I've been playing with iOS 7 on my iPhone 5 for a day now as well.
It's utterly fantastic. What is surprising is how much all the apps have changed - all the functionality was seemingly ripped apart and put back together.
It's definitely rough. This is a beta, not a Google "let's call it beta even though it's actually finished". A real beta. With plenty of bugs; occasional crashes. Lots of graphics glitches esp. when using 3rd party apps. Seems to use tons of battery.
If you don't understand what a beta is, better don't install this. Beta means buggy.
But as far as the UI is concerned, it's fantastic. It's beyond that - it feels as if a great weight has been lifted from iOS and I can feel the blood, sweat, and tears, as well as enthusiasm and sheer euphoria, of the people putting this together in an insane timeframe. 7 months!
Sure there's inconsistencies in the design - those will get fixed over time, probably before the GM; there's so many glitches - I expect some will remain past GM. There's some weirdness that'll only get fixed next year.
But all in all, this is one fantastic update. This is Apple at its best. If you can't see that, I feel sorry for you, but I also feel confident that you will see it in hindsight, next year, when everyone will talk about how Apple re-invented itself yet again with iOS7.
Samsung meanwhile is already hard at work copying all those features, expect them to pop up in Android within the next 6 months. Parallax background will be first.
Samsung meanwhile is already hard at work copying all those features,
expect them to pop up in Android within the next 6 months.
Parallax background will be first.
It is quite ironic you would say that, since parallax backgrounds were available for all Android devices in app form before Apple demoed them.
But the cynic in me will not be surprised to read more stories about how Apple revolutionized and invented multitasking, flat UIs, quick settings and file sharing on mobile.
Apologies for not closely following the thousands of different UX improvements / add-ons / tweaks available for Android. I wouldn't be surprised if it was in Cydia as well.
But that's not the point. The point is Samsung will copy it. Just wait, I am pretty confident here ;) I mean they could just buy that existing app but something tells me that they won't... past behavior and all that...
Frankly I don't think Apple is taking any design clues from anywhere. They don't care what Android is doing - they do their own thing. And with iOS 7, they have revolutionized iOS. That's a fact.
Apologies for not closely following the thousands of different UX improvements / add-ons / tweaks available for Android.
You should apologize, though clearly you're being sarcastic. If you're going to claim that Samsung is copying what Apple has done, you'd better know what Samsung, stock Android, and probably at least a couple other flavors, have already done.
The point is Samsung will copy it.
Copy what, exactly? The look and feel of iOS 7 (at least from a few initial screenshots; I haven't tried it myself yet) looks how Android has looked for over a year and a half now.
Certainly the UX of iOS 7 is (presumably) still distinct from Android, but that doesn't seem to be what you're talking about.
They don't care what Android is doing - they do their own thing.
You clearly -- by your own admission -- aren't qualified to make this statement. Multitasking on iOS is a watered-down, shittier version of multitasking on Android. Notifications on iOS were basically ripped from Android. You may claim that Apple never saw what Android was doing and happened to come up with similar solutions, but that seems a bit naive to me.
And I frankly don't think that Samsung is taking any design clues from anywhere. They don't care what Apple is doing - they do their own thing. And with the next Touchwiz, they will revolutionize Touchwiz UX. That's a fact /s
But seriously, the amount of snark (and hypocrisy imo) in your comment was too much to take.
>>And I frankly don't think that Samsung is taking any design clues from anywhere. They don't care what Apple is doing
Uhh... the whole idea with the present generation of smartphone (software) comes from the iPhone. That (and applying it to create pads people were willing to pay for) was new.
Everyone should be able to agree on that, at least.
> Uhh... the whole idea with the present generation of smartphone (software) comes from the iPhone.
Oh come on. It's an evolution of what was there before; Palm OS was already very clearly moving in that direction. There is very little that is conceptually new in the first iPhone.
The execution was superb, and everyone certainly got shaken awake by the fact that that level of quality was even possible... but the core ideas were already there.
I leave the subject, since I assume you'd argue the same thing about the iPad, even though others had tried to build xPads for many years without anyone wanting the results... :-)
I disagree. This seems to me like something that wouldn't have happened under the supervision of Jobs. I feel like the redesign of their UI hasn't gone far enough, that there attempt to copy other trends is different than what apple has done before.
I believe that with this update, apple has put the final nail in the coffin to remove the stigma of "it's apple, so it's better."
>I feel like the redesign of their UI hasn't gone far enough
In 7 months (after Ive got in charge)? Let's see any team in the world do better in the same time. Not to mention that if they had gone further, people would also complaint ("oh, this is not the iOS we knew and love at all anymore").
People talk about Windows Phone similarities. It took Microsoft 4-5 years AFTER the iPhone was introduced to copy all the basics (that all modern smartphones copied anyway) and get something out there compelling enough to consider buying (and it's not like many people did buy it, anyway).
In contrast, this redesign took Apple only 7-8 months. Along with new features and lots of behaviour changes in the UI.
This is essentially version 1 of the new UI. It will be polished further in iOS 8.
>that there attempt to copy other trends is different than what apple has done before.
Didn't Apple adopt the Delicious Library skeuomorphic real-life look around 6 years back? Including snatching the Delicious Library graphic designer from the company he worked in?
How do we know this is about "copying other trends" instead of what Ive would have liked to do all along, if he was in charge for the UI?
This wasn't supposed to be read as a bash against apple or the iphone, just an observation.
When the original design was done, the world was a very different place where apple was very clearly ahead.
With this UI it seems to me that the differences between ios android and windows phone are pretty minor. I used to tell people that you'd get an easier experience with apple, and a better experience with the right android phone. More recently, I've found myself telling people that it really doesn't matter as they are all awesome phones, but if you could get an iphone at the same price as others, it's probably worth it to you. Now it seems like that last clause isn't true anymore, at least not to me.
>This wasn't supposed to be read as a bash against apple or the iphone, just an observation. When the original design was done, the world was a very different place where apple was very clearly ahead. With this UI it seems to me that the differences between ios android and windows phone are pretty minor.
Well, as Jobs said, the iPhone was ahead of the industry by about 5 years. Those 5 years have passed.
Did anyone think the competitors would never catch up? It's not like Windows for the desktop is like XP anymore. It has also seen much more refinement and maturity, and could be compared far more favourably to OS X.
That said, Apple / iOS retains the benefits of the 5 year head-start: iOS is more coherent and mature, the whole ecosystem is bigger (from apps, to accounts on file, to third party peripherals, etc), etc etc.
Exactly. Also, as they are becoming more similar to Android, it won't take much for users to actually switch to it. I am sure Google is happy to see this development.
I don't think it's Android's busy, ... unique interface that keeps Apple owners from switching. It's the hundreds of dollars in apps they've invested in that won't transfer.
I don't know that that's true, I think it's general consensus that an android phone is not as good as an iPhone. I'd wager that this update removes a lot of that divide and gives people a reason to look at the alternative.
This is just speculation, I haven't run the iOS 7 developer preview yet.
It's utterly fantastic. What is surprising is how much all the apps have changed - all the functionality was seemingly ripped apart and put back together.
It's definitely rough. This is a beta, not a Google "let's call it beta even though it's actually finished". A real beta. With plenty of bugs; occasional crashes. Lots of graphics glitches esp. when using 3rd party apps. Seems to use tons of battery.
If you don't understand what a beta is, better don't install this. Beta means buggy.
But as far as the UI is concerned, it's fantastic. It's beyond that - it feels as if a great weight has been lifted from iOS and I can feel the blood, sweat, and tears, as well as enthusiasm and sheer euphoria, of the people putting this together in an insane timeframe. 7 months!
Sure there's inconsistencies in the design - those will get fixed over time, probably before the GM; there's so many glitches - I expect some will remain past GM. There's some weirdness that'll only get fixed next year.
But all in all, this is one fantastic update. This is Apple at its best. If you can't see that, I feel sorry for you, but I also feel confident that you will see it in hindsight, next year, when everyone will talk about how Apple re-invented itself yet again with iOS7.
Samsung meanwhile is already hard at work copying all those features, expect them to pop up in Android within the next 6 months. Parallax background will be first.