As any Apple product user may know, the company released its iOS 7 software update last Wednesday. Personally, I’ve been waiting for this moment since June, so as you could probably guess, I was getting pretty excited while I waited for my iPhone to finish downloading the update.
Initially, I was really happy with the software: finally, my iPhone could look more like an Android! But no matter how sleek and beautiful iOS 7 is, it also has its fair share of downsides. To help break down the debate over whether the iOS7 is worth the hype, I’ve compiled a list of the best and the worst of Apple’s newest operating system:
What to Love:
- The new camera functions are righteous. You can now take pictures in square format and choose from nine different filters. For those of us who are Instagram aficionados, this has made editing our photos much easier: now we can be sure Insta won’t awkwardly cut that photo of our lunch in half!
- The software comes with a flashlight. That’s right, you no longer have to download a flashlight app that takes ages to load (especially when you actually need it) and is constantly interrupted by ads. Just swipe upwards, click the little flashlight icon and voilá – let there be light.
- iOS 7 makes it a lot easier to multitask and organize what you’re doing. When you double-click your home button, all of your current apps will come up and you can choose to either scrap what you’re doing or go back to dashing through stars in Robot Unicorn Attack 2.
- There’s a ton of new tunes to choose from, thanks to Apple’s new store of text and ring tones. My advice is to spend some time checking them out in the Sounds setting so that the days of checking your phone every time you hear this at Club Olin can be over.
What to Hate:
- iOS 7 was basically made for the new line of iPhones (5, 5s, and 5c) and as a result, people with iPhones 4/4s (like me) have to deal with skewed wallpaper formats. Basically, my iPhone doesn’t look as cute as it did before. I had to exchange my pink strawberry background for a picture of the sea I took last summer. Seriously, Apple – How will I express my inner Japanese girl lifestyle if I can’t use any of my super “kawaii” (that’s cute in Japanese) wallpapers anymore?
- Those nice, new animations come at a price: iOS 7 drains your battery life in a big way. I’ve had to start charging my phone twice a day now and it gets pretty annoying.
- This may just be me, but the new photo gallery tries to fit in too much at once. Seriously, I just wanted to select one of my pictures – why did a bunch of my other photos appear next to it? Why do I have to click ‘Next’? No, I don’t want a slideshow made up of pictures of cute animals I saved from Reddit and Tumblr. Apple: stop it.
I suppose there’s no way around it; at some point everyone with an iPhone will have to upgrade to iOS 7. Even if you’re like my roommate who refuses to download the new iOS 7 software now, the shift is inevitable. Sure, there might be a few downsides, but all-in-all iOS 7 is a great update and we might as well embrace it. Remember, change is good! Steve Jobs would have been proud.
[Photo Sources: CNN Money, Dribbble.com]