Apple announces redesigned iOS 7

[njmeadowlanders]

I have the 4 and when IOS 6 came out it started to show its age as it just isn't powerful enough to handle all these new memory-sucking processes. There's zero chance I'd be able to go to 7 now (I don't even know if they'd support a now 3-year old phone, they eventually abandoned the edge model).

I just hope I can make this one last 'till the iPhone 6 comes out.

I do like that you'll be able to finally block certain numbers now though...suck it telemarketers who ignore the do-not-call list and call over and over again...

[imaprince]

I think it looks great, Apple's UI design is bar none compared to anything out on the market, only one in the same league imo is the Windows Phone Interface, Apple continues to nail everything right on the head like Microsoft.

[pcgd]

It's so minor but I'm gonna be obsessively tilting my phone around like crazy for at least 10 mins playing with the layers...

Then forgetting it ever existed.

Like other features, does someone else out there already have that?

[drdougfresh]

Does Flash get full functionality in the browser? Does this OS finally have full audio controls in landscape mode? A no to either = fail no matter what it looks like.

In all honesty, if your website still runs flash, it's time to move into 2013. I don't know many sites that are still using flash so extensively that they don't function on a mobile device -- especially with Android 4.0 ditching Flash support, too. It's obsolete now (at least it seems that way to me), thanks to HTML5.

If it gets a little cleaned up, I might actually consider the iPhone (never thought I'd say that). I've been running WP the last two years, but I'm kinda bored with it. The cleanliness of this new UI is exactly what I like about the WP UI -- might be enough to make me switch... unless I can get my hands on a HTC One Nexus version.

[BrandMooreArt]

yea theres no need for Flash anymore. Apples been excluding that for a few years now from some of their products. they're usually ahead of the curve, but when everything catches up its a good decision.

[vmd9]

Ahead of the curve? Everything "new" about the new OS has been available on Windows and/or Android for quite some time. Not just the design. Even the simplest stuff like number blocking and panoramic backgrounds.

[STL FANATIC]

Ahead of the curve? Everything "new" about the new OS has been available on Windows and/or Android for quite some time. Not just the design. Even the simplest stuff like number blocking and panoramic backgrounds.

BMA means on technology more than features I believe.

Apple said Flash was an unstable thing to run on a phone like 5 years ago. A couple years later mobile flash was killed because... it was unstable to run on a phone.

Apple killed floppy disk and zip disk drives in their machines years before PC's did because better technology was available in CD and DVD drives to no longer need them. A couple years later PC's did the same thing.

Same goes for VGA and DVI and CD/DVD slots, etc. Not all of that is about bad technology, some of it is about alternative technology that saves space on the machine, but the point is that Apple moves on that sort of thing a lot quicker than every one else.

And it usually leads to some people getting upset, but it's usually also followed a couple years later by becoming the standard.

As far as little features go, you're right. Windows and Android have gotten to some of that stuff quicker. It's generally minor, but some of it is nice for the user experience. Probably not going to have any of the companies be first and best in every single category. Just the nature of such a multifaceted device.

[vmd9]

Jony Ive Redesigns Things is probably the funniest thing I've seen about this "redesign"

[BlueSky]

I'm no tech geek and maybe the problem is with the sites but when I try to access something and get a "Your device does not run Flash" error, that's a pain.

[Quillz]

Been using the beta for a couple days now, I like the UI/design a lot, but some elements clearly need work. Using horizontal dots in place of a vertical bar to represent signal strength is not a good decision. Visually, it's much harder to tell what my signal strength is than before, where the changing heights made it obvious at a glance. There are also issues with using certain wallpapers: due to lack of gradients, it can now be almost impossible to read text on the home screen.

Most issues I'm sure will be resolved in upcoming betas. Nothing is new, but on the other hand, at least Apple will finally catch up to the other mobile platforms, and that's fine with me.

[JPDesign]

Overall: It's an improved look. I knew they were in trouble when a large number of third party apps looked better than Apple's stock apps. The shine/skeumorphism/drop shadow overload had gotten out of hand.

That said, the typography is rough. Helvetica is already less than ideal for viewing on a screen (especially at small sizes), but making it light reduces legibility even more. Thankfully there is the "increase text legibility" option in Settings.

Lastly, I'm not sold on the button-less text buttons. I think that buttons work fine without a border when they are iconographic. It's a little tricker when they are text only. Especially when the text is stacked.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The difference between Apple and Microsoft, generally, is that Apple gets the benefit of the doubt and Microsoft doesn't. Put another way, people tend to first look for what they like in new Apple products, and what they don't in Microsoft. I don't think there's intentional malice; it's just that Microsoft hasn't/can't shake its reputation from the Win95 days, and Apple's (many) fumbles don't stick, while its long-term negative impacts on the world (tax shelters, encouragement of spending money on digital "goods") are generally ignored or excused.

Personally, I think Google's the most interesting of the three. While MS and Apple predominately focus on consumer products, Google is reshaping the world around us by collecting data on everything. There was once a world where what you searched for, what your home looked like, and your general day-to-day interactions were not tracked by anyone. Now they are, and stored in Google's databases. They've done a great job of putting a fun, primary color, Doodle-veneer on their work, but Google's real intentions are to data mine our world. What they do with that data, who knows.

[TorinK92]

^+1

Thankfully I have a Nokia so I never have to go through any changes anytime.

[drdougfresh]

Found this article pretty interesting (and relevant to the topic): http://www.forbes.co...ogle-microsoft/

[vmd9]

I get that flat design is the new trend. Some can argue that Apple is just following the trend. What bothers me is how long Android and windows have already been using it. And like I've said, when they unveiled it Apple people bashed it. So bashing the design and features of other operating systems, but when Apple adopts it people consider it "revolutionary." But in the end they are still behind. They took a windows phone, android, and added bright ugly colors and called it an Apple. Someone could say I'm biased but I have owned a Macbook Pro, iOS device, Android, Windows PCs, and have used Windows phones. The current Microsoft line is at the top in design and second behind Android in functionality.

[STL FANATIC]

I haven't heard a whole lot of bashing of the Windows Metro design. It's the functionality that gets bashed. And a large part of that bashing comes from Windows users themselves.

I for one have always begrudgingly respected Windows move to flat design. They took the leap a bit sooner.

That said, what Apple unveiled in iOS 7 is NOT what Windows is using. Windows is truly flat design. What Apple unveiled might on that side of the scale, but it is not flat. It features a lot of depth. It is clean, not flat. They're not the same at all.

As for revolutionary, that seems like a straw man, to me. Not sure you can find one person who called the design "revolutionary". I'll bet you can find lots of people who called the functionality and transitions, etc. etc. revolutionary. But the graphics? I doubt it. The graphics are clean and beautiful. Nobody believes they're revolutionary.

[Gothamite]

Yeah, this seems to be more a critique of impressions of Apple fans than actual Apple consumers.

[GuitarPunk2512]

i need to ge tmyself a new ipod, i still use an 1st gen ipod nano ( click wheel is done after falling in a puddle, still works on shuffle play on my tv) and my 2nd gen ipod touch ( apple stopped updating it at iOS 2.3 cant download most apps anymore and the existing oens crash and need to be updated and dont run due to not being iOS 4.3 or newer)