Apple releasing iOS 7: Top 10 things you need to know about the new iPhone and iPad operating system

 

17 Sep 2013 16:21

In the biggest change to Apple's smartphones and tablets, the system has been rebuilt with a totally different design, created by Brit Sir Jonathan Ive and his team

 

iPad iOS 7

Apple's iOS 7 operating software for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch becomes available to download tomorrow - bringing a whole new look to the company's mobile devices. 

In the biggest change to Apple's smartphones and tablets, the system has been rebuilt with a totally different design, created by Brit Sir Jonathan Ive and his team. 

Likely to be launched in the UK towards the end of Wednesday, once Apple's US audience is awake, it will come preloaded on the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C models that go on sale this Friday. 

Anyone else can download iOS 7 to their device, but before you do, here are 10 things you need to know about iOS 7. 

Apple Launch

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1. iOS 7 is FREE. You don't need to pay a penny to get it but you may find you need to wait a while in a download queue if you try to access it as soon as it goes live, along with a few million others desperately doing the same.

You can update it directly from your device, there's no need to connect it to a computer.

But it won't work on some older Apple products such as an iPhone 3G, 3GS or the original iPad and it is only compatible with the fifth generation of iPod touch devices onwards. 

 

People walk under an iOS7 sign at the 2013 Apple WWDC at the Moscone Center

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2. The design and layout of iOS 7 is a dramatic departure from what Apple fans have been used to.

It uses a new colour palette, has a flatter look and different fonts, which are meant to give it a 'cleaner' look.

There are also lots of translucent effects and on the 5C, the colour of the device you buy will dictate the colour of the wallpaper and icons.

Jony Ive, says of his creation: "True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation - it's about bringing order to complexity." 

New Apple iOS 7 features are displayed on screen during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference

Reuters

             

3. The new iOS system has been created to take advantage of the 64-bit processor in the latest iPhone 5S.

This provides more power for applications and games. But some older apps may not be able to match up to this and also some older devices may not work so well with any updated apps.

To counter this, it's been reported that Apple is to introduce a pop-up pointing users to older versions of apps that would work better with their specific device. 

Apple Launch

             

4. Not updating to iOS 7 right now though, could be a good move.

As well as saving yourself time waiting in a download queue, you could prevent issues with security, compatibility with apps and features not working.

As with previous releases of iOS and any other new software, there can be problems on day one. These are then solved with an update a couple of weeks later.

Often it pays not to jump in with two feet to be among the first who has it, and to wait until the first updated release has ironed out all the issues.

Or until at least wait until you know whether there are problems and what they may be. 

Apple Launch

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5. iOS 7 is offering 200+ changes to the operating system according to Apple but while many of these will just be minor tweaks, some are much more major and noticeable.

For a start Notification Center can now be accessed with a swipe down even when the phone is locked.

The Control Center can also be opened with a swipe up from the bottom of the screen and contains icons for some of the most-used features such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, display brightness, calculator, camera and even a torch.

There is also a new Today feature showing a summary of items such as weather, traffic, meetings and events 

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6. In a bid to prevent iPhones and iPads being stolen, Apple has introduced an extra security feature alongside the new fingerprint reader in the iPhone 5S.

While not everyone will have the luxury of that, they will be able to prevent muggers from turning off the Find My iPhone feature.

In iOS 7 it comes with an Activation Lock, requiring your Apple ID and password before you can turn it off, erase data or re-activate a device after it has been remotely erased. 

CEO Tim Cook speaks during an Apple event in San Francisco

Reuters

             

7. If you've not yet been sold on Siri then iOS 7 at least gives you a few more reasons to try out the virtual personal assistant hiding inside your device.

For a start it comes with new softer voices - both male and female - and allows you to use your voice to look through Twitter, Wikipedia and the Bing search engine. 

Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of internet software and services, displays the new iTunes interface

Reuters

8. Additions to the camera in iOS 7 do not include the Burst and Slo Mo modes, which are only found on the iPhone 5S for now.

But you do get new real-time photo effects and a square camera option to add to video, photo and panorama. It's also easier to switch between all four.

Your pictures are all displayed for more intuitively and better organised in the Photos app, showing them based on the time they were taken and the location they were taken at.

There's also a new way to share files and content between iOS 7 devices using AirDrop and a Wi-Fi network, a system already familiar to Mac owners. 

    

Apple Launch the iOS7

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9. Safari web browsing has been improved with a redesigned interfaced for full-screen surfing along with a new smart search field to better recommend options.

And in a big departure that could be one of the most popular, there are new ringtones, alarms, alerts and system sounds so you can try and separate yourself from the millions of others using the same tones. 

  

Apple Launch

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10. iTunes Radio is one of the biggest additions.

It's a free Internet radio service with more than 200 stations but for now will only be available in America.

Popular Apps Near Me in the App Store also now gives you the opportunity to find apps based on your location.

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IOS 7 is here: Review

By Adrian Covert  @CNNMoneyTech September 18, 2013: 8:31 AM ET

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The new iOS 7 iPhone software not only has a new look, but Apple successfully addresses many long-standing issues.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

Your iPhone is about to get a giant makeover: Apple is pushing out iOS 7 to iPhone users on Wednesday.

The new iPhone operating system is the most substantial update in the software's history. Apple not only added new features and functionality, but the company radically reinvented the six-year old operating system's appearance.

For the most part, Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500)succeeded in making iOS easier on the eyes and simpler to use. Apple trimmed the fat where necessary and added some meat to areas that were lacking.

New look: The most noticeable difference in iOS 7 is the design. Gone are the core apps that look like real-life objects. In their place is a far more modern, streamlined, flatter digital aesthetic.

Apple didn't eliminate depth and texture altogether, but it redefined how it uses those effects. For instance, Apple made some menus and features appear translucent, like a frosted sheet of glass. That not only provides a stylish touch, but it produces a layered effect to help visualize how different parts of an app are linked, and how they are separate.

 

iPhones 5C and 5S good enough for Apple

You'll notice this everywhere from the home screen icons to the design of the lock screen to the screen that shows up when you receive a call. But the way you use those elements is more or less the same as before.

Related story: Hits and misses of Apple's new iPhones

And there are still touches of the old version of iOS throughout the new iOS 7. For example, the Messages app still uses speech bubbles, and the camera app still uses an on-screen shutter button. But the look of those features has been spruced up as well.

There was a time when Apple had to demonstrate how its flat, glass screen could replace many self-contained gadgets people already owned. So everything had a glassy, textured layer applied to it. The calendar had to look like a paper calendar. The compass had to look like something you'd see in a 16th-century Spanish galleon.

Now that the vast majority of us understand our smartphones, Apple has been able to ditch those visual analogs and become truer to its sleek, modern hardware.

New features: Perhaps the most useful addition to iOS 7 is Control Center. It's your metaphorical junk drawer full of settings, media playback controls, and shortcuts to utility apps, like the clock, camera and calculator. You can now also toggle the LED on and off from control center, functioning as a de facto flashlight. And it's easily accessible: just swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

Control Center isn't a revelation: Having quick access to Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is something that's long been on Android. But it's a welcome addition -- and frankly should have already been added to iOS a long time ago.

Related story: Apple will never make a cheap iPhone

Siri's functionality has been expanded some. It can now be used to search for Wikipedia and Twitter. That's nice, but it's still no Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) Now, which can tell you to leave home earlier than usual because there's an accident on the freeway.

The new weather app in iOS 7 is more informative than ever, and the App Store can automatically update your apps.

The Photo app has mostly been changed for the better by automatically arranging your photos according to time and place. But the new shared photo streams addition felt incomplete. It allows multiple people to share and comment on photos -- think of it as a remixed version of group MMS. But with so many people already using Apple's iMessage to share photos, it's unclear why people are supposed to use the new feature.

The Notification Center in iOS 7 now has three separate sub-pages, making it feel more bloated and confusing than its previous iteration. For example, if you don't use a calendar, one of the sub-pages is just a completely empty screen.

Question marks: Apple overhauled multitasking in iOS 7, giving apps the ability to fully run in the background. That means apps like Twitter and Facebook will be able to automatically update their feeds without you having to open the app. Apple even promises that iOS 7 will learn which apps you use the most, when you use them, and will make sure they're always updated at that time. But it will be hard to tell how well this feature will work until app makers begin to support it.

Airdrop is Apple's file sharing protocol, allowing iPhone users to share photos, contacts and things like passbook cards with one another. In theory, it is a wonderfully simple way to transfer files. But you can't use it with the Mac version of Airdrop. And the main appeal of Airdrop seems to be photos -- which is confusing since that's what shared photostreams are for. Until there is a critical mass of people running iOS 7, it's hard to gauge how useful Airdrop will be.

Bottom line: Despite a few hiccups in execution, Apple has successfully re-thought iOS for the better.

The biggest achievement of iOS 7 is Apple's willingness to acknowledge that it's immensely successful hardware had gone a bit stale. Apple had the awareness and courage to make some major changes without doing anything so drastic that it risked alienating its user base.

IOS 7 isn't perfect, but it's still as worthy a mobile OS as Google's Android. IOS 7 lays down the foundation for the next five or so years that will allow Apple to keep the iPhone feeling modern and progressive. 

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie: UPDATE

The Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie release date, feature list and other rumors surrounding the software are only presumed at the moment. Google still hasn't confirmed the existence of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, but many developers and others invested in the Android community believe that the new operating system could be launched at Google I/O in May 2013. (Photo: developers.google.com / events/io/)

Now that the Samsung Galaxy S4 has been unveiled and discovered to be preloaded with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, the biggest Android fans are curious about what might possibly be the next big release for the platform. Though smartphones are always a topic of interest among consumers, fans that are already committed to the platform are more interested in the launch date of next iteration of the Android -- unofficially dubbed Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.

The Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie release date, feature list and other rumors surrounding the software are only presumed at the moment. Details about Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie are difficult to predict with any certainty. Google still hasn't confirmed the existence of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, but many developers and others invested in the Android community believe that the new operating system could be launched at Google I/O in May 2013.

Google I/O is known as a common launching point for many new services that the company launches. In the history of the event, Google I/O has been the release event for the Nexus 7 tablet, Google Glass, Nexus Q, Google+ for tablets, the Android Jelly Bean SDK release and many other technical announcements for the Android operating system.

Google I/O stands for "input and output," and "innovation in the open," two broad-sweeping mantras of the convention. The purpose of the developerconference is essentially promote the creation of building enterprise applications and more with Google platforms such as Android, Chrome, Chrome OS and Google Web Toolkit. Google I/O will take place from May 15-17 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Whether or not the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie release date occurs during Google I/O remains to be seen, but the fact that Android 4.1 Jelly Bean was announced at a recent convention bodes well for fans anxiously awaiting the next iteration of the operating system.

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie will probably be released with the Motorola X Phone, a smartphone that has been shrouded in secrecy for the last several months. Google hasn't confirmed the Motorola X Phone, either. There isn't much information about the Motorola X Phone available to the public. Still, not everyone has been quiet about the secret project.

"According to [Smarthouse sources], who claim to have spoken with Telstra CTO Hugh Bradlow on the matter, the X Phone will be a 'game changer.' It's supposed to be a 'real breakthrough' that will put pressure on Samsung and Apple, something no one in the smartphone industry has done in a couple of years," reported Kellex of Droid Life, the popular blog dedicated to Android rumors and news.

Though people are interested in the first phone that will run Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie, many more are interested in the features and improvements that Google will unveil during the next iteration of Android OS. There are already many new features that have been added to smartphones, such as gesture-control functions, that may become standardized in the next iteration of Android.

Months ago, Android 5.0 Key Lime was rumored to be the launching pad for aGoogle Now widget. A small snapshot of the Google Now widget appeared briefly on a Google support page before it was taken down. By the time it was taken off of the site, many Android fans grabbed snapshots and other copies of the Google Now widget in order to preserve the evidence. Google inevitably rolled out the Google Now widget on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

"...We learned from Android Central that Google is working with the Linux 3.8 kernel, which gives rise to the notion that this kernel might make it into Android 5," reports TechRadar. "One improvement that the 3.8 kernel brings is lowered RAM usage, which would mean a snappier phone with better multitasking."

Android developers have been talking about Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie features in several forums and guessing what features might be included in the next iteration of the operating system. In one of many Android 5.0 feature prediction threads on XDA Developers, user np231 listed the following as his predictions:

1) Profile Management: BB10 has it, Android should offer it too. 
2) Video Calling App: I think we actually need this
3) Text Message Sync: This would be very helpful, I use SMSBackup+, but native functionality would be nice. 

In addition to user np231 from XDA Developers, many other Android fans suspect that Google will address the messaging problem that has existed over the last few generations of Android. Google has several different messaging services -- Google Talk, Google Messenger, Google Voice and Gmail -- that are hardly integrated and make it difficult for users to manage so many inboxes. Reports about Google's new messaging service have already surfaced on several sites..

"Babble continues Google's trend towards organization by conversation. You can share photos in chat windows just like you would in G+ Messenger, start a Hangout with anyone in your contact list, and the conversations are threaded across all the existing services," reports Russell Holly of Geek.com.

"Moving forward, the individual services will all be pushed onto the single platform, and you'll be able to use the same chat window across all of Google's products with the same features available everywhere. It's not so much releasing a new product as it is pulling together all of the existing products under a single branding," he adds.

In addition to new messaging software, Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie is rumored to add extra features to the Samsung Galaxy S4. Rumors of new Samsung software called "Samsung Orb" surfaced online prior to the Galaxy S4 release date, but the software wasn't announced alongside the Galaxy S4. There's a chance that Samsung decided to completely trash the software and not release it on any of its phones, but many Android fans would like to think otherwise.

"Samsung Orb could make its way to the Samsung Galaxy S4, only it may arrive with Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie rather than in an incremental update or a later update," reports Gotta Be Mobile. "This is not confirmed and it could be that the feature is left off the device altogether in favor of Photo Sphere but until Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie rolls out, we won't know."

Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie features that are rumored also included the introduction of performance profiles. Many Android owners complain about the battery life of their devices, and some believe that if consumers were given a better way to manage their battery consumption, they might have a better experience with Android device. Although better power management controls would be a welcome addition to many users, there's a strong chance that users might not want to manage such features and would prefer to keep things automated.

Other Android 5.0 Rumors include a video chatting app that will likely compete with iMessage and small revisions made to existing Google products. Some of the apps that users want revised include Google Calendars, Gmail and the Contacts app in Android. It's still unclear whether Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie will keep the same major design elements included in Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. If it does, there probably won't be many major design changes to Google serviceapps.

The Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie release date, features list and rumors circulating the web are difficult to sift through at this point, and that's mainly because reports are mostly wild speculation. Whether or not Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie is released at Google I/O remains to be seen, but we can't think of a better location. As for the Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie features, anything is possible at this point. We'll keep you posted as more information becomes available.

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Benchmarks Nearly Twice as Fast as iPhone 5

Following last week's introduction of the Samsung Galaxy S4, Primate Labs has analyzedGeekbench 2 scores for the phone, comparing it to a number of other smartphones including the iPhone 5.

The analysis shows the new Samsung flagship is significantly faster than competing phones including the HTC One, and its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S3. However, the S3 also benchmarked faster than the iPhone 5.

From John Poole's analysis:

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is twice as fast as the Samsung Galaxy S 3. Given that the Samsung Galaxy S 3 is less than a year old, that's a remarkable achievement. I am amazed at how quickly smartphone technology is improving.

The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is also twice as fast as the Apple iPhone 5. Apple has improved performance dramatically in the past (there was 2.5x increase in performance from the iPhone 4S to the iPhone 5). Will they be able to make a similar improvement for the next iPhone?

Though the iPhone does benchmark somewhat slower than its competitors, Apple's close integration of software and hardware leads to significant performance gains that Android phones can't easily replicate.