOS and jailbreaking reminds me of World of Warcraft. Jailbreaking, like add-ons in WoW, adds more functionality. The most popular features are eventually added to the base program. Who remembers using add-ons for item level, threat meter, quest tracking and equipment managing? The Control Center has long been present in jailbroken iPhones, and even Android.
The iphone has needed a fresh coat of paint for a while now. I like it. Except I want the temperature on the weather app icon. They have dynamic icons for the calendar and the clock, why cant they do it with the temperature too?
Ill be interested to see how Apple radio works. I have a Pandora station that I have tweaked for 4 years. I wonder how well Apple’s app will work.
I’m disappointed that my 4s won’t be getting AirDrop - that seems like a handy bit of technology. Otherwise, I think the changes are really good. On one hand, it just seems like a fresh coat of paint. But digging a little deeper, things like stackable folders, unlimited tabs in Safari, and that entirely revamped control center show that it’s going to be a much different experience.
I’m also excited to get iTunes Radio. I use Pandora on my phone, but it’ll be really nice to have that on my Apple TV. I’d been meaning to jailbreak that so I can get Pandora on there, but this is easier.
iOS 7 looks awesome and all updated. In fact, that’s what I was waiting for. Very clean and new-looking. Does anyone know when this is will be available for the iPad 3?
Basically, this is the reason it feels so good. Most of us are really bored with seeing the same thing and Apple not making substantial improvements on their OS and how it looks.
So with every major new feature in iOS7 being lifted directly from the competition (except Airdrop, arguably) does this mean that Apple is going to drop the legal vendetta against Android and stop calling it a stolen product?
I see a lot of people saying it is a fundamental change, but I don’t see it. And that’s a good thing. Fundamental changes are something like what Microsoft did with Windows 8, and doing that sort of thing is always too much too fast.
