By: iPadfanzz Editor on June 11, 2013
Apple has officially introduced the next generation of iOS, iOS 7, at its Worldwide Developer Conference. The newest version of iOS bears new look and feel, courtesy of head designer Jonathan Ive, along with a revamped suite of core apps like Photos, Camera, Calendar, Weather and others. The company has also introduced services like iTunes Radio and features like AirDrop.
Modern design
With iOS 7, the company has done away with skeuomorphic design. The new operating system has been redesigned from head to toe in a flat manner. Apple notes, iOS 7 provides “a rare opportunity to revisit the way apps communicate their core purpose and functionality to users.”
Here are Apple’s three main themes for developing for iOS 7:
* Deference. The UI helps users understand and interact with the content, but never competes with it.
* Clarity. Text is legible at every size, icons are precise and lucid, adornments are subtle and appropriate, and a sharpened focus on functionality motivates the design.
* Depth. Visual layers and realistic motion heighten users’ delight and understanding.
Apple particularly stresses in its documentation is Dynamic Type, which now automates many of the text layout functions in iOS. In terms of giving tips to developers, the company says the apps for iOS 7 should take advantage of the whole screen, and developers should reconsider the use of insets and visual frames and instead let the content “extend to the edges of the screen.” They should also “reconsider visual indicators of physicality and realism” and avoid bezels, gradients and drop shadows, because that “sometimes lead to heavier UI elements that can overpower the content.” That means the apps should offer clarity and use color to simplify their UI.
What significant is the departure from skeuomorphic objects, dials, and textures. Now, users will see white and open app spaces; colorful, almost child-like icons; pencil thin, abstract controls for settings. You’ll also see Gaussian blur-transparency layers slide over your content, besides notifications and other incidental information floats above your work area on semi-translucent panels.
Game Center is now a collection of 3D globs, while the Camera icon recalls something more like clip-art. Apple has kept the design of icons to be very simple, which appears to be amateurish on its part. For instance, the Maps icon is a mess and the Settings icon looks more like an oven burner than a set of gears.
Upgraded Default Apps
Apple has overhauled all of its apps (Calendar, Weather, Mail, Messages, etc.) that ship with iOS device out of the box For instance, the new native Weather app shares a lot of the design elements, but replaces Flickr photo backgrounds for those of weather animations like rain or snow.
Besides, the native calendar app, gives a clean look. It now lets you swipe between days, turn to landscape to see a week in advance and zoom out to see your month or year. Similarly, mail offers big, edge-to-edge photos when used for photo-sharing.
Safari now has a fancy 3D-esque tab-switching behavior, improved bookmarking, one-tap access to favorites, and even Twitter integration.
Photos & iCloud Photo Sharing
Apple has given a revamp to its Camera Roll app, which is now improved and allows you to organize photos into “Moments” based on location and time. In the demo, that included venues like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts, as well as your home and your kid’s elementary school, for example. But as you zoom out to take a broader view, the locations merge together by date, letting you zoom all the way out to the year view.
The new OS also comes with a feature called Air Drop, which is a new way to share photos with other iPhone users.
A smarter Siri
As part of the iOS 7 overhaul, Siri has received a brand-new interface, voice monitoring, and a results panel that appears on the bottom of the screen. Siri now offers replies in smoother female (or male) voices. French and German will be supported at launch, with more languages coming soon. The service can now control more of your device, including playing back your voicemails, turning on or off things like Bluetooth, increasing or decreasing screen brightness and more.
It has also now integrated Twitter, Wikipedia and search results from Bing, so it can do things like read you Wikipedia entries or pull up web results.
Siri also now lets you turn system services on and off with your voice, no button-pushing necessary.
Apple has officially introduced the next generation of iOS, iOS 7, at its Worldwide Developer Conference. The newest version of iOS bears new look and feel, courtesy of head designer Jonathan Ive, along with a revamped suite of core apps like Photos, Camera, Calendar, Weather and others. The company has also introduced services like iTunes Radio and features like AirDrop.
Modern design
With iOS 7, the company has done away with skeuomorphic design. The new operating system has been redesigned from head to toe in a flat manner. Apple notes, iOS 7 provides “a rare opportunity to revisit the way apps communicate their core purpose and functionality to users.”
Here are Apple’s three main themes for developing for iOS 7:
* Deference. The UI helps users understand and interact with the content, but never competes with it.
* Clarity. Text is legible at every size, icons are precise and lucid, adornments are subtle and appropriate, and a sharpened focus on functionality motivates the design.
* Depth. Visual layers and realistic motion heighten users’ delight and understanding.
Apple particularly stresses in its documentation is Dynamic Type, which now automates many of the text layout functions in iOS. In terms of giving tips to developers, the company says the apps for iOS 7 should take advantage of the whole screen, and developers should reconsider the use of insets and visual frames and instead let the content “extend to the edges of the screen.” They should also “reconsider visual indicators of physicality and realism” and avoid bezels, gradients and drop shadows, because that “sometimes lead to heavier UI elements that can overpower the content.” That means the apps should offer clarity and use color to simplify their UI.
What significant is the departure from skeuomorphic objects, dials, and textures. Now, users will see white and open app spaces; colorful, almost child-like icons; pencil thin, abstract controls for settings. You’ll also see Gaussian blur-transparency layers slide over your content, besides notifications and other incidental information floats above your work area on semi-translucent panels.
Game Center is now a collection of 3D globs, while the Camera icon recalls something more like clip-art. Apple has kept the design of icons to be very simple, which appears to be amateurish on its part. For instance, the Maps icon is a mess and the Settings icon looks more like an oven burner than a set of gears.
Upgraded Default Apps
Apple has overhauled all of its apps (Calendar, Weather, Mail, Messages, etc.) that ship with iOS device out of the box For instance, the new native Weather app shares a lot of the design elements, but replaces Flickr photo backgrounds for those of weather animations like rain or snow.
Besides, the native calendar app, gives a clean look. It now lets you swipe between days, turn to landscape to see a week in advance and zoom out to see your month or year. Similarly, mail offers big, edge-to-edge photos when used for photo-sharing.
Safari now has a fancy 3D-esque tab-switching behavior, improved bookmarking, one-tap access to favorites, and even Twitter integration.
Photos & iCloud Photo Sharing
Apple has given a revamp to its Camera Roll app, which is now improved and allows you to organize photos into “Moments” based on location and time. In the demo, that included venues like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts, as well as your home and your kid’s elementary school, for example. But as you zoom out to take a broader view, the locations merge together by date, letting you zoom all the way out to the year view.
The new OS also comes with a feature called Air Drop, which is a new way to share photos with other iPhone users.
A smarter Siri
As part of the iOS 7 overhaul, Siri has received a brand-new interface, voice monitoring, and a results panel that appears on the bottom of the screen. Siri now offers replies in smoother female (or male) voices. French and German will be supported at launch, with more languages coming soon. The service can now control more of your device, including playing back your voicemails, turning on or off things like Bluetooth, increasing or decreasing screen brightness and more.
It has also now integrated Twitter, Wikipedia and search results from Bing, so it can do things like read you Wikipedia entries or pull up web results.
Siri also now lets you turn system services on and off with your voice, no button-pushing necessary.
