I recently decided to update my iPhone to the new iOS beta, and after visiting a few websites to download the necessary files, I was toying around with iOS 7, Apple’s complete redesign of the iPhone.
“Complete redesign” may be a bit strong, but Apple transformed the user interface, creating a much more playful feel. All of Apple’s default apps, like Weather and Calendar, received similar upgrades. Weather takes a much more graphical approach now, changing the weather of the pane in real time. Calendar went the opposite direction, simplifying the interface and allowing you to create events on dates mentioned in text messages.
Apple’s own version of Pandora, iTunes Radio, also made its long-rumored launch, allowing you to create radio stations from songs you’ve purchased. You can favorite or buy songs directly from the app, but it won’t be replacing my Spotify Premium anytime soon.
My favorite new feature is the Control Center, a panel that you open by swiping up from the bottom on the screen. It contains your music controls, but you can also change the brightness and switch on (or off) common toggles, like wifi, airplane mode and other settings. As my phone is below 20 percent for a depressingly high percent of the day, it’s nice to finally be able to easily turn the brightness up and down.
Being a beta, there’s still a ton of bugs. The phone crashes at a annoyingly high rate and always at an inconvenient time. Sometimes the touch screen will quit working, forcing you to reset the phone multiple times until it decides to work again.
My biggest gripe is how Spotify will crash if you try to change the volume in the middle of a song. Other apps will also crash at random, but not to the point it becomes a problem.
Bugs will be fixed before the final release, of course. I am still slightly hesitant at the extent to which Apple redesigned the interface, however. The brighter colors in Messages, the way windows bounce and push off each other, and the more visual app icons all give the new interface a childlike feel.
Not to say that it’s a bad thing, it’s just a very significant difference from the more efficient interface of the previous iPhone operating systems.
