This is a personal review. It is not professional. Although I have a lot of experience with technology and cellular devices, I want to talk about this update as a “real” person.
I have never been happy with Apple operating system updates at first. iOS 6 grew on me but I always regretted updating. One of the major issues that I faced was a battery bug that resulted in my phone randomly turning off whenever it was under 40% charged. At that point, despite having battery power, it would not turn back on until it was plugged in again. When it was plugged back in the phone would have the same charge that it had when it shut off randomly. You can imagine how frustrating that must have been for a 4S in perfect condition.
With that being said, I have had a Macbook since 2007 and it is still my only laptop. I broke the logic board when the computer fell off of my bed, but it is still fully functional with the exception of the built in speakers. I have never had a problem with any of those operating system upgrades although I can’t say that I certainly got leopard, snow leopard, lion or mountain lion yet (The purpose of this paragraph was to show that I don’t automatically hate all Apple operating system changes).
This is the point where I start to actually talk about iOS7 for the iPad and the iPhone. I currently have an iPhone 5 and a 4th Generation 64GB iPad. I updated the two at the same time and the update took nearly 15 minutes for each. I had them attached to a strong wifi signal and they were also plugged in at the time. I decided to not use them in order to hopefully speed up the process and it may or may not have worked.
Upon resetting the devices after the download and the installation, there was a setup that included basic questions such as: do you want to enable location settings, do you want to set up airdrop and iCloud, do you want to register with Apple, what language would you like to use, do you want to enable passcode restrictions, etc. Nothing too complicated but make sure you think about the passcode restrictions since it makes it much more difficult to quickly access features.
Oh, quick side note, you NEED 3.1 GB of free space on your hard drive before you can start the download.
In Colorado, it seems as if talking and texting while driving is not illegal. This is a stupid law. It needs to be changed. Nevertheless, if you are driving and using your phone and now need to unlock it as well that may increase the risk of accident or mishap. Just a warning.
The layout is much smoother and more attractive, in my opinion. With that being said it does take longer to move from one screen to another. It may look smoother but it takes longer as a result. I haven’t timed it but it seems pretty obvious. That doesn’t mean that it’s a painfully slow process, I just notice the little things.
You no longer need to swipe left in order to get to the screen to search your device. You can simply swipe down so that eliminates a pointless screen. If you pull the top menu down it is relatively similar but much less cluttered. If you pull the bottom up you receive a new menu that is quite clean and useful. My problem with that is now you can access the flashlight (you get a new FREE built-in flashlight! which is worse than the one I have always had), calculator, camera, and clock multiple ways. You can access the camera three different ways. It makes your device more cluttered! The nice part of that swipe up menu is that it gives you very easy access to changing the mode of your device. You can go into airplane, silent, locked, sleep, wifi, and bluetooth mode easily now.
Speaking of the camera, it has some new features and it laid out in a much more organized manner. It includes built-in filters and allows easy access to video, panorama, and more. Safari also presents an interesting interface when you have multiple tabs open. I think it is quite attractive and practical enough.
The only other practical change involves closing out your apps that are open. You can still double tap your home key on the bottom of your phone but now your screen is taken over so that you can swipe the apps upwards in order to close them.
Other than this I have not found other practical changes that are worthy of me mentioning. A lot of the changes are just aesthetic, some work for me and some don’t. All in all I like iOS6 for my personal use on my iPhone but I prefer iOS7 on the iPad. I don’t think this new setup works for people who have very streamlined efficiently working phones that they use at work and in the gym and on the go. It is slower which is why I do not mind it on the iPad. If I could, I would go back to iOS6 for my iPhone and keep iOS7 on the iPad.
My recommendation for you is to find a friend that has the update and see if you like it first. I told Alana not to get it on her phone and she has not yet decided. Half the population loves it and half hates it. I’m sure people will get used to it but we all know the old saying, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.
My FAVORITE part of the update pertains to a matter I have been bothering Apple about for years. The newsstand is a waste of space, especially since it is not collapsible and cannot be put into a folder. WELL NOW IT CAN! Technology is a complicated way that can or cannot help you stay hungry and fit!
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BONUS KITTY PIC
Kitty pile on Alana for Castle marathon!
Ohhh If only I weren’t SO far out of the times with technology! I want to play with these fun toys! haha
😀
Interesting. I haven’t put it on my ipad yet and am about to get an iphone (can’t deal with my droid anymore). I will play with it on my ipad and see what I think. I generally like what Apple does (as I type from my macbook), so I’m hopeful. Good review though!
Thank you!!
I love the new iOS7. So glad they did this update. Everything is so pretty and smooth!
Glad you like it!
I’ve been using the compass thingy as a spirit level – very useful…
^.^