iOS 7
Some Apple WWDC 2014 Keynote Reactions
Today at Apple’s WWDC event in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and other key players at the company, took the stage at Moscone Center to announce some of the new and cool stuff such we can expect from Apple over the next year. In a word (or two), it was pretty exciting.
Yes, I’m sure it’s partially because I’m a long-time Apple fan and I use their software and gadgets on a daily basis. I also just love new, shiny things. But whatever the reason, I do usually have a very positive reaction to what’s announced at events like these.
It’s usually later that I become disappointed when things don’t work exactly as advertised. iOS 7, I’m looking at you.
However, today I’m optimistic and with the announcement of iOS 8, OSX Yosemite and more, I am pretty excited. For now.
Sadly, we didn’t get any new hardware to ogle today, but that was to be expected. WWDC is, after all, a developer conference. For software, not hardware. Still, new hardware is a lot more sexy than new software, at least most of the time, so it was missed even though I didn’t really expect to see it
Fortunately, a lot of the software and features announced today are pretty darn cool. Some of the new goodies I’m most looking forward to using are things like iCloud Drive (let’s hope the pricing is more competitive), Handoff, the ability to have both iMessages and SMS on all your (Apple) devices, WiFi Calling (voice calls over WiFi), Health and Homekit, which allows the iPhone or iPad to control smart devices in the home such as lights, garage door openers and the thermostat.
Those seem to have the most potential to make a difference in my own life. But there’s a lot more coming, and after I’ve had a chance to mess with both Yosemite and iOS 8 for a week or two, I’ll share some more thoughts.
Until then, I think my favorite new feature so far is probably Handoff or the improved camera and photos apps. Having messages, documents and more synched across my iPhone, iPad and Mac is pretty nice. If it works as advertised, I can see that being very useful indeed.
Plus, I’m always looking for ways to take better photos more frequently. As they say, the best camera is the one you actually have with you and with the improvements to the photo and camera apps in iOS 8, plus the fact I pretty much always have the iPhone with me, it may actually be the best camera. That would be nice.
Of course, it remains to be seen what any of these new features really mean for me in the long run. Will any of them improve my life in any measurable way? Who knows?
I do know that it’s fun to speculate and try new things to see what you can do with them. It makes life that much more interesting. So, on that note, I’m off to download some new software. Wish me luck.
The First 24 Hours With iOS 7
As promised, I’m back with more on Apple’s latest iOS offering, a “little” update known as iOS 7. Things started off a bit rough yesterday as I tried to get iOS 7 to install and activate on my test iPhone 5 (CDMA) in order to get to know it better. I was able to install the beta but then could not activate the phone. The result was, effectively, a bricked device.
Fortunately, I was able to boot the iPhone into DFU mode and revert to iOS 6. I actually ended up doing this twice due to trying alternative install methods using iTunes. One, the usual wipe and restore and the other an upgrade to iOS 7 over an existing install of iOS 6. Neither of these resulted in the iPhone going all the way through the activation process.
What finally ended up working was a wipe and restore using Apple’s development tool for iOS (and OS X) called Xcode. Using Xcode I was able to wipe and restore iOS 7 to the device and then, this time, the activation completed and I had a working iPhone. This was after several hours and went on into the night.
Consequently, I haven’t had a lot of time to get into the intricacies of the new OS. However, I did have a chance to play with it a little bit and following are my thoughts so far.
First (and this is a big one), I’m not sure I like the new look. Sure, the skeuomorphic aspects of iOS 6 are pretty dated and probably needed to go. I won’t miss the leather-bound elegance of the Calendar app or the simulated wood grain of iBooks. I’m just not sure iOS 7 is going in the right direction either.
In its present form, I find the font and lines around elements too thin and the colors too similar to be very distinct. In my several hours of use I’ve found myself clicking on the wrong thing or trying to slide something to the left or right that can’t actually be slid. Plus, the contrast between UI elements seems much more muted as well. When everything is flat and looks similar with similar colors and little contrast, it’s difficult to tell which elements can be interacted with and which can’t.
I find this especially true when using the new keyboard. A key with a thin black line around it over a light grey background is harder to hit, at least for me, than a key with a heavier line against a darker background. Contrast is good and not something to be scared of. Of course, more contrast makes things look less flat. I get that.
I also get that I’m not a designer, but I have participated in the design of many projects and supervised designers of various kinds over the years. I also know what I like and what I think looks good. And I’m not sure this color scheme and lack of contrast is it. Although, maybe it’s because I’ve haven’t spent much time with the Yahoo Weather app.
Yes, I know, Jony Ive is a genius and I can clearly see what he was going for with iOS 7. You only need to look at the man himself and see what his wardrobe looks like to know he’s not a fan of contrast. He prefers uniformity and order. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But that doesn’t mean his taste is the right taste for everyone. Some people might prefer things to be different. I might be one of those people.
As this is a beta, and an early one, many things also don’t work as expected or seem unfinished. This is especially true with a few apps I use regularly, like Gmail, that haven’t gotten the memo about using the new keyboard. Consequently, when you need a keyboard in the Gmail app, the old one pops up.
This is actually one of the ways I know I don’t like the new keyboard very much. I still have occasion to use the old one and find it much easier to type on than the new one. I’m also not a fan of the seemingly arbitrary change from lines to dots to show cell network signal strength. I didn’t mind lines. What’s wrong with lines? They were used quite a few other places in the new UI, why not for signal strength?
I’m also not sure why I now can’t double click on the home button to get a list of running apps, press and hold on one of the icons to get it to vibrate and then press the “X” to quit it. I’ve had more than a few apps crash on me so far and the old way to get them to work again was to make them stop running and then launch them again. Now, it’s all different.
The way you do it now is to double click on the home button to get thumbnails of the running apps. Then, you swipe the thumbnail upwards to close an app you want to quit. I was able to do it but I also found myself bringing up the control center from the bottom of the screen several times too. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like a rather convoluted “new” way to accomplish a previously simple task.
On a positive note, I do like the new static wallpapers and that cool 3D-looking effect when you move the iPhone around. Plus, the motion wallpapers are kinda nice too. I’m using one right now, in fact. I don’t know what effect they will have on battery life but so far, somewhat surprisingly, I’m getting pretty much the same battery life as when the iPhone had iOS 6 installed on it. Let’s hope that continues.
With any massive change, there’s bound to be bumps and rough edges. None of my issues with iOS 7, at least so far, are hugely annoying, would prevent me from continuing to use it or make me switch to Android. Although, I’m entertaining that thought for other reasons. But that’s a subject for a future article (or two).
I’m sure as iOS 7 matures, many of the things that bother me about it will be addressed and corrected. At least I hope so.
Once I’ve had more time with iOS 7 I’ll bring you another exciting round of observations. I’m also going to be installing the new version of OS X, code named Mavericks. More on that later too.
Initial Thoughts on iOS 7 and Apple In General
Well, now we know.
My first reaction on seeing iOS 7 was less dramatic than I thought it was going to be. I like the way it looks but I wasn’t “totally blown away” as I thought I might be.
That’s not to say iOS 7 isn’t nice to look at, it is. And in truth, I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting and/or hoping for. It’s just that I don’t think the look of iOS was really the big problem that needed solving. Flat icons and a thinner font don’t make things work better, it just makes things better looking (and that’s a matter of opinion too).
Of course, it’s hard to judge something I haven’t really had time to play with, so I’ll reserve any deeper analysis until I’ve had a chance to install and use iOS 7, which I’m going to do a bit later today.
One other thing I did want to mention about the WWDC keynote that bothered me was the bashing of other companies (especially Google) and the almost apologetic self-promotion by Apple. Let me put it another way: You don’t have to keep talking about how great you are, to be great you just make great products. People will figure it out.
Over the years I’ve managed companies and teams large and small and one thing I’ve always tried to remember is if you have to keep insisting you’re in charge, you really aren’t. The person in charge doesn’t have to say they’re in charge or prove anything, he or she just is.
It’s the same for Apple. The more Apple insist that they’re amazing innovators, the more they try to refute critics and the more they bash other companies, the less they look like a market leader and one of the most successful companies of all time. They just look desperate.
The more Apple tries to be like everyone else, the less special they become. There’s no reason to publicly acknowledge critics or paint rival companies in a bad light and there’s certainly no reason to make it more difficult/impossible for iOS users to choose which default search engine they want or what Maps app they want. That’s just dumb and, frankly, beneath a company like Apple.
Apple got where they are today by not doing things like everyone else. They should win by having the best ideas and the best products. Period. The rest just isn’t important.
Okay, enough of that. More on iOS 7 after I’ve had a chance to work with it a bit.
A Few Interesting Things For a Friday
It’s almost the weekend. Pat yourself on the back for making it this far. It’s been an interesting week for sure.
But let’s put all that aside for a minute and take a look at some fun things for a Friday. Next week we can all go back to the usual BS.
Don’t worry, it will still be there. Promise.
First up is the cool LEGO Star Wars Ewok Village Set (pictured above). Sure, I felt the same way about the Ewoks as you probably did, but this is still pretty cool.
In more LEGO news the company apparently doesn’t want to rest on its laurels by having the worlds biggest LEGO space ship. They also want to build the ultimate LEGO house. Sure, why not?
If you like comics as I do, you may want to, occasionally, read them on your iPad. But what’s the best app to accomplish this? Well, the gang at Lifehacker recommends Comic Zeal. I like it, but as it’s only for non-DRM comics, I also use the Comics app from ComiXology to read my Marvel, DC and other publisher’s stuff.
With Apple’s WWDC coming up next week, there’s lots of speculation as to what the company may announce. I think we’re going to see iOS 7, a new Pro desktop, maybe a new laptop and a new music streaming service, but what else? Wired has the full compliment of predictions. We’ll know if any of us are right next Monday.
Finally, are you a science geek? Or perhaps you have a child (or two) that needs to learn the periodic table of the elements? Well, what better way than with a music video. Watch and enjoy. You just might lean something. I did.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUDDiWtFtEM?rel=0&w=525&h=295]
Happy weekend.