I haven't used Android since it first came out, but does it have the dynamic physics, layering, dynamic image compositing (blur, etc), parallax, etc, that all are in iOS 7? iOS 7 seems to me to be very much about how it feels and behaves in motion. The current beta still isn't performance tuned, so my guess is the final build is going to be a pretty futuristic experience on the iPhone 5S.
I think a lot of people are getting hung up on lack of textures/lighting as "copying Android" but I would love to hear how Metro and Android are comparable on the things that are going to define iOS 7's experience: motion, dynamics, translucency, layering, and depth.
I agree, but it's funny. iOS 7 is all about dynamic, physical interfaces - so much so that they built a physics engine into UIKit. At the same time, they're ripping apart the user experience so that nothing onscreen _looks_ like a physical object.
Before, interfaces looked like a bunch of real-world objects. Now, they look like a bunch of thin-ass lines and boxes, but behave like real-world objects.
I agree that iOS is all about motion, dynamics, translucency, layering and depth. But the verdict is still out on whether those things make for better interfaces.
I don't know (or frankly care) how it is implemented. While the UI is flat, the apps use transitions and a parallax effect to build the illusion of the depth (similar to how Apple does it using their gyroscopic parallax effect on the home screen).
There is no depth or layering in metro, not even small drop shadows and definitely not layered application screens. The panaroma metaphor is panning left or right with some disjoint movement of the background (not really parallax, very fake) and the cutting off lots of text...
Lets wait until we can judge them side by side. I have a windows phone device, but no apps (my market doesn't really have anything decent), so I'm not really sure if the metaphors have evolved much from the panaromas.
All of the new features are just 'feature libraries' on top of CoreAnimation, which was there since 1.0. You could of made a demo of all of this that ran (slower) on iOS 2.0 with just CoreAnimation and the accelerometer hardware API as a 3rd party developer. CoreAnimation is the impressive part.
Well I've had a parallax (sic? I don't think I've spelt that right) Live Wallpaper for some time now. Android lends itself to allowing other developers to innovate without waiting for the OS to introduce those "features". There are also other Launchers that can provide the iOS 7 graphical embellishments while other Launchers have provided even more 3D enhancements. I've used those before, but I'm running a fairly stock UI out of personal choice.
And that I think is still why Android gives me the best platform -- choice. There are a variety of device manufactures and I can replace whole system components, but at the end of the day, while my particular device is unique to my experience, I can run the same software as another device that looks, and in some cases feels, completely different than mine.
I think a lot of people are getting hung up on lack of textures/lighting as "copying Android" but I would love to hear how Metro and Android are comparable on the things that are going to define iOS 7's experience: motion, dynamics, translucency, layering, and depth.