Since the iPhone first launched in 2007, the look and feel of Apple's mobile operating system has remained largely unaltered. Although iOS has seen significant functional expansion and iterative design updates over the last six years, the user interface has been a constant. But now, in face of increasing competition and leadership changes, Apple is making its first substantial leap into a new, more modern design with iOS 7. But has Apple updated the OS for the better, and what, if anything, could still use improvement? Read on to find out.
Design
iOS 7, along with the iPhone 5C, represent the return of Apple's embrace for color. Bright, saturated hues are pervasive throughout the new design, most notably in its new revised "flat" app icons. The glossy, bubble-like app launchers have been replaced with 2D variations that draw from the same iconography, save for a few exceptions. In many cases, the changes have been for the better. Instead of a somewhat ambiguous lens image for the camera app, the icon is now, well, just a camera. Other choices, are less intuitive. Game Center, for example, is now represented by an unusual assortment of multicolored bubbles, while the Photos app is now a color wheel that, at first glance, fails to conjure up an immediate association.
The most useful change to the primary interface, however, has been the implementation of multi-page folders. While the first introduction of folders with iOS 6 helped minimize clutter and limit your homescreen from spilling into several pages, iOS 7 makes it possible to consolidate all of your apps and folders to a single screen. Previously limited to 16 apps, folders in iOS 7 can now hold an infinite number of games and apps. Apps are arranged in pages of nine with the ability to scroll through numerous subpages by swiping left and right. In iOS 6, my game collection spanned several folders and multiple pages, making the process of finding specific titles more challenging. Now, they're all in one easy to navigate folder.
Apple has also applied the flat design language to all of its core apps, which has made significant strides in overall usability. By favoring solid colors and simplified iconography, navigating menus and making selections is more streamlined. Sharp lines and colorful text pop amidst the white backgrounds that extends to most OS-level apps, highlighting important information.
Blurred, translucent shapes are also prevalent across the new design. Folders, dropdown menus, and volume animations are all cast upon an obscured view of your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch's wallpaper. I use a blue geometric wallpaper on my iPhone, and as a result, much of the interface takes on a blueish hue. It's a clever way to allow users to personalize their device in a way that extends across many facets of the UI, while maintaining unified visual style. The only instance when I found the blurred backdrop to be especially invasive is when you're adjusting volume when viewing a fullscreen video — not only is the video obscured by the logo and level bar, but the blurred backdrop. A minor gripe perhaps, but an example of how iOS 7's design sometimes favors form over function.
Another purely superficial element of iOS 7 is the parallax effect on the home screen. Using the iPhone's motion sensors, iOS 7 creates the illusion of depth by moving your wallpaper based on the tilt and angle of the device. The effect is somewhat distracting and seems like an unnecessary use of processing resources, but fortunately, can be disabled from within your device's accessibility settings.
Hundreds of these small design choices amass for a notably more arresting and practical user experience. While certainly not as bold as Windows Phone or as free form as Android, iOS 7 carries a potent blend of stylization and utility.
Control Center
One of the biggest feature additions to iOS 7 is Control Center — a new dropdown interface that provides quick access to many of the most critical features of your device. Instead of having to exit your current app and launch the settings interface, users can now enable AirPlay mode, Wi-FI, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, and the screen orientation lock from Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. It also provides a shortcut to screen brightness, music playback controls, and volume levels. On iPhone, Control Center also provides a flashlight toggle that engages the rear LED flash, as well as shortcuts to the calculator and photo apps. Sadly, the selection of shortcuts cannot be personalized. So if you have more use for Twitter than, say, the Calculator app, you're out of luck.
Control Center has quickly become my most used feature in iOS 7. As someone who is obsessive about battery efficiency and maximizing connection speeds, I activate and deactivate Wi-Fi throughout the day. Control Center makes it effortless to manage. I often like to change tracks on the fly when listening to music, and while there was already quick access with a double tap of the home button or from the lock screen, Control Center provides a more consolidated view.
Of course, the Control Center concept isn't new to the world of smartphones — Android users have been enjoying similar functionality for years — but iOS 7 brings the two operating systems closer to parity.
Siri
In addition to taking on a new look as part of the sweeping design changes, Apple's voice assistant software, Siri, has received new functionality with iOS 7. Siri can now pull information from Wikipedia and display the most recent tweets from a specific account with simplified commands like "Tell me about IGN" or "What's Greg Miller saying?" It can even quickly survey nearby restaurants with open tables for a specific number of people at a set time so you can make a reservation directly from within the Siri interface. Performance has been improved in some areas, with Siri detecting inquiries faster and more accurately, but there are still times when it can be slow or produce erroneous results.
Siri is more useful and precise with iOS 7, but it's still somewhat of a novelty function and its lack of third-party app integration remains one of its biggest limiting factors.
Multitasking
A double tap of the home button brings up a redesigned app switching view. In the past, the interface was limited to a small, expanded row of icons on the bottom of the screen. Now, the multitasking view takes over the entire screen and presents not only the icon, but a snapshot of the app's interface. The change makes for not only a more appealing visual experience, but actually allows for quick reference. For example, if you're drafting an email and need to refer to information on a website, you can make quick reference of the Safari window from within the multitasking view. It may seem like a small change, but the impact on day-to-day efficiency is significant.
AirDrop and iTunes Radio
Apple has also brought its wireless peer-to-peer file sharing feature, AirDrop, to iOS. Originally introduced on Mac OS X 10.7, AirDrop allows users to directly connect with other devices and transfer files wirelessly. On Mac, AirDrop was a simple drag-and-drop solution, but on iOS, the system is a bit more complex. Photos, videos, contacts, and any other sharable data from a first or third-party app can be shared to another iOS 7 enabled device via AirDrop. Users can make their device detectable to any nearby user, restrict visibility to only those in their contacts list, or disable the feature entirely. AirDrop can be managed easily from within Control Center. When you want to transfer a file, nearby users will appear as icons within the share interface. Multiple users can be selected as recipients, though users must approve a file transfer before the process can begin.
Transfers of images and contacts are near-instantaneous and I never experienced a failed transfer attempt. Unfortunately, due to the lack of other iOS 7-enabled devices at launch, I was unable to get a sense of how truly useful the tool can be during day-to-day use, but at least in theory, it could be a handy tool with wider adoption.
iOS 7 also heralds the introduction of iTunes Radio, Apple's Pandora alternative. Just like Pandora, users can play "stations" of music based on a specific artist, genre, or song. The service is completely free but features the occasional ad and users can only skip a select number of songs. iTunes Match users can forego the ads as part of their monthly paid subscription. Its automatically generated playlists improve over time as users rate and skip songs, and any track can be purchased from iTunes from directly within the app. Audio quality and station generation are exceptional, and while it lacks some of the other bells and whistles offered by Pandora, iTunes Radio is a fairly high-quality product for Apple's first foray into "radio" streaming.
Performance and Battery Life
iOS 7 is available for all devices iPhone 4, iPad 2, and iPod touch (5th generation) and above, though older devices may lack some features. Performance and battery life will also vary between generations of devices, but of those I was able to test — the iPhone 5, iPad (4th generation), and iPhone 4 — the impact was minimal. At first, iOS 7 may seem slower, but the issue is twofold: the added heft of the OS, but also the wider use and duration of animations. The number of unique animations in iOS 7 — substantial or minor — has gone of up drastically. On a recent device like iPhone 5 or the 4th generation iPad, iOS 7 is snappy and responsive, whereas the iPhone 4 was expectedly slower. While I wouldn't go as far as to say that it's unusable, the lag between gestures on the screen and the corresponding action makes loading apps and typing challenging. Battery life, on the other hand, remained largely unaffected on the iPhone 5.
