When Apple unveiled iOS 6’s new Maps icon, it became an emblem for everything that was wrong with Apple Maps, a service that — at launch — was widely criticized as being inferior to Google’s own maps data, which every previous version of iOS had shipped with.
Why the icon? Because it gave directions that would probably end up killing you if you followed them in real life. But that’s all changed in iOS 7.
Today Apple unveiled iOS 7, the software’s biggest redesign since the debut of the original iPhone. We’ve already told you everything that was just announced at WWDC, so now it’s time to take a closer look at what iOS 7 looks like.
Apple has posted some gorgeous new images on its website alongside video walkthroughs. Here’s iOS 7 in action:
IOS 7 looks fantastic, and the good news is that photographers haven’t been left out of the updates. There’s new stuff in both the Camera app as well as Photos: a neat combination of flashy new features and great little fixes that will make both apps what they probably should have been to begin with.
iOS 7 is coming out this fall, but before you get really excited about getting to enjoy the simplicity of Jony Ive’s new UI, you better make sure Apple is going to actually support your iDevice.
Apple posted the following chart on its website to let customers know which iOS devices will be supported for iOS 7. If you’ve got an iPhone 3GS or older, you’re out of luck. The original iPad also won’t be supported either, but other than that, it looks like all other devices are going to be able to get in on the fun.
Source: Apple
We’re still waiting for Apple’s Developer Portal to come online so we can install the beta of iOS 7, but one of our readers noticed a neat little feature that wasn’t discussed during the keynote – the iOS 7 Clock app icon now updates to show you the real time.
Not sure if third-party apps will get the same abilities, but things are looking really promising in iOS 7. Check out out round-up post for all the details on everything Apple announced today.
Thanks: Chris!
Update: This post is wrong. Once we downloaded iOS 7, it was clear that the carrier name is still very much a part of iOS, even though Apple didn’t show it in their keynote. Mea culpa!
With iOS 7, Apple is getting rid of the signal bars in the top left-hand corner and replacing them with five dots to represent signal strength.
This is a good move, because the iOS signal bars have been incredibly misleading for years, although it remains to be seen if the new dots will come with controversies of their own.
Here’s the thing I really found interesting about it, though. Notice there’s no room for a carrier name anymore. Apple has finally succeeded in removing every trace of carrier branding from every iPhone they sell.
iOS 7 has been radically redesigned, and there’s going to be a lot of acclimiatization to the new brighter, more vibrant design.
That’s why Apple has posted a new site which allows anyone to preview the new operating system in their browser, with tons of videos of iOS 7’s new features, like Control Center, Notification Center, Multitasking, iTunes Radio, AirDrop, Siri and more.
If you want to see what iOS 7 is going to look like in your hand come fall, this is where you should start familiarizing yourself with Jony Ive’s radical new OS.
Source: iOS 7
After unveiling the radically redesigned iOS 7 and some of its marquee features, Apple announced availability info at WWDC. Developers will be able to get their hands on the first beta of iOS 7 later today, and the public release will happen later this year.
Apple typically issues several betas to developers in the months leading up to a new iPhone announcement. Expect that to happen again this year.
iOS 7 will run on the iPhone 4 and up, iPad 2 and up, and the 5th gen iPod touch.
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!
Here’s a major, major new feature for the App Store in iOS 7: your apps will now automatically update themselves to the latest version, no manual updates required.
That’s a feature everyone’s going to love… until they hate it when apps invisibly stop working because something broke between versions, but users didn’t realize it had updated.
The App Store is also getting some new ways of browsing apps: by age, or by apps that are popular in your immediate area. Very cool.
Siri is also getting an upgrade in iOS 7.
For one thing, there’s a new look to the interface. It’s flatter and cleaner, and now you see a soundwave of your voice as you speak. And the results display much more cleanly.
There’s also a new Siri voice. It sounds more natural, and it comes in both male and female varieties. German and French speakers are also getting more natural voices.
Siri understands more system-level commands, too. Play my last voicemail, increase brightness, turn on my Bluetooth! Siri now understands all of these instructions.
Siri can also answer more questions. Siri now interacts with Twitter, Wikipedia, and it even integrates web search results from Bing! Did they ditch Google?
Siri’s also a big part in iOS’s next feature, called “iOS in the Car.” The idea here is that iOS 7 will interact with in-dash displays. It’s an extension of Siri Hands-Free.
iOS 7 just got announced, and boy is it a doozy. The look is new totally new, and Apple has introduced some really big new features.
Here are some of the main additions:
Craig Ferenghi just gave us a demo of iOS 7. Here’s what is new about the look and design ethos of iOS 7.
Tim Cook just took the stage to unveil the latest version of iOS, the world’s best-loved mobile operating system. It’s iOS 7, a redesigned operating system for a new generation of mobile users who already take the iPhone for granted. And it’s a radical redesign: “the biggest change to iOS 7 since the iPhone.”
There are way too many changes to count here. Jony Ive has made a point that this is a vast simplification and clarification of iOS that was only made possible by a radical collaboration across all departments at Apple.
We’ll delve into more features soon. For right now, enjoy this gallery of iOS 7.
We’re less than 90 minutes away from Apple’s first keynote of the year. If you’re already salivating with excitement and anticipation about all the goodies that are about to come out then here’s a little iOS 7 wallpaper (based on the WWDC banners on display) that should hold you over until Tim Cook officially unveils the new look of iOS.
Source: Reddit
With just over two hours to go until Apple kicks off its WWDC 2013 keynote, the Apple online store has gone down. We can’t say we’re hugely surprised, but the move does suggest that we won’t just see software previews today, but also new hardware as well.
For the past year, Apple’s head of design Jony Ive has reportedly been taking a hatchet to the skeuomorphic design principles of iOS. When iOS 7 is announced later today, it is widely expected that he will show us a much more modern-looking operating system, one emboldened by what is widely called a ‘flat’ design aesthetic.
But let’s keep a little bit of perspective here. Jony Ive isn’t completely overhauling iOS 7 because of some petulant, blind hatred for skeuomorphism. He’s doing so because he’s a pro, and skeuomorphism is solving a problem that iOS no longer has: how to teach people to use devices that, a mere six years ago, seemed impossibly futuristic and sci-fi-like!
By far the best way to keep up with an Apple keynote when you’re not attending is to watch it live, but that’s a treat Apple doesn’t offer all that often. Fortunately, it will be at WWDC 2013 today. You can watch the company’s grand unveiling of iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 live through your Apple TV.
Today’s the day, folks! In just a few hours, Apple will kick off WWDC 2013 with a first look at its next-generation iOS 7 operating system. We’re expecting big changes with this update, and according to sources for The Wall Street Journal, those will include a brand new look, new ways to share your photos and videos, and a new music streaming service.
You can also expect to see a glimpse of OS X 10.9 and new notebooks at the event.
SwiftKey creator TouchType will be closely watching Apple’s WWDC keynote on Monday, hoping that the Cupertino company opens up its iOS platform to third-party keyboards for the first time. The SwiftKey keyboard has been exclusive to Android since its inception, but the company is itching to bring it to iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches.
The iPad is pretty great for photographers, but in typical Apple fashion, if you want to really use the device then you keep knocking up against crazy and annoying limits. The most obvious of these is probably the whole iPhoto/iPhoto problem: two apps, for Mac an iOS, that share a name but little else. They certainly don’t share their photos.
So what would I like to see fixed in iOS7? Here’s a list, complete with some suggestions for making things better
The current Internet scuttlebutt has it that when Tim Cook takes the stage on Monday for the WWDC keynote, he will not only unveil iOS 7, but a new, flatter ‘look’ for the entire mobile operating system spearheaded by Jony Ive. This would bring the look of iOS closer to modern design principles employed by the likes of Google and Microsoft, and finally flush Scott Forstall’s skeuomorphism turd.
Developer Steve King wanted to give people an idea what a redesigned iOS 7 with flatter, less skeuomorphic design elements would really look like, so he mocked up a flatter iOS 7. But what makes King’s mock-up even more existing is it’s all done in HTML, CSS and Javascript (no images!), meaning it’s fully interactive in any browser.
Following word that Apple’s iAd team is being restructured to allow for tighter integration with iOS 7’s new streaming music feature, iRadio, a new report talks just about how the ads on iRadio are going to work, how Apple’s going to make money on iRadio, and how much Apple’s paying the labels to make it happen.
Apple has been using ideas that originated in the jailbreak community for years. A jailbreak tweak called MobileNotifier enhanced push notifications in iOS 4, and Apple hired the guy who made it and released Notification Center in iOS 5. Jailbreakers were doing multitasking and tethering before Apple too.
Looking ahead at iOS 7, I honestly have no idea what to expect from Apple. Jony Ive has never really been a big fan of skeuomorphism, so flatter and more minimalist graphics wouldn’t surprise me. Some truly innovate ideas for enhancing the iOS experience have arisen in the past year, and I think it would be foolish for Apple to not at least draw inspiration from these three.
Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference is just a week away and although it’s highly unlikely we’ll see any new iOS devices, we will get our first glimpse at iOS 7.
iOS 7 could be one of the biggest iOS updates to date, with many rumors claiming it will be completely overhauled with a new look and new features as Jony Ive makes his mark as the head of software design. A report that was published earlier this month claims that Apple has had to pull engineers away from OS X 10.9 to help complete it.
Personally, I couldn’t be more excited about iOS 7. I made the switch to Android just before Christmas because I found Jelly Bean on the Nexus 4 to be better than iOS 6 on the iPhone 5 at a lot of things, which I wrote about back in February.
Having used Android for four months, I’ve compiled a list of things iOS 7 should learn from its biggest rival. If Apple adds these things to its own platform — or variations of them that provide the same experience — then I think iOS 7 could be fantastic.
Check out the list below and see if you agree.
