Exploring iOS7
Welcome to an experiment in liveblogging an exploration of iOS7 beta 1 on an iPhone 4S.
As I dig through the apps, screens and options in Apple's latest iteration of iOS I will be updating this post so check back regularly for new updates.
iOS7 seems to be quite divisive with some loving it and others feeling Apple went too far. Personally, I want to spend some time with it before making any decisions.
My gut reaction is that there are a lot of great features which place Apple back on parity with Android but has it given the iPhone the edge?
Let's see...
Initials impressions after watching the WWDC keynote:
One snag - the Google+ app crashes! Luckily you can roll back to 6.1.3
Ready? Here we go...
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So, here's the default home screen that you've seen so much of. The Safari icon isn't quite as bad up close - it probably looked worse blown up during the presentation. Contacts still looks bad though ;)
Let's have a dig...
The new Control Center is a revelation as far as iOS is concerned. Quick access to settings toggles is something we have been after for ages.
Note that as this is on an iPhone 4S AirDrop is not available (it should be next to AirPlay)
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The new Notification Center with Today/Tomorrow view. It would be nice to have interactive notifications but we've got to save for 7.1 ;)
Confirmation - flickr and Vimeo are integrated in iOS7
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Spotlight is no longer a separate pane to the left of your apps - you now drag down on the homescreen and a search bar appears at the top:
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The keyboard changes from white to grey based on the context of where you are but it seems a little random
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The keyboard changes from white to grey based on the context of where you are but it seems a little random
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Spotlight is no longer a separate pane to the left of your apps - you now drag down on the homescreen and a search bar appears at the top:
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Swiping.
As you will have seen in the keynote, Apple has adopted swiping across the board in mail, messages and Safari.
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Swiping adds a greater sense of consistency across the OS
Multitasking is hugely improved with the real-time previews of open apps. Double-tap home to get to them then swipe up to close any.
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The parallax effects when moving your phone are quite subtle but a nice touch. It reminds me of the Sense 3D effects on Android before HTC decided to go flatter.
Apps.
The Calender is hugely improved with nice views across the board:
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Notes is a lot cleaner - bye bye yellow paper.
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The camera app is very clean with the new option of square pictures - it looks very Android-esque
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The new Moments view in the Photos app is very similar to the new look Google+ Photos and there are now filters when editing images (although editing on a smaller screen 4S has them listed across the bottom Instagram style rather than the grid as seen on the keynote)
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The Reminders app doesn't appear very optimised for the smaller screen of the 4S
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The bit at the bottom is for "Scheduled" and any lists - they flip up card-style but there is only a little bit showing and it's not very intuitive
Performance:
As this is only beta 1 I am reticent to say too much about performance. Others have said how smootht he animations are etc. but they will have been on an iPhone 5.
The 4S seems to struggle and stutter a little bit with some of the screen transitions but iOS6 was a little jumpy in the early betas so I'm not panicking just yet.
It's amazing how quickly you get used to the new look so it seems very strange when apps use the old keyboard or other display elements
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Apple have already published resources for developers to help them transition to the new look.
Yes, yes you CAN move Newstand into a folder!
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Contacts look a lot like Windows Phone
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Some have criticised the new look saying that buttons without surrounds are confusing and don't look right.
Personally, I've not had any issues finding controls or tapping the wrong thing under the impression that it was a button.
The new tab selector in Safari is very nice and extremely smooth
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Including open tabs from other devices is also nice but this was already there before - it's just more visible now
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Omnibar - at last! Need I say more?
And the new reading mode is nice
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You thought you'd gotten rid of the spinner date/time selectors. Not quite...
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Not sure if it's just me but there appears to be issues adding a Gmail account to the Mail app. It always reports the password as incorrect.
Perhaps it's something to do with 2-step authentication.
Forgot that I need to set up an app-specific password. Problem solved.
Move along, nothing to see here ;)
Is it just me or does the new stocks app look like it has been made by Bloomberg?
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The Control Center looks very nice in Landscape
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If there's nothing that anyone desperately wants to see I'll be reverting back to iOS 6.1.3 - the Google+ app not working is a big thing for me.
One last image - can't resist doing this:
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I also tested with Do Not Disturb.
Does iOS7 give Apple the edge?
Probably not. It brings iOS up to date and will stop a number of iPhone users from jumping to Android but I doubt that it will make any go the other way.
A redesign of this magnitude is bound to controversial and elements of the design will no doubt iterate over time in response to feedback - possibly even during the beta process. I would be surprised if all of the icons stayed the same.