Wow. Just, wow. On Monday, Apple released all their plans, their work, from the past year in the WWDC 2013, and it’s pretty amazing what they’ve come up with. As expected, both iOS 7 and the new OS X 10.9, the OS X Mavericks got released, and both are going on sale in the fall. It’s amazing how fast Apple made 2 operating systems. I mean, it took us 4.5 billion years to make the first one, and they made 2 in a year. Also, as predicted, the Macbooks and Mac Pro got and update. All these products are great, but one stands out from the crowd: iOS 7.

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iOS 7 Beta Preview

It is actually a little surprising how accurate the rumors about iOS 7 were. Still, Apple surprised us att the WWDC with an operating system that makes iOS devises supreme to all other mobile devises. The simplicity, yet detailed design is sure to bring a seamless experience to users world-wide. You’ll see what I mean in moment. Anyway, here are the main design and features of iOS 7:

Control Center

Control Center is a whole new and easy way to control your phone. All you have to do is slide upward from the bottom of the screen, and the CONTROL CENTER *Boom, Crash!* will appear! From there, you can turn on Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, WiFi, manage brightness, currently playing songs, camera and more. It renders most of what the Settings app is used for useless, and is also much faster, easier and much better looking than Settings.

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Control Center

 

New App Design

The new app design for iOS 7 is the big difference from iOS 6 to iOS 7. For one thing, Apple took away the shine and shadows just as they said they would, and replaced them with a simple, detailed and flat design. This works for most apps, but for some, like Music, they got it all wrong. Still, the design gives iOS 7 a slick look and will probably be the main reason for the many people to update. Also, when you group apps together, instead of just being a pop-down bar, the folder takes up the whole page. From there, you can pick which app you want in full size. Even though it is a minor detail, it is the details that makes a operating system seamless, after all.

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Notifications Center

Apple’s new Notifications Center also goes along with the flat, textureless, transparent and simple but detailed design Now, you can open Notifications right from the lock screen the same way, sliding down from the top of the screen. From there, you can pick from 3 options: today, all and missed. All, obviously, is where all your notifications such as emails, calendar events and more go. From the “today” menu, you can see the weather, your next Calendar update, your whole calendar for the day and info from other apps. From the “missed” section, you can access all missed phone calls, emails, texts and other notifications. This is a really important change, because currently, Notification Center has little use. When iOS 7 comes out, it will be almost as useful as Control Center.

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Notifications Bar

New Lock Screen

For the first time since Apple released their first iPhone, they have changed the lock screen. Now, all you have to do is slide upward from the bottom of the screen. The slide bar is no more. At the top of the screen, there is the time. Also, you can open up the Control Center, and for the first time, the Notification Center. As an added affect, when you tilt your device, the background will shift to give it a 3D look (that goes with the whole phone).

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Multitasking

Multitasking is completely revised in iOS 7. All you have to do is press the home button twice. and instead of just a small bar on the bottom of the screen, multitasking takes up the whole page. Along with app icon, a preview of the page will be displayed. This is a great feature because multitasking is an extremely important part of iOS. And in iOS 7, it’s made easier.

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Multitasking Screenshot

Siri

Apple have totally gone all out on their new version of Siri. It can now bring up information right from Twitter and Wikipedia without having to look it up. Many more prompts have been written (displayed on the Siri start screen) allowing you to do many more things like add reminders and look up definitions. Also, it does a better job of recognizing speech, something it was notorious for in the last iOS. By the time iOS 7 comes out, Siri will be a big plus and used a lot.

iTunes Radio

Even though it is about 5 years to late to join the party, Apple released their own Music streaming service, iTunes Radio. iTunes Radio allows you to …. well, pretty much the same stuff music services like Pandora can. You can play songs from “featured stations”, make your own stations and immediately buy songs right from the station. Also, Siri takes requests like “Play Classic Rock radio”.

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iTunes Radio Preview

AirDrop

AirDrop is another feature that Apple upgraded. To share a photo/contact/ect you just hit the share option in the app and pick whoever you want to share it with. This person has to be in your area, though. Then, AirDrop sends the *blank* right to the other person. A widow pops up their phone that says “*Blank* has sent you a *blank*. Accept or Decline?”. If you accept, it will save the photo/contact/ect to Photos/Passbook/ect. Also, you can have the option of appearing as an AirDrop option or not. This is a great feature because it makes it easy to share info instead of emailing or texting.

iOS 7 will be a very interesting operating system when it comes out. It has many features that make it fast and easy, but the design is a big maybe. Personally, I think they did a good job on designing the app icon, and the “simple yet detailed” approach is a good change from their classic “TEXTURE! MORE TEXTURE! MORE UNNEEDED VISUALS!” iOS 7 also is a jackpot for developers. All the new features can be used to their advantage. Also, anyone who has an app has to redesign the logo to fit the new regimen. Apple acknowledged this fact, so they allowed developers to get their hands on an beta version. Overall, iOS 7 is a amazing and innovative operating system (even if it looks a little like Windows and Android). It will be very exciting when it comes out and I’m sure it will be revolutionary. For more on the WWDC 2013, check out my next post, Part 2!