Apple-iOS 7, a big upgrade.
iOS 7, the latest version of Apple’s
flagship mobile operating system, is here, and it’s almost entirely different
from the versions that came before. Gone are the skeuomorphic designs
and 3D effects, replaced by Sir Jony Ive’s “flat design.” Rumors had been
flying for weeks about the new OS and now it’s here and it is, at least at this
early reckoning, a massive change for the six year old operating system.
First, we must remember that Ive, Apple’s industrial designer now
in control of software following the departure of Scott Forstall, isn’t a
believer in interfaces that copy real-world objects. In the past, making the
Notes app look like a legal pad or the calendar app look like a Moleskine
calendar notebook were part of the iOS design philosophy, as ingrained in the
OS as “Slide To Unlock.” All that is gone now.
Features :
- iOS 7 has a new font leading the way, which seems to be a sort of Helvetica Neue Ultra. It’s very skinny, clean, and it was hinted at in the iOS 7 banners that went up for WWDC yesterday.
- Instead of white bars on a black background, Apple will now tell you what kind of service coverage you have with five little dots, which are white and grey depending on how strong the signal is across a translucent background.
- The lock screen is changed for the first time in iOS’s history, with no more shine top or bottom bars for slide to unlock or the clock. Instead, Slide to unlock is translucent above the background image.
- Default app icons are now flatter, but not quite flat, just as predicted.
- Jony Ive’s hand has had its way with iOS notifications. The notifications panel isn’t laced with dark grey linen anymore, but actually has a very flat look to it. There is a today view, that lets you see friends birthdays, upcoming invitations, calendar, stocks, and a quick look at tomorrow.
- The apps all seem to have a white base, except for the stocks app which has a black background and the weather app, which shows motion in the background to convey the current weather.
- The keyboard is more white, than grey, with a translucency that lets you see what’s underneath the keyboard.