iOS 7 My View, Opinons, Screenshots and Features

I Know It's Not Home Cinema But I Do Use It In My Cinema System. So Let's Have A Quick Look

 

Apple unveiled its iOS 7 upgrade on Monday the 10th of June 2013, at its annual WWDC Conference in one of the biggest changes to the platform since its launch of the original iPhone.

So lets have a look and see if the improvements are worth it, innovative and more importantly function in every day life.

Some of the most notable changes in the pictures below give you a taste of what to expect when the update goes live in the autumn.

I installed the Beta and had the whole weekend to play around and see if its not only for me but for the rest of the Apple loyalists out there. Read on and see what you WILL be getting.

Fig 1. The 'New' Home Screen.. Innovative or Child Like?.. You Decide

 

So Friday night came and I thought ok take the plunge and install iOS 7 Beta 1. I waited and waited and then on it turned, first thing is there is no 'slide to unlock' slider anymore, you just do as it says slide to unlock, then there is the 'New' Home screen, icons are more pastel like in there colours and as everyone has said and mentioned 'Flat' looking. You now get a screen that somehow seems brighter and more colourful, its a massive change to those who are familiar to the 5 or 6 year old iOS icons. Gone have the rather business looking icons such as 'Notes', 'Email', 'Safari' and so on and in comes more of a simpler design. Yes Android have had these sort of icons since day one and ALL the so called Fanboy's are saying 'We've had this and this for years'. but where did people want Apple go?.

With this fresher look on design there are only so many things you can change and make different without so called copying someone. But I wont make this a war between Apple and Android its about what 'New' with iOS.

Fig 2. The first three Shots

 

We have a 'New' Control Centre where you can get access to your most used things like on/off for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Brightness, Do Not Disturb, Airplane Mode, Airplay, Screen Rotation Lock and new things like Torch and Airdrop.

Airdrop is where you can share you images or web pages or anything else for that matter with people or friends near by without having to go around tapping your phone with other people to 'Give it to them', if they are in you contacts or not you can share it with the 'Everyone' Button.. I like the idea, if your in a club and you turn it on you'll be able to send a pic of that cool looking cocktail or new 'Stunner' on the dance floor with your friends and enemy's or in a shop and see a 'New' pair of sneakers and want your mate to check them out and where you got them just press the screen and off it goes to there mobile device.

Notification Centre now shows you in different stages your Calender, Weather and what ever else you have planned for that day, but you now have a 'Today', 'All' or 'Missed' option, which is helpful in telling you what's going on at anytime of the day, along with calls missed, texts missed and so on. Its a nice overhaul but I think the best part of it is that you can access it from the 'Lock Screen' so you no longer need to 'Slide' to unlock your details.

The make over for the now Multitasking is a much need help, as you no longer need to keep going in and out of apps as the ones you open are still open, which makes copying and pasting very, very easy.

 there's No more accidental app tapping because you tried to switch too fast, instead, you get beautiful miniature screen captures of your apps to swipe through. I think the best part of the 'New' multitasking is there is no more closing of apps, with the dreaded hold of the app and wait for the wiggle and red cross part, or even the question 'Did I just close my Safari search page' or for those who use it Facebook or Twitter app.

Fig 3. Mail, Weather and Messaging, simpler but still atheistic looking

 

Mail is quite bland now, gone is the black block like text and in comes a smaller thinner looking font. You get little circles if you tick the inboxes and edit them and they then slide out to the right, you can then move, mark or trash those items. It just makes things a little more simple. Not a major over haul but its been simplified if that makes sense.

Weather now has animation, so if its thunder coming your way then you get thunder and lighting bouncing off of your texts and the same with Cloudy, Snow or Sunshine all move on the screen making it not such a boring experience when checking the weather in your area or different area's if your a business man or planning to go on your hols. Much needed and nice to see that Apple seemed to have moved on and listened to the Feedback.

Messaging has had a keyboard change in style when you press and it seems the buttons are easier to press if you have sausage fingers like me. Apart form that I cant seem to find that much of a change but there is change. Blue bubbles indicate Internet-based iMessage and green ones indicate SMS messaging. Like I said not much just a little flatter and cleaner. You can still Pull down on a message list to reveal the search field. Swipe to the left to delete an conversation. Tap on the status bar to quickly jump to the top of the list. And scrolling through a long list of messages is very very smooth for a Beta.

Fig 4. Photo Sharing and AirDrop

 

For a long time we have wanted to share our photos with third party apps, but Apple are trying to make you or should I say get you to use there 'New' sharing built in app called AirDrop. Like I mentioned earlier its just a quick way of finding people you know and sharing your pics and video with them. You can choose a picture and then choose to either use AirDrop, iMessage, iCloud, Twitter or Facebook, its nice to have a lot more options now. Photo streams are ok but it isn't very share friendly. Photo streams are just one way really You could send images to your friends, but if they wanted to give pictures back to you, they had to create their own separate stream. So much needed me thinks.

Fig 5. Photos Overhaul

 

Photo's has probably had the biggest improvement of all as you can now browse or store you pics from Day, Month or Year. Just by using the geo tagging details on your photos and it then gives them titles like 'My Trip To Hong Kong' or 'My Sons Christmas Play' very neat and very effective. and as you see your photos shrink to the month or year you just use you finger and move over the images no matter how small it is and you get a little preview as if to say is this the one you wanted to show. So no more hunting through hundreds of photos just to show one. Apple calls them 'Moments' as well as 'Collections'.

Fig 6. The Overhaul Being Explained

Fig 7. The Camera Make-Over Thought Through and Easy

You now get a very easy and neat way of editing your pictures before you even take them, just click on the new looking Camera icon and you get 4 Choices. Video, Photo, Square or Panoramic. As well as that you can press a little set of 3 bubbles over lapping each other and you get 9 Picture mode options ranging from 'Mono' to 'Noir' and so on, so you will not need those third party apps anymore. Yes its been long over due but stop moaning about it as its here now, so enjoy and shoot away at your own delight and pleasure, Quick and easy.

Fig 8. Now With Added Animated Wallpapers

 

The Wallpapers are now animated with 2 sets of bubbles to choose from that move as you tilt your screen, its not known if Apple will make a addition to the iTunes store for you to buy more but if they didn't I would be very surprised. It's very weird to look at especially if you assign your own wallpaper as the icons seem to float over your own Photo's, again it's nice to see a change and something different for and from Apple.

 

Fig 9. Control Centre Up Close

 

Depending on your wallpaper your backdrop for your Control Centre or anything else coming to think of it will now match your wallpaper. It just seems a little more personal to you.

 

What Else Is There

The rest of the iOS 7 updates are things like icon changes for Camera, Notes, Game Centre, Contacts, Passbook, Music, Settings, Weather, Mail, Calendar, Stocks, Photos, News Stand, Phone and even a dedicated Facetime icon.. With rumours that you can even do a Voice Facetime now, it seems like a FREE way of making a call, well free but over your Wi-Fi or 4G.

Siri has been upgraded to but at the time as its only a Beta, I couldn't get assess to the Sweet sounding lady that tells me what's on at my local Cinema or How my team has done this week, but with Beta 2 due out on a rumoured 24th June let's see what gets fixed and reported back to Apple, She/he now uses Wikipedia to find things for you so she can listen and be told to search for that 'New' Blu Ray review your after. Maybe i'll use her a little more often now but who knows, you might even be able to search your messages or mail for you. One word of note though there is NO iRadio over here in the UK yet so I couldn't review that i'm afraid.

 

So that's it.. from what I've learnt throughout the 4 days of using it. Most apps work still apart from Ebay, (Damn You) but if I find anything more to report I will add it to the post..

So stay tuned and get excited it's a step forward for Apple and a step up for iOS.

 

I Just Thought As i'm A iPhone user I should share my experiences with iOS as it does work with my Home Cinema and that's why I have done the little review..

 

 

Let me know your thoughts, Have you got the Beta up and running?, what do you think of it?.

Let Me Know In The Comments Below