Ars Technica Reviews iOS 7

Ars Technica has posted a pretty thorough review of iOS 7, which brings a few radical changes to at least the visual design of the system. From the article: "In one sense, iOS 7 changes nearly everything about iOS. A couple of wallpapers have made the jump, but otherwise you'd be hard-pressed to find anything in iOS 7 that looks quite like it did in iOS 6. In another sense, iOS 7 is the latest in a string of incremental updates. It adds a few new features and changes some existing ones, but this doesn't radically alter the way that you use the OS from day to day." Breaking with the design trajectory of the last few releases of most of Apple's software, the oft maligned skeumorphism of the interface has been considerably toned down.

Comments

The short version...

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

I RTFA'ed. The short version seems to be:
1) Icons and dialogs are "flat" (similar to Windows 7, etc.)
2) "iOS 7’s animations are the kind that will prompt an 'ooh, neat' upon first use and then a slowly increasing sense of frustration as you begin noticing that trivial tasks take just a bit longer than they used to."
3) There's more content on the screen when browsing because common toolbars are shorter or disappear when not in use
4) Safari's new tabs view is cool because it displays content on multiple tabs at once (think looking down from a 3d perspective on the old tab views)

Re:The short version...

[noh8rz10]

I RTFA'ed. The short version seems to be:
1) Icons and dialogs are "flat" (similar to Windows 7, etc.)
2) "iOS 7’s animations are the kind that will prompt an 'ooh, neat' upon first use and then a slowly increasing sense of frustration as you begin noticing that trivial tasks take just a bit longer than they used to."
3) There's more content on the screen when browsing because common toolbars are shorter or disappear when not in use
4) Safari's new tabs view is cool because it displays content on multiple tabs at once (think looking down from a 3d perspective on the old tab views)

5) settings page accessible from home screen
6) full multitasking and better app switcher.
7) User can turn multitasking off on an app-by-app basis and track cellular usage on an app-by-app basis
8) revamped camera and photos app
9) revamped calendar app)
10) revamped notifications and alerts
11) all sorts of API improvements, the benefits of which will only become apparent when apps start to implement them right
12) revamped app updates

That's all I can think of. Don't listen to the haters who say this is about pretty icons.

Re:The short version...

[StoneyMahoney]

You missed:

5) Safari performance is up
6) Battery life is down
7) Non-Retina displays have legibility issues

Re:The short version...

[kirkc99]

I RTFA'ed. The short version seems to be:
1) Icons and dialogs are "flat" (similar to Windows 7, etc.)
2) "iOS 7’s animations are the kind that will prompt an 'ooh, neat' upon first use and then a slowly increasing sense of frustration as you begin noticing that trivial tasks take just a bit longer than they used to."
3) There's more content on the screen when browsing because common toolbars are shorter or disappear when not in use
4) Safari's new tabs view is cool because it displays content on multiple tabs at once (think looking down from a 3d perspective on the old tab views)

5) settings page accessible from home screen
6) full multitasking and better app switcher.
7) User can turn multitasking off on an app-by-app basis and track cellular usage on an app-by-app basis
8) revamped camera and photos app
9) revamped calendar app)
10) revamped notifications and alerts
11) all sorts of API improvements, the benefits of which will only become apparent when apps start to implement them right
12) revamped app updates

A few more off the top of my head...

13) Massively improved Siri (in a week's use, she's only misunderstood me a couple of times, she responds almost instantaneously, her results are much better, and her voice is much improved--and she's out of Beta on Apple's website)
14) App auto-updating (yes, realize this is an Android catch-up, and is somewhat a dupe of (12)...)
15) Handy new back gesture
16) Built-in itunes radio--handy for starting radio stations over Siri, such as while i'm on my motorcycle
17) Multi-page folders
18) Flickr and Vimeo deep integration
19) The ability to block numbers for calls, SMS, MMS, iMessages, FaceTime, etc.
20) Activation Lock
21) Apps popular near current location
22) Dynamic and Parallax wallpapers

Re:The short version...

[DdJ]

FYI: "full multitasking" is false.

There are some slight improvements to the multitasking (eg. if it notices you run an app at the same time every day, it'll give it a background slice just before then so the data is fresh when you look). But it remains far from "full multitasking".

They're trying to get to the point where most users won't notice the difference. They're not likely to ever get to the point where developers won't notice the difference.

Re:The short version...

[noh8rz10]

Here's apple's list

This update features a beautiful new design and also contains hundreds of new features, including the following:
New design
Redesigned interface updates the entire system and every built-in app
Subtle motion and animation; layers and translucency provide depth
Elegant new color palette and refined typography
Updated system sounds and ringtones
Control Center
Quick access to commonly used controls and apps with a swipe up from the bottom of the screen
Turn on & off Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb; adjust screen brightness; access media controls; turn on AirPlay and AirDrop
Quickly access flashlight, timer, calculator, camera and music controls
Notification Center improvements
New Today view gives you an overview of your day, including weather, calendar, and stocks
Notifications dismissed on one device dismisses across all your devices
Multitasking improvements
Preview screens of open apps when you switch between them
Permits any app to keep content up to date in the background
Camera improvements
Swipe through different camera modes – video, still photo, square aspect, and panorama
Real-time photo filters with iPhone 4S or later, and iPod touch (5th generation)
Photos improvements
Automatically organizes your photos and videos based on time and location into Moments
iCloud Photo Sharing supports multiple contributors and videos, plus a new Activity view
Add photo filter effects
Flickr and Vimeo support
AirDrop
Quickly and easily share content with people nearby
Securely encrypted transfers with no network or setup required
Supported on iPhone 5, iPad (4th generation), iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation) and requires an iCloud account
Safari improvements
New iPhone tab view that lets you easily switch between open web pages
Unified smart search field for both search terms and web addresses
Shared Links shows web pages shared by people you follow on Twitter
iTunes Radio
Streaming radio service
Pick from over 250 featured and genre-focused stations
Start your own station from your favorite artist or song
Siri improvements
New, more natural sounding male and female voices for US English, French and German
Integrated Wikipedia, Twitter search, and Bing web search results
Change settings including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and brightness
Supported on iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad with Retina display, iPad mini, and iPod touch (5th generation)
App Store improvements
See apps relevant to your current location with Popular Near Me
Discover age-appropriate apps in the Kids category
Keep your apps up to date automatically
Find My iPhone Activation Lock
Turning off Find My iPhone, erasing your device, reactivation, and signing out of iCloud requires your Apple ID password
A custom message can be displayed on your device even after a remote erase
iTunes Store improvements
Preview and buy songs you've heard on iTunes Radio while inside the iTunes Store
Add to, and shop from, your iTunes Wish List
Scan code with camera to redeem iTunes Gift Cards
Music improvements
Play music purchases from iCloud
Rotate your iPhone or iPod touch to browse your music with the Album Wall
Videos improvements
Play movie and TV show purchases from iCloud
View similar movies and TV shows from Related
Maps improvements
Turn-by-turn walking directions
Automatic night mode
Bookmarks shared across devices via iCloud
Mail improvements
New Smart Mailboxes, including Unread, Attachments, All Drafts and To or CC
Improved search
View PDF annotations
FaceTime audio calling
Block unwanted Phone, Messages and FaceTime callers
Support for sending long MMS messages
Pull down on any Home Screen to reveal Spotlight search
Scan to acquire Passbook passes
New ringtones, alarms, alerts and system sounds
Definitions of a selected word for additional languages: Italian, Korean, and Dutch
Inclinometer in the Compass

Re:Skip to page 6

[h4rr4r]

Ars is not a technical website. They are a tech news site.

Re:One button to the main screen! Is that changed?

[Sockatume]

It's been conventional to keep all settings in the app, except for seldom-needed or particularly technical settings, for several years now. I don't know what apps you're using but I only need to drop out into Settings once every few months unless I'm modifying something system-wide.

The idea of not including physical "back" and "menu" buttons is:

1) Nobody's quite sure where "back" should go back to, and what menu "menu" should open
2) You're using up space on the device on functions that not every app needs

Re:One button to the main screen! Is that changed?

[cdrudge]

The idea of not including physical "back" and "menu" buttons is:

1) Nobody's quite sure where "back" should go back to, and what menu "menu" should open

Leave that up to the app to decide maybe? I've never had a problem on my Android phones understanding what the back button did after pressing it once or twice with a new app.

With apps that have multiple screens that change, it usually takes you back a screen, such as back to the main menu. If you're at the main menu, it exits. With apps that do everything in the same screen, such as a web browser, it takes you back a page or back to your home screen. Press it again or double tap it at any point and it closes the app.

Not saying that the indeterminate nature of letting the programmer is better or worse than the IOS nature. It's just another example where Apple has chosen to rigorously enforce what they think is best, where Android has chosen to allow the app developer or the end user what is best.

2) You're using up space on the device on functions that not every app needs

You mean the empty space on the left and right of the button on all iPhones that's essentially wasted? If the entire face of the phone was the screen and the phone relied exclusively on soft buttons then you'd have a point. But as it stands now, there could be buttons on either side. Look at the S4 for an example.

Re: One button to the main screen! Is that changed

[Anonymous Coward]

Bull. Home puts the app into the background. Back goes back to previous screen of the app, unless there isn't one - in which case it exits the app.