iOS 7

[montsa007]

It's OK, but man I can't lie, those IPhone 5s sales, put a hole into my windows shape heart.

Don't worry, the lack of innovation in any aspect will put a dent on that hole so your heart repairs itself

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

I kind of like it on my iPad 2.

Now if only the UI was a little more polished and iPad-optimized.

 

[SwimSwim]

I like iOS 7 in many ways, but it suffers from being WAY too bright, it's blinding. Also, the glass-like transparency is kinda obnoxious and does nothing but sucks up battery life.

Still, many things to like about iOS 7. I hope Apple opens up iBeacons to all other platforms. It's a cool concept, and it simply utilizes Bluetooth 4.0, so Apple could easily open it up. It combined with NFC could be a powerful combo. Sadly, the odds of Apple doing this? Slim to none.

Control Center is also something we need. It looks really nice, especially the quick launch apps (flashlight, compass, etc.). However, in whatever way Microsoft implements it, I do hope that, should they include the quick launch dock, they let us choose what's on it. A little customization can go a long way. I also hope, again, however they implement it, you can choose to only access it from the Start Screen. I don't want to be scrolling and u through apps, and constantly opening it up.

Overall, I think iOS 7 looks pretty decent, mostly because it borrows so heavily from Windows Phone. Every time I look at it, I kinda like it because it's reminiscent of Windows Phone. I just hate how bright and white it is, Microsoft is right about transparency being dead (distracts from the experience and kills battery), and the colors are obnoxious.

However, I can't believe Apple beat Microsoft to something MS came up with! I talk of course about closing apps. Apple took multitasking from WP, but they beat Microsoft to swiping to close apps. Why Microsoft didn't add this to WP baffled me, seeing as they had it first in Windows 8... Now if/when Microsoft adds it, they will be accused of stealing.

 

[SwimSwim]

I don't mind iOS 7. There are things I like about it like new setting and features and new animations. However it is half *** metro. Too much white, way too much. Not enough contrast or bold colors. Everything is suddenly more washed out and less distinguishable.

Very true. One of the things Metro was designed with was clear, easy to read text. Even on low resolution screen, Metro is designed to always be easily readable, with great contrast.

iOS is horribly washed out now, hence why many tech blogs are posting half *** work arounds to at least make the text somewhat readable.

 

[WanderingTraveler]

Very true. One of the things Metro was designed with was clear, easy to read text. Even on low resolution screen, Metro is designed to always be easily readable, with great contrast.

iOS is horribly washed out now, hence why many tech blogs are posting half *** work arounds to at least make the text somewhat readable.

And that is why iOS has an option named invert colors.

What they need is a dark theme.

 

[tgp]

Here's an article from Forbes that talks about another interesting issue that appeared with iOS 7. One of my first thoughts after using it a bit was that the animations are way overdone. It makes it slow to open apps, even on an iPhone 5. It seems that the animations are causing something similar to motion sickness in some users.

 

[spaulagain]

Very true. One of the things Metro was designed with was clear, easy to read text. Even on low resolution screen, Metro is designed to always be easily readable, with great contrast.

iOS is horribly washed out now, hence why many tech blogs are posting half *** work arounds to at least make the text somewhat readable.

Amen, I can't believe how bad some screens are on my iPhone. They washed everything out and use a waayy too thin weight of Helvetica. Windows Phone uses I believe a 300 weight of Segoe. Whereas iOS7 appears to be using a 200 or maybe even 100 weight version of Helvetica. its barely readable in some cases. Especially in a "glance and go" use case.

They even thinned out the icons. You can barely see them in the photo, calendar, and other native apps.

 

[sinime]

The more I mess with iOS7, the more I hate it. it makes my eyes strain... Only good features are the search by scrolling above the app icons (instead of having to swipe all the way to the left) and swipe up for flashlight... However, I find it a steaming hot pile of expletives the way they made the menus... If you don't have a somewhat solid colored background, you'll want to puke after messing with the lock screen and menus much

 

[SwimSwim]

I reiterate the fact that I think Microsoft was wise in their design choice for Metro, declaring Aero/Transparency dead.

Transparency does nothing more than add chrome (the extra clutter to a design that detracts and distracts from the experience, according to MS), waste precious processing power, and suck the battery dry.

Some aspects of iOS 7 are pretty, and very reminiscent of Windows Phone. But it's still way too washed out, bright, and jarring. Can't even look at it without my corneas and retinas burning (is that what they me by retina display? Burning it to the core?), much less use it.

Windows Phone until death do us part.

 

[ammarmalik2011]

People calling iOS bright clearly haven't used the white theme on Windows Phone. It's no different than iOS. You either get a blinding white colour theme, or a very dull all-black theme.

 

[Coreldan]

People calling iOS bright clearly haven't used the white theme on Windows Phone. It's no different than iOS. You either get a blinding white colour theme, or a very dull all-black theme.

I havnt used iOS much, but I'd claim a vast majority of WP users use the dark theme, probably for the same reasons some consider iOS too bright. Does iOS offer this option to not use the eye-searing bright theme?

 

[SwimSwim]

I'm well aware the light theme on Windows Phone is just as bad, hence why I never use it. White theme, to my knowledge, is enabled by default on T-Mobile Lumia devices. But you can always turn it off.

I think the white theme is awful, but it's awesome that you get a choice. Should someone like or appreciate the white theme, they have that option. Everyone else who appreciates their corneas, however, can stick with the default black theme.

 

[SwimSwim]

I havnt used iOS much, but I'd claim a vast majority of WP users use the dark theme, probably for the same reasons some consider iOS too bright. Does iOS offer this option to not use the eye-searing bright theme?

Nope, not an option. You can choose to invert colors, which helps, but obviously, it ruins photos, pictures and displays (it automatically converts all colors to the opposite end of the spectrum).

It works, but could be potentially tedious to turn on and off.

 

[ammarmalik2011]

I havnt used iOS much, but I'd claim a vast majority of WP users use the dark theme, probably for the same reasons some consider iOS too bright. Does iOS offer this option to not use the eye-searing bright theme?

That's where you're wrong. It's not eye searing bright. There is tons of colours used everywhere. It's not a middle ground but it's not towards one extreme either like Windows Phone is with its black or white.

 

[spaulagain]

That's where you're wrong. It's not eye searing bright. There is tons of colours used everywhere. It's not a middle ground but it's not towards one extreme either like Windows Phone is with its black or white.

Its white, with a bunch of light pastel colors, and super thin text/icons. This makes it appear very bright and offers no visual contrast for the eye to decipher content. It also adds completely unnecessary transparencies which clutter the already hard to read UI.

I liked iOS a lot before. It was a little boring IMO, but it was consistent and easy to use. I'm also a fan of flat UIs when done correctly. Unfortunately iOS 7 was done poorly. Its a lot of jarring changes and unnecessary adjustments. They could have left many of the elements and color blocks intact, just flattened them, and it would have been fine. The back buttons could have been the same shape, the same font weight, etc, just no gradient/border.

Steve Jobs would never have let this be released.

 

[hs k]

It's OK, but man I can't lie, those IPhone 5s sales, put a hole into my windows shape heart.

Wahahaha!!! That seriously cracked me up. Fanboys man, Apple fanboys everywhere.

 

[xandros9]

However, I can't believe Apple beat Microsoft to something MS came up with! I talk of course about closing apps. Apple took multitasking from WP, but they beat Microsoft to swiping to close apps. Why Microsoft didn't add this to WP baffled me, seeing as they had it first in Windows 8... Now if/when Microsoft adds it, they will be accused of stealing.

MS did not come up with cards. It came from Palm webOS (iOS practically lifted webOS multitasking)

webOS had cards with the swipe-to-close. Android picked it up, except done horizontally, Blackberry's Playbook lifted it, and now iOS.

Now Palm didn't conjure out the idea from thin air, iPhone OS's Safari had cards for tabs. (except with a good ol' close box)
And we can probably take that as a logical progression of Windows (the metaphor, not actual OS specifically) for small screens.

 

[tgp]

Besides being hard on the eyes, white themes use more battery (at least with certain screen types). A developer friend told me that that's why Android tends to have dark themes. Android has enough problems with battery life the way it is!

 

[montsa007]

Besides being hard on the eyes, white themes use more battery (at least with certain screen types). A developer friend told me that that's why Android tends to have dark themes. Android has enough problems with battery life the way it is!

You are conferred with the award of "Telling the truth, fearlessly"

 

[SwimSwim]

Besides being hard on the eyes, white themes use more battery (at least with certain screen types). A developer friend told me that that's why Android tends to have dark themes. Android has enough problems with battery life the way it is!

Doesn't make much a difference on LCD screens (which the iPhone uses), because it can only on or off. Dark or light, the whole screen is on.

However, on AMOLED screens (like what many Android and Lumia phones use), each individual pixel can be on or off, so a dark theme can lead to significant power savings.