It’s our own fault. We all asked Apple to dramatically change the look and feel of the iOS operating system, which, until yesterday, remained largely unchanged since the introduction of the original iPhone back in 2007. And we all complained when it didn’t do that with iOS 6 this time last year.
But I can’t help but feel the Cupertino company is now punishing us for all those requests, and all that complaining we did before about its skeuomorphic designs.
When it comes to design, iOS 7 is vastly different to its predecessors. It still functions in much the same way — though there are some new features you’ll need to get used to — but it looks completely different. As soon as you power it up for the first time the minimalistic feel is staring back at you, but it isn’t until you’ve completed the setup process and arrived at your home screen that you want to vomit in your own lap.
Some iOS 7 features Apple didn’t have time to talk about:
• FaceTime audio – you can now make high-quality audio-only calls over FaceTime.
• Activation lock – If a thief wipes a stolen device, guess what? They can’t reactivate that iPhone without the original Apple ID that was used to remotely wipe it.
• Phone, Message and FaceTime blocking – You can block people who just won’t let go. Fantastic!
• Notification Sync – Your notifications now sync across all devices! Yes!
Brett “I just built this” Terpstra has been at it again. Inspired by Evernote’s new reminders feature, launched last week, Brett decided to add something similar to his app NValt, itself a fork of the notable Notational Velocity. It’s called “nvremind,” and it’s pretty awesome.
Now, just by tagging a note with “@remind,” you’ll be sent a notification or an e-mail at the chosen time, and in Mountain Lion, clicking the notification will take you to the note in NValt.
Badger is a new jailbreak tweak that lets you access unread notifications from an app icon. Instead of opening Notification Center, swiping on a specific icon can reveal a list of notifications. From there, you can clear individual messages and even respond to texts.
Over at The New York Times, Bits columnist Nick Bilton has a gripe to pick with Apple. He doesn’t like the fact that push notifications keep pouring in during a voice call on the iPhone. ”Even when the device is placed on mute, it vibrates when a notification comes in, rattling your skull for a never-ending second,” says Bilton.
I had never actually thought about this annoyance until I read Bilton’s piece. And coincidentally, it actually happened to me while I was on the phone earlier today. I remember quickly pulling my iPhone away from my face in shock at the vibration and loud noise in my ear.
This seems like something that should be fixed. What say you? Should Apple say hasta la vista to notifications during phone calls in iOS 7? Let us know in the comments below!
Apple has updated its Apple Store app for the iPhone to introduce push notifications for delivery updates. So when you order an item from the Apple Store, you’ll receive updates on its delivery status without having to check manually. The Cupertino company will even let you know when your iPhone is ready for an upgrade.
Twitterrific for iOS has received yet another new update that’s packed full with new features and improvements. In addition to app badges for push notifications, you’ll also find Favstar support, Twitter trends, and a long list of tweaks and bug fixes that’ll improve existing features.
Notifications on the iPhone can be annoying. Right? They drop at inappropriate times, and I always end up accidentally activating them. Of course, my iPhone is more than happy to hop over to the application that sent the Notification in the first place. There are, however, a couple of cool ways of dismissing them without activating them, short of waiting for them to go away, which is what I’ve done since they appeared in iOS 5. Today’s tip shows you how.
File under the ever-growing list of “things Android does better than iOS.” Today it’s Gmail, which now lets you reply to, archive or delete your messages right there in the notification. Meanwhile, us schmucks with iPhones and iPads are stuck digging into preferences just to toggle Bluetooth on and off, and waving a freshly-slaughtered chicken over our heads as we try to make Photo Stream work again.
If you’ve read these tips for any length of time, you’ll know that there are plenty of settings on your iPhone that were designed first and foremost for people with various disabilities, but that can be extremely useful for those of us who don’t have a specific disability, as well.
Flash-powered alerts are one of these features; for those with hearing impairments, using the iPhone’s flash to let them know when a notification alert has happened is critical, as they may not be able to hear an audible alert, nor the telltale buzz sound the iPhone makes when set on a flat surface.
If you want to use this same notification feature yourself, perhaps when having an audible alert, vibration or otherwise, isn’t viable, here’s what to do.
![Secret iOS Gestures: Get Rid Of Pesky Notifications On The Fly [iOS Tips]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/NotificationCenter.jpg)
