“*Chris Barosky*”:http://www.smalldog.com/christopherb/christopher-barosky ??is a Service Technician in our Waitsfield, VT location. Check out his review of iOS 7!??
When iOS 7 Beta was released for developers, I immediately got my hands on it. I took the plunge and boldly (or foolishly) put it on my iPhone, a device completely essential to my life as it is with most people in the modern age. People versed in technology know that beta releases are buggy, unstable, and can render a device unusable in the wrong hands. I’m personally not a developer and my skills with code are limited, but it seemed like a good training opportunity. After some issues getting the OS on my phone, my experience with it in subsequent months was that of pleasant surprises.
For one, the interface is for lack of a better word “awesome.” My favorite feature of iOS 7 is the “*parallax effect*”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax_scrolling, a method that has been around for decades actually to emulate 3D movement. It makes the app icons (foreground) move faster than the wallpaper (background), so as you move your iOS 7 laden in front of you it gives the impression of 3D movement. This adds a new personality to iOS that is more futuristic and interactive.
I’m sure my colleagues will go on and on about other beautiful parts of the interface design (my personal favorite Apple app revamp is the compass, it looks straight out of a modern sci fi movie) but I wanted to comment on something completely unexpected and completely welcome. Like most consumers, I wasn’t in love with my phone’s battery life: charge it all night, half way through the day it was beyond 50% depleted, and completely depleted in the evening when I’d still want to do things with it. After having iOS 7 beta on my phone for a mere couple of days, I noticed a dramatic increase in battery life. This has to do with the software making smarter use of device architecture, particularly as pertains to network communication. Now I can go literally the whole day checking news, Facebook, email, and various other apps with plenty of battery to spare in the evening.
Lots of people download utility apps like calculators, calendars, measuring tools, and “flashlights.” The latter for me is very useful at night when I take my dogs out. I’d relied on less-than-nice 3rd party apps that gave ads, just to access the LED on the back of the phone. Apple decided to build in a shortcut to the flashlight into a new part of the OS called “Control Center,” where you can also quickly turn on or off WiFi, Bluetooth, Airplane Mode, and screen orientation flipping. Android using critics of iOS can now be silenced in this regard and, for those of us who haven’t had such convenience at our fingertips, you will be delighted at how easy it is to perform simple tasks in iOS 7.
You’ll see lots of articles that hate on the new OS, lots of articles that laud it, and lots of in between. As with any major OS change, I encourage you to give it a shot and take the time to learn all of its intricacies before passing judgement. Sometimes we get so comfortable with what we’re used to that change is unwelcome. In my opinion, the change iOS 7 brings is very welcome.
