The iOS 7 Review
by Brian Klug & Saumitra Bhagwat on September 19, 2013 1:25 AM ESTLike any major design change, iOS 7 definitely takes getting used to. My initial reaction to a lot of iOS 7 was honestly more surprise and aversion than I thought it would be, but over time the changes have grown on me. I like to think that we're pretty open to change, especially as enthusiasts, but it's a natural human response to want things to be familiar and closer to what came before. Considerable time spent running the beta and watching parts of the platform change over time in response to feedback from developers and other third parties makes me optimistic that the new iOS 7 UI will continue to change and evolve the same way previous versions did.
The flip side is that I can't shake the feeling that some of the iOS 7 design is reactionary. Pundits lambasted Apple with iOS 6 and the iPhone 5 release for being pretty much the same OS with minor tweaks and very few stylistic changes. Those vocal members wanted dramatic change in visual appearance just for the sake of having it, and like the idiom goes, be careful what you wish for because sometimes it actually does come true. No matter how you sugar coat it, iOS 7 is a dramatic departure from the visual style that came before.
I like the use of translucency and transparency, and the new eye candy and visual effects in iOS 7 did initially solicit a bit of the same "wow" reaction that I had the first time looking at iOS on the original iPhone. The use of parallax and the translucency really does convey a sense of depth and order without being as garish as drop shadows or the shiny faux-3d buttons of yesterday's iOS.
The downside is that after a few weeks of it, some animations are really just a lot more gratuitous than they need to be – after the thousandth time watching the tiles fly in or application zoom out into the multitasking interface you want it to just happen instantly. I have no doubt that iOS will go the route of OS X and Windows Phone and gradually increase the speed of these animations to make the platform feel faster. They're also bound to have a power penalty at some point.
I guess that's the ironic part – the flagship devices don't drop frames during the transitions, they just feel long. I can speak to iOS 7 performance which is good on the iPhone 4S and above and newest generation of iPads, performance however on the iPhone 4 and iPad 3 leaves a lot to be desired. The iPhone 4 stutters through all of its animations, has sparse use of transparency, and generally feels like it's on its last legs. The iPad 3 unfortunately is much of the same – sparse transparency, occasional stuttery parts throughout, although a lot more usable than the iPhone 4. I guess I'm just surprised to see the iPad 3 get to that point of feeling slow so fast.
Although a lot of iOS 7 is visual, the functional changes and new features that are standouts really do make a difference. Control center is a long overdue functional improvement that makes controlling a subset of commonly used settings very fast. There's still more Apple could do here to smooth over a few more friction points, but it's a welcome addition. Notification center also feels a lot more well thought out, with logical separation of information that's useful and notifications themselves, even if there's still no "clear all" button.
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prophet001 - Friday, September 20, 2013 - link
I got that part. What I was referring to was how he mentioned that there had previously been a lack of change between OS versions. With iOS 7 though, Brian asserts, there are radical changes. Immediately following his claim is a picture of two identical screens. One screen iOS 7 and one screen iOS 6. This undermines his claim that "almost every part of the OS gets some kind of change."solipsism - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
My biggest complain with the new UI is that with Maps giving you directions the "slide to unlock" button is so faint that I too often can't figure out why the Maps app isn't responding as I think it should. (See last image on first page of review)solipsism - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Additionally…2) I might be in the minority here but I'm not a fan of the way Safari shows multiple pages. it's *neat* looking but like Windows Vista's Aero Flip 3D effect it's not very useful if you need to quickly distinguish between multiple similar pages at once. I'd much rather it be like the new Fast App Switcher in iOS 7.
3) It's great that iOS finally has a Control Center and it's great that it's accessible from the Lock Screen, but it should not allow one to enable Airplane Mode (or disable any wireless communication) without having to use a PIN/Touch ID for verification. Sure, you can turn off Control Center from being accessible from the Lock Screen but that's all or nothing.
4) Very, very minor but I am not a fan of most of the new icons. That said, I ultimately don't care about how a fraking icon looks so all things considered the pros far outweigh the cons.
Impulses - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Wait what? You can pick up a locked iPhone and switch it into airplane mode without ever needing the PIN? How would they miss that?? Seems like such an obvioususability/security flaw... Wouldn't that make it ridiculously easy to steal phones and not worry about tracking/find phone features?Guspaz - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
It's not really a problem, because the device is still locked. Find My Phone wouldn't work either on a phone if the thief simply turned off the device or (in the case of some Android phones) pulled out the battery; airplane mode on the lock screen has a similar effect. The device is still locked, and even if they manage to wipe the thing it'll still need the PIN to unlock on setup the next go around.I mean, yes, it hurts security, but no more than turning off the phone, which you can't really prevent anyhow.
solipsism - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Now it's just easier for thieves. Before they could turn it off — which I think really should require security to do otherwise it should just reboot — but now they can disable all wireless connections whilst still being able to keep it on and find a way to break in without using a Faraday cage to prevent it from giving the owner a chance to locate it.Impulses - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Been a while since I picked up my iPod touch, you can turn off an iOS device from a locked status by holding power without unlocking? Can't seem to on my Android, where the notification shade also doesn't slide down if it's locked (that's what the lock grace period is for after all, seems like a better comprise).I mean, at the end of the day you're right, it's not the end of the world... Even if you can't easily turn off a locked device you can still just yank the SIM out... Tho that would take a thief a little more time than tapping airplane mode (specially if you're paranoid and just glue the SIM lid).
Arbee - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
You can disable Control Center from appearing on the lock screen. Which isn't as handy as having it there, but it's certainly more secure.uhuznaa - Thursday, September 19, 2013 - link
Makes not difference as long as you can shut the thing down by just long-pressing the power button. I think iOS should require the PIN for that, this would make just shutting it down by a thief much harder.Txmtx - Saturday, September 21, 2013 - link
there is, in fact, a Cydia tweak that accomplishes just that. A couple of them. One that reboots instead of powering off, and one that fakes powering off animations but stays on underneath, without the proper user actions.Decent added security from more normal thieves. Experienced iOSers would know a properly-timed holding of the home and power buttons results in the phone staying off. That's a hard wired function.
But yeah, a bit insecure, defaulting to such an obvious flawed idea. Jobs indeed would be pissed, at that, the animations for animation's sake (vice hiding loading times), and the killing of the skeumorphism. The latter I'm good with, though I'll be waiting for a JB to polish up a few areas and retain the functionality I'm used to. BTW, I prefer the look of the non-blurred transparency (ala the ipad3 and 4S method). Too much color on the full thing... And way too saturated. Looks like spilt watercolors.