Like many industry observers, I have been less than impressed with what Apple has been turning out over the past 18 months. The company's two big announcements for 2012 were the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini. The smaller iPad was simply a recognition that there is a place for 7-inch tablets, and the iPhone 5 is a little thinner, the screen's a little bigger, the camera's a little better, Siri's a little smarter--the key theme is that everything is preceded by "a little."
Over the weekend I got my first hands-on look at the new iOS 7, and I can say with conviction, the Apple folk have not lost their touch. While the OS will not be available to the general public until fall, it is being distributed to registered developers, and a young friend of mine was able to get iOS 7 on his iPhone 5 the day it was announced.
You have to understand, this kid isn't a "fan-boy", he's a "fan-atic"! He's not actually a developer, but it turns out there are people who sign up as Apple developers and so are entitled to put the new OS on up to 100 devices. If they don't need all 100, they sell off the extras to "fan-atics" like my young friend. Stuff like this could only happen in Apple-land.
The new OS has a number of features borrowed from BlackBerry and Windows Phone 8, and it will make the iPhone (and iPad) more convenient and more engaging. Rather than having to open the Settings to change any of the feature preferences, you can get access to the new Control Center by swiping up in any screen including the Lock screen.
The Control Center provides access to the most commonly used features like turning on/off Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Do Not Disturb. You can lock the screen orientation or adjust brightness; play, pause, or skip a song; connect to AirPlay-enabled devices; and quickly access the flashlight, timer, calculator, and camera.
Swiping down in any screen will get you to an improved Notification Center that works kind of like the BlackBerry Hub (to get to the Hub, you swipe to the right on your BlackBerry Z10 or Q10). The Today feature provides a weather report and a summary of your day. You can also see emails, texts, birthdays, missed calls and the like.
iOS 7 will also support multitasking in a manner similar to the BlackBerry Z10 or PlayBook. On the iPhone, you press the Home button twice, your current app "shrinks" to about a quarter of its normal size and you can swipe left or right to see all of your open apps. If you want to close one, you simply swipe to the top and it disappears. Apple claims that iOS 7 also pays attention to when you use particular apps so if you do specific things at specific times, it will update the content before you open them.
Apple has also improved the camera interface and has added a feature called Collections to automatically group photos and videos based on time and place. They've also added a feature called AirDrop that allows you to quickly share photos, videos, or contacts by hitting a Share button in an app and selecting the person you want to send it to. Recipients can just view what you have sent them or they can save it to their photo library, address book, or whatever. I guess that Samsung trick of sharing stuff by touching phones was getting to them.
In addition, the Safari browser has gotten some improvements including a simpler way of viewing open tabs; also, Siri's personal assistant capabilities have been enhanced; and you'll get an iCloud based AutoFill and Saved Passwords function that uses 256-bit AES encryption.
There are also a bunch of UI features that are stunning. First, iOS 7 is adopting the "Active Tiles" concept from Windows Phone so key information is displayed constantly without having to open the app. So now the Clock icon will have hands that move so you can see the time (if you can't read it on the top of the screen), and the weather app will display the temperature. They have also linked the accelerometer to the display, so you can see elements in your phone's wallpaper move when you shake the phone- useless but cool. You can also use a photo shot with the iPhone's panorama feature as your wall paper, and the portion of the image displayed changes as you move the phone around.
At long last Apple is finally taking steps to curtail theft by making a lost or stolen iPhone virtually unusable by its new "owner." A thief will no longer have the ability to turn off the Find My Phone feature or erase the contents without entering the owner's Apple ID and password.
At the same time the mobile operators in the US and around the world are starting to link their IMEI databases (the IMEI or "International Mobile Station Equipment Identity" is the unique hardware identifier in every phone) so that if the device is stolen the thief won't be able to use it by simply changing the SIM card. The IMEI database will be updated and the device will not be able to be activated on any mobile network anywhere in the world.
During the launch of iOS 7 at the Worldwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco last week, Apple's CEO Tim Cook said of iOS 7: "It is the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone," and I tend to agree with him. Apple has been the leader in UI design, but frankly the iPhone's software has gotten a little "stodgy." Mobile users are a demanding bunch, and expect a continuous diet of new and cool stuff. Where Apple's primary competitor, Samsung, focuses on specs (e.g. screen size, processor speeds, and the like), Apple is doubling down on its design focus and is running a new series of ads using the tag line, "Designed by Apple in California."
I have no doubt that iOS 7 will delight Apple fans, but only Apple fans with the iPhone 5 and the fifth generation iPod Touch will get the full set of new features. Those of us with iPhone 4 and 4S models will get some of the goodies but not tricks like AirDrop.
However, what is sorely needed is new products--Apple will be giving iOS 7 away, so that generates no revenue! However, iOS 7 is a big step forward and will put Apple clearly at the head of the pack in terms of UI, but unless they start cranking out products that continue to turn heads, they're not out of the woods yet. Keep an eye out for a lower-priced iPhone/iPad line designed to address the enormous markets in developing countries--that's something that could give Apple a major boost.
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@dBrnWireless
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