[MacTUG] iOS 7 - a quick initial response

[Stephen Markan]

Thought I'd share a friends comment on iOS7 (he is a Windows software developer but an iphone addict…) - he was commenting on the "Windows 8" like aspects and other "microsoft-like" elements:

"Actually, I just realised the most succinct way to sum up iOS7: Apple pulled the "iPod" out of it and replaced it with "Zune"."

Oh the Ghost of Steve Jobs is now in torment :)

Cheers
Stephen


From: Donald Duff-McCracken <dsmccrac at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:dsmccrac at uwaterloo.ca>>
Date: Thursday, September 19, 2013 10:10 AM
To: MacTUG <mactug at mailman.uwaterloo.ca<mailto:mactug at mailman.uwaterloo.ca>>
Cc: Bernie Rutter <brutter at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:brutter at uwaterloo.ca>>, Collin McIntyre <collin.mcintyre at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:collin.mcintyre at uwaterloo.ca>>, Joe E Bevan <jebevan at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:jebevan at uwaterloo.ca>>
Subject: [MacTUG] iOS 7 - a quick initial response

My gut feelings? Generally, I like it and am reasonably glad I updated.

Like

  1.  Siri is better (I can tell it to control a bunch of settings like brightness and wifi and generally is more usable — actually I use it a lot anyhow)
  2.  Maps is better (I will try to live without google maps except when I need bike or bus info)
  3.  Notification area is improved (you swipe down to get it)
  4.  Control centre (you swipe from the bottom up to get it) now gives good access to lots of controls I regularly need (e.g. Wifi, flashlight, and calculator)
  5.  Apps can now auto update and you have pretty good control over it — you can tell it to not auto update or you can tell it not to auto update certain apps and ensure it will only update when you are on wifi

don’t like (mainly design, and partly due to my eyes not being as great as they were)

  1.   It feels really flat. While I am not crazy about an interface that uses a lot of skeuomorphism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeuomorph) I felt that drop shadows and such helped me distinguish foreground from background -- i.e. Buttons from non buttons. I find the 'parallax' replacement kind of goofy.
  2.  It feels simultaneously too colourful (very hello kitty sometimes) and too monochrome. It actually feels a lot like the windows 8 interface (which is not a terrible thing as I think it is a pretty good interface if you are using it on a touch screen device).
  3.  The fonts are very thin. While I like them from a design perspective, I do not think they are as usable. I find it harder to read without glasses. In general I find the default mode less 'accessible' (of course you can set the iDevice to go into accessible mode by triple clicking the home button)

This is a pretty good overview including some settings you may want to look at:
http://www.macrumors.com/2013/09/18/ios-7-tidbits-imessage-timestamps-app-switching-spotlight-search-and-more/


If you really want a lot of info, this is a good place to start:
http://appleinsider.com/topic/Inside+iOS+7


------------------------------------
Donald Duff-McCracken
Technical Services Manager
Mapping, Analysis & Design
Faculty of Environment
University of Waterloo
(519) 888-4567 x32151
https://uwaterloo.ca/environment-computing/about/people/donald-duff-mccracken

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