Sept. 10 is a day that will live in infamy for many Apple fanatics. It was the day that Apple execs delivered a keynote address announcing two new iPhone models and also giving a brief overview of Apple’s new operating system, iOS 7.
iOS 7 was made available to download just over a week later on Sept. 18. If you were on campus that day or anywhere with free public wi-fi, you probably noticed the lagging Internet connection. Apple made iOS 7 only available ‘over the air,’ or via wi-fi. Users were said to be overloading Apple’s servers and most were getting wait times of anywhere from four to 13 hours.
Those that were lucky enough to download iOS 7 within the first few hours of its release were treated to a cleaner aesthetic including new lock and home screens, streamlined icons and a few new and updated programs.
Features
The lock screen now fades into focus with ‘slide to unlock’ text at the bottom where previously there was a slide bar. When entering their password, users get a transparent screen with a keypad that syncs up with the colors in the home screen background.
The home screen now displays ‘cartoon-like’ icons that appear to have a three-dimensional effect when users move their iPhone back and forth. Swiping down from the top of the screen allows users to access the spotlight function.
The newly-added control center can be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. It allows users to control functions like volume, playback, brightness, wi-fi, Bluetooth, clock, calculator, photos among others.
One of my favorite features is that users can exit any open app by double clicking the home button and then tapping anywhere in the app. It closes the app and shows users their previously viewed pages and apps. They can then simply click and open another app or click on the home screen to return to it.
iPhone users who consider themselves ‘photo junkies’ will also love the updated camera options in iOS 7. Along with taking regular photos and video, they can choose between capturing a specific frame in a shot or taking a panoramic photo. Users also have several built in filters to choose from and an easily accessible flash button.
There’s plenty of other upgrades and functions that make this iOS 7 way more streamlined and easy to use than previous updates. It’ll probably take most users a while to get used to the updated interface and find all the new functions, but it should be well worth it.