Last week, Apple released the newest version of iOS 7 worldwide, introducing their overhauled designed language to iPhones and iPads. The change has been divisive, with some praising the new look and others believing it looks worse. But in the couple days following release, the number of iOS 7 users surpassed the number using iOS 6.
iOS 7 works on models back to to the iPhone 4, however, many of the features that are touted in recent versions of iOS are unavailable on the older phone models due to technical limitations. The AirDrop and Siri functions, as well as the 3D-like parallax effect on the home screen are unavailable on the earlier iPhone models.
The icons that appear on the home screen have received mixed to negative feedback, as they appear somewhat inconsistent and sloppy in terms of how they were designed, but the part of iOS 7 that was designed really well was the default app design. Gone is the old extreme gradient that was on the old tab and navigation bars, replaced with a very simplistic and clean header and footer. The status bar with the battery life and network status is no longer a harshly delineated black area, but instead matches the colour of the navigation bar to make a more seamless header for the viewer. This behaviour was introduced in iOS 6 as an options for developers to implement, but is now the default behaviour across the entire operating system.
The new app design has encouraged third-party developers to rethink how their applications look, with companies like Facebook and Evernote creating new layouts that fit the aesthetics of iOS 7. This can be good for new entrants as well, as the old methods for app design had matured to a point that it became more challenging for newcomers to find imaginative layouts that would hook potential customers.
The trend of simplicity introduced in iOS 7, Android 4.0, Windows Phone and Windows 8 are ways that developers aim to reduce the frame around the content the user needs while keeping it consistent. By removing gradients, thicker buttons, and the size of on-screen controls, developers can make it easier for users to focus on the content of their apps and only notice the system elements as they need them. However, the designs are still primitive since all the major operating system developers are attempting to find ways of representing concepts without using real-world equivalents. For example, attempting to find a way to represent mail without using an envelope or a stamp can be challenging and will require many years of trial-and-error before finding something that represents it well (perhaps an @ sign would be a good place to start?)
A common criticism levelled against iOS 7 and Windows 8 in particular, which both aim for ultimate simplicity in their user interface, is that due to the quasi-yearly release schedule for major system upgrades, they seem a little unpolished due to having to write a complete rewrite of the visual code in under a year. After using iOS 7 for a while, it becomes evident that there are many small little design oversights that were made that will need to be rectified in future revisions, but any overhaul of that magnitude is hard to get right on the first try, no matter how successful a company may be normally at implementing such changes.
In future updates, Apple and Microsoft will certainly find out how to make their ideal designs more practical for consumer use. The jarring switch between the traditional Windows desktop and the newer Start screen experience in Windows 8 is something that will clearly be removed at some point in the future. Until that transition, there will still be an awkward period where it’s uncertain how the new design will change to fully supersede the old design. The Desktop’s ability to run multiple things at one time and offer access to the filesystem is convenient for many users who are fans of Windows, but if the Start screen included a simple way to navigate it (for users who have interest in accessing it) and allowed more configurations for how to combine applications into one screen, it might replace the Desktop entirely.
iOS 7 doesn’t have that issue to quite the same degree, but there are parts of the user interface that are unclear, although the solution is uncertain as they try to stay away from common, real-world representations of concepts. For example, the buttons in iOS 7 are often simply strings of coloured words with no clear difference from non-button text, but in future versions they may find be a way to represent it (perhaps by bringing back the surrounding box) that works for their new interface.
As with Windows 8, iOS 7 may not be perfectly polished but it’s a step in a new direction for Apple’s operating system, laying groundwork for versions to come. It’s an interesting and friendly system to use and indicates that we will be seeing more neat concepts out of Cupertino.
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