Apple announced the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C on September 10, and along with it will come iOS 7. The newest version of iOS is arguably the most radical in terms of design and function, but it's a welcome change to an aging platform.
Many of you might already be familiar with iOS 7 since it has been available to developers for several weeks now. If you haven't already installed the beta version on your iPhone, perhaps you've seen all the videos and screenshots that have been pervading the web. Its icons are a little larger, rounder and "flatter" (i.e. no more 3D-like gradients).
Aside from new design elements and UI animations, Apple adds some welcome new features, too. iOS 7's Control Center, for example, is long overdue. With a quick swipe of the thumb, you get instant access to features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, brightness, Clock, AirDrop and more.
A few apps have either been refreshed or overhauled as well. Safari, for example, has a completely new look, and tabbed browsing looks different, too.
With all the new features and tweaks, iOS 7 feels like a brand new OS--and it sort of is--but will also be very familiar to current and former iOS users. The way you interact with the OS is the same, and apps and UI features behave the same, too. The idea was to make it new enough, yet familiar enough, so that iPhone users would transition to the new platform smoothly.
But is iOS 7's new makeup and bag of tricks enough to sway someone struggling to choose between it and Android?
iOS 7 vs. Android: How will you decide?
Android had the edge over iOS for some time with its notification tray, widgets and endless customization options. In fact, iPhone users still don't get the latter two. With Android, users also get to choose from a number of smartphone form factors from several manufacturers. As of the time of this writing, iPhone users will only get to choose three: iPhone 4S, iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S.
Aside from having more hardware options, there is also the customizability of Android. With many Android handsets, you can choose the number of homescreens you want, select from static or animated backgrounds and add or remove live widgets from any of the homescreens.
If you really had to get picky, the choice between Android and iOS 7 gets tricky. While the latter has been updated to include a number of overdue features, Android still has the edge on customization and choice. However, iOS 7 beats Android's apps by some margin, and its performance is always consistent.
It's true that Android apps have become more polished over time, but having reviewed hundreds of handsets over the past six years, it's still evident that iOS is just more consistent. Its app selection still tops Android, and when it comes to new apps and services, iOS users tend to get first dibs
iOS 7: Learn to love the new features
For those of you who are already committed to the iPhone, be prepared for iOS 7. Many of our close friends are already dreading its release, with a handful of them promising they won't update because they just don't like it. We'll admit that it took us some time to get used to the new platform, but after a week or so we couldn't imagine going back to any previous versions of iOS.
Having quick access to notifications and oft-used features is a blessing. Many of our frustrations with iOS have been alleviated by version 7. We even prefer the new look of the icons, messaging and e-mail apps and the phone app, too. Everything is more modern, less antiquated.
One thing Apple always does well is refinement. If you look at the iPhone 5S design and compare it to the iPhone 4, you'll find that they don't appear to be all that different despite the number of years between them. Apple took a design that worked and made it better, and it does that with its OS and apps, too.
iOS 7 could stand to gain a little polish and better speed all around, but we're content with it at the moment. We can do without all the crazy and confusing apps that Samsung throws into its Galaxy smartphones, or the weird hardware features that have been in Android phones over the years (e.g. poorly functioning fingerprint scanners, 3D cameras, etc.). Besides, if you're an iPhone user and you're planning on staying an iPhone user, you're going to have to learn to love it.
Source : techradar[dot]com
Post a Comment