29 ms·

iOS 7, thoroughly reviewed

134 points by eigenvector 13y ago

untog 13y ago
Battery life is down across the board compared to iOS 6. This worries me. If it's because of the background downloading then at least it has a benefit (and is disable-able), but if it's the extra GPU cycles for the UI then that's a real shame.
- k-mcgrady 13y ago
  This is the 1st review I've seen come to that conclusion and having used it since June I haven't noticed any reduction in battery life. I wouldn't get too worried.
  - younata 13y ago
    Beta 1 had significantly reduced battery life. But, it has since been fixed. Since beta 3 or so, if there is a difference, I haven't noticed it.
    - k-mcgrady 13y ago
      Yeh, battery life in the 1st couple of beta's is usually awful.
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  I’ve been using the betas for months. I haven’t noticed any battery life decrease on iPhone or iPad.
- numbsafari 13y ago
  iOS6 also had some battery life issues in the beginning. I'm guessing this will get tuned with subsequent bug fixes, especially as real-world usage data comes in.
- davidcollantes 13y ago
  I have been using the betas and the GM, and I noticed a decrease of battery life. I have my phone (iPhone 5) tuned to the best battery saving settings, and still the battery drains faster than it did when it was on iOS 6.
- micheljansen 13y ago
  The Dutch tech site Tweakers.net also found this in their tests [1]. They found that battery life was degraded mostly in standby mode (with iOS7 losing 12% of battery after 16 hours of standby time, compared to 7% on iOS 6.1.4). With a more active usage pattern, they found the differences were smaller: their iPhone 5 running iOS 7 lasted 16 hours, compared to 17 hours on iOS 6.1.4. This would suggest the increased consumption is more likely to come from background stuff than from visual UI effects. [1] http://tweakers.net/nieuws/91361/accu-iphone-5-sneller-leeg-na-update-naar-ios-7.html http://tweakers.net/nieuws/91361/accu-iphone-5-sneller-leeg-... (Dutch)
- uptown 13y ago
  I've been using all the betas on a 4S - aside from early-betas, it's been no more demanding on my battery than iOS6 had been. It hasn't been a factor for me.
- markshepard 13y ago
  I am not sure if the version they have been using is the GM seed version of IOS7 or not, but I notice in XCode there are still a lot of tracing going on. Even with that, I find the battery life on my iPhone 5 to be quite decent. I would think it will improve once debug stuff is turned off in release version.
- ceejayoz 13y ago
  Anecdotally, my phone's been ending the day at 30-40% on iOS7 when I usually ended at 10-20% on iOS6. I'm guessing I had a particular app that Apple's now handling differently.
  - stevenleeg 13y ago
    I've had a similar experience with my iPhone 5 as well. It was significantly worse during the beginning of the beta builds, however now it seems to be better than iOS6 (for me). I'm guessing it's something similar to you – a wonky app draining my battery that is handled better on 7.
- canthonytucci 13y ago
  Might it be be that a constant loop of activity is not a good model for battery performance in actual use ? I've heard someone suggest that perhaps background sync actually might help battery life in some situations since it is done in batches. this would mean that users are spending less time looking at a power hungry screen that's just showing a loading spinner, assuming that some of this saved time is spent not using the phone at all, there might be a gain. edit: To expand, although I am unfamiliar with everything that could be/has been done to maximize battery life: Is it possible that "tweaks" are made in ways that are more relevant to actual usage patterns? (And perhaps ways that sacrifice battery life in the for speed in other areas, in the hopes of maintaining the baseline or improving battery life overall while still improving perceived performance) What might these kind of changes be? I'm not trying to be an apologist, genuinely curious about how what sort of optimizations might be made, and trying to make sense of the difference between what Ars is seeing and the anecdotal evidence.
- malandrew 13y ago
  I would totally expect it to be extra GPU cycles. To support all those animations and transitions, they are certain to be executing many more screen redraws.
- moca 13y ago
  It happens to most OS updates. Wait 24 hours for things to settle down, then measure again. On Android, some app may go crazy after update, you have to reinstall it to get out of bad state. I have seen it too many times. Not sure how to troubleshoot the same issue on iOS though.
deleted 13y ago
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YeahKIA 13y ago
Fascinating how so many screenshots resemble the appearance of Windows Phone. Any case a welcome change as the old UI looked very toyish and dated.
Knacktus 13y ago
I like the cleaner UI design and new fontset a lot. However, the background blur is distracting and counterproductive for the overall clean look. Maybe they just tried to much to top / set themselves apart from the Metro UI somehow?
puma1 13y ago
I find this funny. IOS 7 is the same as IOS 6 except for a few re-arrangements of features and a new look. I feel like Mugato from Zoolander.. Am I taking crazy pills? Their all the same! Ios 6, 7.. iphone c.. s.. it's really the same thing with tiny changes. And everyone is reviewing them like they are new phones or new OS.
- clauretano 13y ago
  iPhones have existed for more than six years with largely the same UI style. While it may be mostly a reskin, iOS 7 is a dramatic departure from the circa-2007 style. Ars is known to every major release of iOS and OS X in this fashion, just as Anandtech reviews the new hardware in great detail.
- poolpool 13y ago
  iOS 7 changes the backgrounding model, which has been a giant point of contention since the app store was introduced, and also has a brand new facelift. It was also one of the main differentiators aside from data sharing between apps between iOS and android. It is not a trivial update technologically or a small update from a marketing and direction standpoint. It is also the first major OS update under Ive and Cook's direction. The phones are a minor update, as to be expected like every S release.
  - puma1 13y ago
    poolpool. I get what your saying, but exactly what are you saying? Data sharing between apps between IOS and Android? Ive and Cook are just riding on concept from Jobs, there is nothing new here. If any other hardware vendor put out phones with this level of "same old" they would be burned for it. In the future people will look back at this Apple craze and laugh. Apple put out the iphone 5, with a new case and blogs are reviewing it! Are you kidding me? IOS 7 is the same damn OS as 6! Airdrop is nothing new feature wise. Almost every other feature has been out on other OSes for a long time. Apple struck gold in 2007.. and they been re-regurgitating since. Scared to wipe the slate because there will never be another Steve and they will never hit another winner like the initial iphone. But it's tired now. IOS 7 was supposed to be something different, and bottom line it's the same OS that consumes more battery and more resources. Whatever additional battery life they added to the iphone 5s hardware is cancelled out by the new requirements.
ozataman 13y ago
So much effort was poured into just redesigning, repackaging basic apps on the surface. I think some of them look and exhibit functional behavior straightforwardly worse than before: - Smaller fonts and less obvious icons on the weather app - Less info on the world clock without the digital time text, which helps grasp the time at a glance especially when you're looking at several zones. - Smaller direction character font on the compass (why would anyone do that? It's like 40% of what it used to be and is only a single char!) - Less contrast across the entire interface with all white text; harder to discern differences. ... and at best a neutral change across the others. I haven't yet installed it myself, but the screenshots look disappointing. I am not dismissing the idea of removing skeumorphisms, but this particular implementation/execution seems like a step in the direction of less refined for Apple. I have seen very few screenshots so far that made me say "oh that's so much better, wow". Several did make me say "Gosh, why would you reduce the font size there?!?! Why would you make the icon much less obvious?" Just to note that I am not trying to be negative - I am certain with this much solid engineering talent, there will be features we'll love. I hope I'm proven wrong once the OS is officially out and we're hooked in the following few weeks.
- fredsted 13y ago
  - Weather app: Some fonts are smaller, some are larger, but you get a great looking animation that shows the current weather. In my opinion the app is much prettier than before, and more useful since you can see, for example, whether you need to bring a raincoat immediately. - Clock: Try tapping on the clocks: http://d.pr/i/yrmI http://d.pr/i/yrmI - About less contrast: You can turn on bolder fonts in the interface. I really, really like iOS 7. Especially on the iPhone, somehow on iPad I had more of a meh reaction, and I installed it there first. But going back to my iPhone with iOS 6 made me realize how dated that OS looks and feels. Forgetting the looks, all the little new features and improvements are great, like all the new Safari stuff, command center and the improved app switcher. Apple says there are 200 new features and I definitely believe them.
  - ozataman 13y ago
    Well, that's very good to hear. Looking forward to the official release.
yapcguy 13y ago
I was going to complain about AirDrop being proprietary, but this is very disappointing. What is wrong with Apple? > It’s important to note that while AirDrop in iOS 7 and AirDrop in OS X share the same name and underlying technology (both work by transmitting files over a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection), they aren’t actually compatible with one another. You can AirDrop things from iOS to iOS and from OS X to OS X, but not from iOS to OS X or vice versa. All the reports I can find say that this situation doesn’t change with Mavericks.
- prehkugler 13y ago
  It's important to ask yourself what you would do if you could AirDrop from your iOS device to an OS X device. Even though under the covers iOS and OS X work on files, iOS is sandboxed where OS X isn't, i.e. if you can't get to it via USB, you couldn't get to it via AirDrop anyway. With that said, it would be useful to have some of the iTunes/iPhoto functionality for wireless(AirDrop) a la carte file transfer, but most people will just use iTunes wifi sync to get this effect.
  - fredsted 13y ago
    Even though iOS is sandboxed, has no files and no folders, lets not forget AirDrop on Mac doesn't do folders either. It almost looks like attachments: you drag (send) a file to the receiver. iOS handles mail attachments fine. I think this is something apple will implement later via software updates. Like for example obvious but long awaited OS X features like iBooks, Maps, Messages and Finder tabs. We're are wondering why they just didn't include it from the start, maybe they need a reason to sell OS X 10.10.
    - prehkugler 13y ago
      This seems like a possible win for Apple, and I hope they implement it. I just wanted to point out that OSX to iOS AirDrop is not as trivial as many people make it sound. There are edge cases, such as "what if the user doesn't have an app that supports this file?". It's different than email, because the file can't be saved in anyone's sandbox.
kyro 13y ago
I'm not a fan of iOS 7 design-wise, but my biggest gripe is the battery. It's bad. Really, really bad. I think it's a combination of an actual decrease in battery life and iOS 7's terrible monitoring of it. It's not uncommon for my phone to shut down after it's hit 8% remaining battery. Or I'll be watching a video with 45% left, and the next second it'll cut me down to 25%. There have been a few instances where I've gone from ~25% to completely empty in a flash, leaving me with a dead phone much earlier than I'd anticipated. So now I really can't leave my place for more than maybe 4/5 hours without my charger.
- nickconfer 13y ago
  I'd give it an update or two... Apple tends to have this issue at first, either because of something in their updated OS or 3rd party software. It usually gets fixed pretty quickly though.
- pohl 13y ago
  I'm curious, how did you determine that the problem is iOS 7, as opposed to your hardware – or, perhaps, the need for your hardware's power management needing to be reset/recalibrated? I only ask because I recall reading some complaints during the beta cycle that were resolved in some way without changing the specific version of the pre-release they were running.
  - kyro 13y ago
    It was a very clear change for me. I'm usually at work from 7 to 5. On iOS 6, my iPhone 5 had no problem making it through with moderate use. There were no jumps in percentages. I could use the phone for an entire hour with <10% remaining. Once I downloaded the beta, I found myself with a dead phone at noon, having to fully recharge it at least once just to have a usable phone by the end of the work day. And I think I've only seen it actually hit <5% all of two times. It'll power down way before it gets that low.
    - pohl 13y ago
      I guess what I'm suggesting is that maybe the act of applying the beta to your phone put your power management hardware in a state that necessitates recalibration or reset. For example: "The issue with the battery drain on iPhone 4S was big and we saw the battery drain down in hours. However if you clean install first and then restore data, the issue doesn’t seem to occur." http://www.sidhtech.com/news/ios-7-iphone-4s-battery-life-iphone-5-3/10010129/ http://www.sidhtech.com/news/ios-7-iphone-4s-battery-life-ip... See also: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3605927?start=0&tstart= https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3605927?start=0&tstart=
jamra 13y ago
iOS versions have generally had a massively forward adoption rate. I read that 80% of iPhones were on the most modern OS. It looks to me like the lack of support for the 3GS will create a split in adoption of the OS, which will trickle down and create an even larger gap in the purchasing of new iOS devices. I think this split will occur due to the stability of the 3G iPhones. This is concerning to me due to my company having iOS releases for the enterprise. This means that our customers are purchasing iOS devices just for our app. This also means that we have to be backwards compatible with yet another version of the OS. In code, this is where Macros come in. I am reminded of the days of Microsoft vs Apple where Microsoft had better backwards compatibility. I think that the use of these devices in the business world will echo the days past and the cheaper device, Android, will be the go to business device.
- pretz 13y ago
  Why is lack of support for the 3GS any different than iOS 6's lack of support for the 3G? The 3GS came out in _2009_. I'm surprised it supports iOS 6; the 3G can't even run iOS 5.
  - kalleboo 13y ago
    The 3GS was still for sale new in box last year
- potatolicious 13y ago
  > "It looks to me like the lack of support for the 3GS will create a split in adoption of the OS" Sure, but having seen the 3GS usage numbers on my own app (which, granted, is hardly a gold standard of representative demographics), I think this will be a rounding error. Despite Apple selling the devices until relatively recently, there are actually very few out in the wild. A developer can now effectively develop for iPhone 4 as their baseline. Granted, you might have uniqueness in your demographic that will skew 3GS usage higher than the general population. > "This also means that we have to be backwards compatible with yet another version of the OS. In code, this is where Macros come in." Ah, but you can't use macros, since a single binary will have to work on all devices - there aren't multiple binaries built with multiple flags. What you will have is a lot of runtime checks against either the OS version or specific featuresets. Be prepared to write a whole lot of if ([obj respondsToSelector@selector(...)]) The worst part about this isn't just supporting new features - that part's easy since you can simply test for the presence of necessary bits, mostly with respondsToSelector. The worst part are the undocumented behavior changes in UI components that will break between iOS6 and 7. For example, it looks like there are large implementation changes in UITableView and UITableViewCells. This means you must necessarily test against the version string and branch from that. Annoying at best, code-quality-destroyer at worst.
nickconfer 13y ago
I like iOS 7, but I'm a little worried about how app designers will do with the new look. When you compare the apps currently out that have been updated, you can see a lot of companies are struggling with flat design. Something that seems simple, is actually very complex to pull off, but when done right, can be fantastic. I think it will be a while before the ecosystem fully recovers and most of the best apps around have figured out how to execute flat design well.
- malandrew 13y ago
  In case you didn't see it, this thread links to a site that did a side by side comparison of how a lot of apps moved to the new aesthetics. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6400834 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6400834
hcarvalhoalves 13y ago
I can see a lot of effort went into interactions and some screens. Then I'm left with the impression they just winged it on the rest [1]. The redesign of the messages app limited itself to removing the graphics. The app still shows messages as bubbles, it's just bland now. I can think on a couple better design solutions for chat threads by looking at other apps and Adium themes. The Newsstand is another example of redesign-WTF. It still has bad usability and small thumbnails, it just replaced the background with some random grey background. Noteworthy are also those icons on the home screen. There's no consistency between them, as pointed by multiple designers already [1][2]. I can't believe Apple is pushing these as final. Overall, it looks like a rushed job, not something I would expect from Apple. I see no compelling reason to update. [1] http://tristanedwards.me/what-ios7-should-look-like http://tristanedwards.me/what-ios7-should-look-like [2] http://ianstormtaylor.com/whats-wrong-with-the-ios-7-icons/ http://ianstormtaylor.com/whats-wrong-with-the-ios-7-icons/
xntrk 13y ago
iOS7 seems really slow. hitting the home button to wake the screen up takes way too long.
joe5150 13y ago
The new alert banner is enormous! It clearly seems to have been designed with the iPhone 5+ in mind. At least the new ringtones and chimes are sort of lovely and not corny like the "Classic" ones.
diogocal 13y ago
Looks pretty and useless. I've been using iOS since iPhones came out, I'm seriously thinking about moving to android. Google has a good deal on Nexus 4.
- Macha 13y ago
  Had. By now the Nexus 4 is sold out in most countries and Google has no plans to restock as the N5 is coming out in early October. The N5 is also far more likely to match the N4's launch price than it's final price.
deleted 13y ago
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- r00fus 13y ago
  This sounds like update-specific problems. Have you tried rebooting the OS, and if that doesn't resolve, reinstalling (restoring from the backup you should have taken prior to update - you did take a backup, right?) Yeah, I know: it's the old Windows support mantra (3R): reboot, reformat, reinstall [1]. But it has clearly helped me before in resolving iOS issues. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reboot,_reformat,_reinstall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reboot,_reformat,_reinstall
asabjorn 13y ago
And now we are starting to see Apple fall behind its competitors on central features, like e.g wi-fi calling. This feature is essential for the phones primary function, calling, in low-coverage areas. All competing mobile OSs already support wi-fi calling so this is disappointing.
glasz 13y ago
i click that link, see the image above the article showing an iphone running ios7 and i immediately have to vomit. (nb: i love apple. used an iphone for 4 years. use only macs.)
zmmmmm 13y ago
I really dislike rendering active buttons as pure text. Moving away from skeumorphism does not mean removing every visual cue that differentiates active from inactive items. All the more so on mobile devices where "hover" cues are not accessible. Google is also guilty of this.
EpicEng 13y ago
I... don't like it. So far anyway. I'm trying to keep an open mind since I don't have much of a choice anyway. I don't like that buttons turned into labels. I don't like that my screens now look more cluttered without clear delineations between UI elements. It looks a bit like a toy now as well. It also feels a bit more sluggish on my 4s. I don't know, maybe it will grow on me.

134 points by eigenvector 13y ago

untog 13y ago

Battery life is down across the board compared to iOS 6. This worries me. If it's because of the background downloading then at least it has a benefit (and is disable-able), but if it's the extra GPU cycles for the UI then that's a real shame.

k-mcgrady 13y ago
This is the 1st review I've seen come to that conclusion and having used it since June I haven't noticed any reduction in battery life. I wouldn't get too worried.
- younata 13y ago
  Beta 1 had significantly reduced battery life. But, it has since been fixed. Since beta 3 or so, if there is a difference, I haven't noticed it.
  - k-mcgrady 13y ago
    Yeh, battery life in the 1st couple of beta's is usually awful.
Samuel_Michon 13y ago
I’ve been using the betas for months. I haven’t noticed any battery life decrease on iPhone or iPad.
numbsafari 13y ago
iOS6 also had some battery life issues in the beginning. I'm guessing this will get tuned with subsequent bug fixes, especially as real-world usage data comes in.
davidcollantes 13y ago
I have been using the betas and the GM, and I noticed a decrease of battery life. I have my phone (iPhone 5) tuned to the best battery saving settings, and still the battery drains faster than it did when it was on iOS 6.
micheljansen 13y ago
The Dutch tech site Tweakers.net also found this in their tests [1]. They found that battery life was degraded mostly in standby mode (with iOS7 losing 12% of battery after 16 hours of standby time, compared to 7% on iOS 6.1.4). With a more active usage pattern, they found the differences were smaller: their iPhone 5 running iOS 7 lasted 16 hours, compared to 17 hours on iOS 6.1.4. This would suggest the increased consumption is more likely to come from background stuff than from visual UI effects. [1] http://tweakers.net/nieuws/91361/accu-iphone-5-sneller-leeg-na-update-naar-ios-7.html http://tweakers.net/nieuws/91361/accu-iphone-5-sneller-leeg-... (Dutch)
uptown 13y ago
I've been using all the betas on a 4S - aside from early-betas, it's been no more demanding on my battery than iOS6 had been. It hasn't been a factor for me.
markshepard 13y ago
I am not sure if the version they have been using is the GM seed version of IOS7 or not, but I notice in XCode there are still a lot of tracing going on. Even with that, I find the battery life on my iPhone 5 to be quite decent. I would think it will improve once debug stuff is turned off in release version.
ceejayoz 13y ago
Anecdotally, my phone's been ending the day at 30-40% on iOS7 when I usually ended at 10-20% on iOS6. I'm guessing I had a particular app that Apple's now handling differently.
- stevenleeg 13y ago
  I've had a similar experience with my iPhone 5 as well. It was significantly worse during the beginning of the beta builds, however now it seems to be better than iOS6 (for me). I'm guessing it's something similar to you – a wonky app draining my battery that is handled better on 7.
canthonytucci 13y ago
Might it be be that a constant loop of activity is not a good model for battery performance in actual use ? I've heard someone suggest that perhaps background sync actually might help battery life in some situations since it is done in batches. this would mean that users are spending less time looking at a power hungry screen that's just showing a loading spinner, assuming that some of this saved time is spent not using the phone at all, there might be a gain. edit: To expand, although I am unfamiliar with everything that could be/has been done to maximize battery life: Is it possible that "tweaks" are made in ways that are more relevant to actual usage patterns? (And perhaps ways that sacrifice battery life in the for speed in other areas, in the hopes of maintaining the baseline or improving battery life overall while still improving perceived performance) What might these kind of changes be? I'm not trying to be an apologist, genuinely curious about how what sort of optimizations might be made, and trying to make sense of the difference between what Ars is seeing and the anecdotal evidence.
malandrew 13y ago
I would totally expect it to be extra GPU cycles. To support all those animations and transitions, they are certain to be executing many more screen redraws.
moca 13y ago
It happens to most OS updates. Wait 24 hours for things to settle down, then measure again. On Android, some app may go crazy after update, you have to reinstall it to get out of bad state. I have seen it too many times. Not sure how to troubleshoot the same issue on iOS though.

deleted 13y ago

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YeahKIA 13y ago

Fascinating how so many screenshots resemble the appearance of Windows Phone. Any case a welcome change as the old UI looked very toyish and dated.

Knacktus 13y ago

I like the cleaner UI design and new fontset a lot. However, the background blur is distracting and counterproductive for the overall clean look. Maybe they just tried to much to top / set themselves apart from the Metro UI somehow?

puma1 13y ago

I find this funny. IOS 7 is the same as IOS 6 except for a few re-arrangements of features and a new look. I feel like Mugato from Zoolander.. Am I taking crazy pills? Their all the same! Ios 6, 7.. iphone c.. s.. it's really the same thing with tiny changes. And everyone is reviewing them like they are new phones or new OS.

clauretano 13y ago
iPhones have existed for more than six years with largely the same UI style. While it may be mostly a reskin, iOS 7 is a dramatic departure from the circa-2007 style. Ars is known to every major release of iOS and OS X in this fashion, just as Anandtech reviews the new hardware in great detail.
poolpool 13y ago
iOS 7 changes the backgrounding model, which has been a giant point of contention since the app store was introduced, and also has a brand new facelift. It was also one of the main differentiators aside from data sharing between apps between iOS and android. It is not a trivial update technologically or a small update from a marketing and direction standpoint. It is also the first major OS update under Ive and Cook's direction. The phones are a minor update, as to be expected like every S release.
- puma1 13y ago
  poolpool. I get what your saying, but exactly what are you saying? Data sharing between apps between IOS and Android? Ive and Cook are just riding on concept from Jobs, there is nothing new here. If any other hardware vendor put out phones with this level of "same old" they would be burned for it. In the future people will look back at this Apple craze and laugh. Apple put out the iphone 5, with a new case and blogs are reviewing it! Are you kidding me? IOS 7 is the same damn OS as 6! Airdrop is nothing new feature wise. Almost every other feature has been out on other OSes for a long time. Apple struck gold in 2007.. and they been re-regurgitating since. Scared to wipe the slate because there will never be another Steve and they will never hit another winner like the initial iphone. But it's tired now. IOS 7 was supposed to be something different, and bottom line it's the same OS that consumes more battery and more resources. Whatever additional battery life they added to the iphone 5s hardware is cancelled out by the new requirements.

ozataman 13y ago

So much effort was poured into just redesigning, repackaging basic apps on the surface. I think some of them look and exhibit functional behavior straightforwardly worse than before: - Smaller fonts and less obvious icons on the weather app - Less info on the world clock without the digital time text, which helps grasp the time at a glance especially when you're looking at several zones. - Smaller direction character font on the compass (why would anyone do that? It's like 40% of what it used to be and is only a single char!) - Less contrast across the entire interface with all white text; harder to discern differences. ... and at best a neutral change across the others. I haven't yet installed it myself, but the screenshots look disappointing. I am not dismissing the idea of removing skeumorphisms, but this particular implementation/execution seems like a step in the direction of less refined for Apple. I have seen very few screenshots so far that made me say "oh that's so much better, wow". Several did make me say "Gosh, why would you reduce the font size there?!?! Why would you make the icon much less obvious?" Just to note that I am not trying to be negative - I am certain with this much solid engineering talent, there will be features we'll love. I hope I'm proven wrong once the OS is officially out and we're hooked in the following few weeks.

fredsted 13y ago
- Weather app: Some fonts are smaller, some are larger, but you get a great looking animation that shows the current weather. In my opinion the app is much prettier than before, and more useful since you can see, for example, whether you need to bring a raincoat immediately. - Clock: Try tapping on the clocks: http://d.pr/i/yrmI http://d.pr/i/yrmI - About less contrast: You can turn on bolder fonts in the interface. I really, really like iOS 7. Especially on the iPhone, somehow on iPad I had more of a meh reaction, and I installed it there first. But going back to my iPhone with iOS 6 made me realize how dated that OS looks and feels. Forgetting the looks, all the little new features and improvements are great, like all the new Safari stuff, command center and the improved app switcher. Apple says there are 200 new features and I definitely believe them.
- ozataman 13y ago
  Well, that's very good to hear. Looking forward to the official release.

yapcguy 13y ago

I was going to complain about AirDrop being proprietary, but this is very disappointing. What is wrong with Apple? > It’s important to note that while AirDrop in iOS 7 and AirDrop in OS X share the same name and underlying technology (both work by transmitting files over a peer-to-peer Wi-Fi connection), they aren’t actually compatible with one another. You can AirDrop things from iOS to iOS and from OS X to OS X, but not from iOS to OS X or vice versa. All the reports I can find say that this situation doesn’t change with Mavericks.

prehkugler 13y ago
It's important to ask yourself what you would do if you could AirDrop from your iOS device to an OS X device. Even though under the covers iOS and OS X work on files, iOS is sandboxed where OS X isn't, i.e. if you can't get to it via USB, you couldn't get to it via AirDrop anyway. With that said, it would be useful to have some of the iTunes/iPhoto functionality for wireless(AirDrop) a la carte file transfer, but most people will just use iTunes wifi sync to get this effect.
- fredsted 13y ago
  Even though iOS is sandboxed, has no files and no folders, lets not forget AirDrop on Mac doesn't do folders either. It almost looks like attachments: you drag (send) a file to the receiver. iOS handles mail attachments fine. I think this is something apple will implement later via software updates. Like for example obvious but long awaited OS X features like iBooks, Maps, Messages and Finder tabs. We're are wondering why they just didn't include it from the start, maybe they need a reason to sell OS X 10.10.
  - prehkugler 13y ago
    This seems like a possible win for Apple, and I hope they implement it. I just wanted to point out that OSX to iOS AirDrop is not as trivial as many people make it sound. There are edge cases, such as "what if the user doesn't have an app that supports this file?". It's different than email, because the file can't be saved in anyone's sandbox.

kyro 13y ago

I'm not a fan of iOS 7 design-wise, but my biggest gripe is the battery. It's bad. Really, really bad. I think it's a combination of an actual decrease in battery life and iOS 7's terrible monitoring of it. It's not uncommon for my phone to shut down after it's hit 8% remaining battery. Or I'll be watching a video with 45% left, and the next second it'll cut me down to 25%. There have been a few instances where I've gone from ~25% to completely empty in a flash, leaving me with a dead phone much earlier than I'd anticipated. So now I really can't leave my place for more than maybe 4/5 hours without my charger.

nickconfer 13y ago
I'd give it an update or two... Apple tends to have this issue at first, either because of something in their updated OS or 3rd party software. It usually gets fixed pretty quickly though.
pohl 13y ago
I'm curious, how did you determine that the problem is iOS 7, as opposed to your hardware – or, perhaps, the need for your hardware's power management needing to be reset/recalibrated? I only ask because I recall reading some complaints during the beta cycle that were resolved in some way without changing the specific version of the pre-release they were running.
- kyro 13y ago
  It was a very clear change for me. I'm usually at work from 7 to 5. On iOS 6, my iPhone 5 had no problem making it through with moderate use. There were no jumps in percentages. I could use the phone for an entire hour with <10% remaining. Once I downloaded the beta, I found myself with a dead phone at noon, having to fully recharge it at least once just to have a usable phone by the end of the work day. And I think I've only seen it actually hit <5% all of two times. It'll power down way before it gets that low.
  - pohl 13y ago
    I guess what I'm suggesting is that maybe the act of applying the beta to your phone put your power management hardware in a state that necessitates recalibration or reset. For example: "The issue with the battery drain on iPhone 4S was big and we saw the battery drain down in hours. However if you clean install first and then restore data, the issue doesn’t seem to occur." http://www.sidhtech.com/news/ios-7-iphone-4s-battery-life-iphone-5-3/10010129/ http://www.sidhtech.com/news/ios-7-iphone-4s-battery-life-ip... See also: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3605927?start=0&tstart= https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3605927?start=0&tstart=

jamra 13y ago

iOS versions have generally had a massively forward adoption rate. I read that 80% of iPhones were on the most modern OS. It looks to me like the lack of support for the 3GS will create a split in adoption of the OS, which will trickle down and create an even larger gap in the purchasing of new iOS devices. I think this split will occur due to the stability of the 3G iPhones. This is concerning to me due to my company having iOS releases for the enterprise. This means that our customers are purchasing iOS devices just for our app. This also means that we have to be backwards compatible with yet another version of the OS. In code, this is where Macros come in. I am reminded of the days of Microsoft vs Apple where Microsoft had better backwards compatibility. I think that the use of these devices in the business world will echo the days past and the cheaper device, Android, will be the go to business device.

pretz 13y ago
Why is lack of support for the 3GS any different than iOS 6's lack of support for the 3G? The 3GS came out in _2009_. I'm surprised it supports iOS 6; the 3G can't even run iOS 5.
- kalleboo 13y ago
  The 3GS was still for sale new in box last year
potatolicious 13y ago
> "It looks to me like the lack of support for the 3GS will create a split in adoption of the OS" Sure, but having seen the 3GS usage numbers on my own app (which, granted, is hardly a gold standard of representative demographics), I think this will be a rounding error. Despite Apple selling the devices until relatively recently, there are actually very few out in the wild. A developer can now effectively develop for iPhone 4 as their baseline. Granted, you might have uniqueness in your demographic that will skew 3GS usage higher than the general population. > "This also means that we have to be backwards compatible with yet another version of the OS. In code, this is where Macros come in." Ah, but you can't use macros, since a single binary will have to work on all devices - there aren't multiple binaries built with multiple flags. What you will have is a lot of runtime checks against either the OS version or specific featuresets. Be prepared to write a whole lot of if ([obj respondsToSelector@selector(...)]) The worst part about this isn't just supporting new features - that part's easy since you can simply test for the presence of necessary bits, mostly with respondsToSelector. The worst part are the undocumented behavior changes in UI components that will break between iOS6 and 7. For example, it looks like there are large implementation changes in UITableView and UITableViewCells. This means you must necessarily test against the version string and branch from that. Annoying at best, code-quality-destroyer at worst.

nickconfer 13y ago

I like iOS 7, but I'm a little worried about how app designers will do with the new look. When you compare the apps currently out that have been updated, you can see a lot of companies are struggling with flat design. Something that seems simple, is actually very complex to pull off, but when done right, can be fantastic. I think it will be a while before the ecosystem fully recovers and most of the best apps around have figured out how to execute flat design well.

malandrew 13y ago
In case you didn't see it, this thread links to a site that did a side by side comparison of how a lot of apps moved to the new aesthetics. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6400834 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6400834

hcarvalhoalves 13y ago

I can see a lot of effort went into interactions and some screens. Then I'm left with the impression they just winged it on the rest [1]. The redesign of the messages app limited itself to removing the graphics. The app still shows messages as bubbles, it's just bland now. I can think on a couple better design solutions for chat threads by looking at other apps and Adium themes. The Newsstand is another example of redesign-WTF. It still has bad usability and small thumbnails, it just replaced the background with some random grey background. Noteworthy are also those icons on the home screen. There's no consistency between them, as pointed by multiple designers already [1][2]. I can't believe Apple is pushing these as final. Overall, it looks like a rushed job, not something I would expect from Apple. I see no compelling reason to update. [1] http://tristanedwards.me/what-ios7-should-look-like http://tristanedwards.me/what-ios7-should-look-like [2] http://ianstormtaylor.com/whats-wrong-with-the-ios-7-icons/ http://ianstormtaylor.com/whats-wrong-with-the-ios-7-icons/

xntrk 13y ago

iOS7 seems really slow. hitting the home button to wake the screen up takes way too long.

joe5150 13y ago

The new alert banner is enormous! It clearly seems to have been designed with the iPhone 5+ in mind. At least the new ringtones and chimes are sort of lovely and not corny like the "Classic" ones.

diogocal 13y ago

Looks pretty and useless. I've been using iOS since iPhones came out, I'm seriously thinking about moving to android. Google has a good deal on Nexus 4.

Macha 13y ago
Had. By now the Nexus 4 is sold out in most countries and Google has no plans to restock as the N5 is coming out in early October. The N5 is also far more likely to match the N4's launch price than it's final price.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

r00fus 13y ago
This sounds like update-specific problems. Have you tried rebooting the OS, and if that doesn't resolve, reinstalling (restoring from the backup you should have taken prior to update - you did take a backup, right?) Yeah, I know: it's the old Windows support mantra (3R): reboot, reformat, reinstall [1]. But it has clearly helped me before in resolving iOS issues. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reboot,_reformat,_reinstall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reboot,_reformat,_reinstall

asabjorn 13y ago

And now we are starting to see Apple fall behind its competitors on central features, like e.g wi-fi calling. This feature is essential for the phones primary function, calling, in low-coverage areas. All competing mobile OSs already support wi-fi calling so this is disappointing.

glasz 13y ago

i click that link, see the image above the article showing an iphone running ios7 and i immediately have to vomit. (nb: i love apple. used an iphone for 4 years. use only macs.)

zmmmmm 13y ago

I really dislike rendering active buttons as pure text. Moving away from skeumorphism does not mean removing every visual cue that differentiates active from inactive items. All the more so on mobile devices where "hover" cues are not accessible. Google is also guilty of this.

EpicEng 13y ago

I... don't like it. So far anyway. I'm trying to keep an open mind since I don't have much of a choice anyway. I don't like that buttons turned into labels. I don't like that my screens now look more cluttered without clear delineations between UI elements. It looks a bit like a toy now as well. It also feels a bit more sluggish on my 4s. I don't know, maybe it will grow on me.