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"Hands On With iOS 7\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStarting Up\nFrom the moment iOS 7 loads, its clear this is different. The linen that infused iOS 5 and iOS 6 is gone, replaced with white and thin sans serif typography.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA Splash of Color\nWhile white is a predominant theme in iOS 7, this is not a monochrome OS. Color accents are almost always visible.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe New Home Screen\n\nFor the first time since the original iPhone, the overall look and icon structure of iOS is now new and fresh. \nThe wallpaper can now be dynamic or static. Dynamic wallpaper is similar to the animated wallpaper in Android, except it doesn't interact with your finger. The default wallpaper is static.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA Cleaner Inbox\nMail has received a full revamp to both its main view and the compose screen.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNew Integrated Services\nFlickr and Vimeo join Facebook and Twitter as built-in services.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFolders and Control Center\n\nSwiping up from the bottom brings up the Control Center. This is an easy way to access your most used settings, including WiFi, audio, brightness and quick access to alarm, a calculator, camera and flashlight.\nMeanwhile, photos can now store more items and span pages.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCamera Options\nThe new camera interface has a number of options built-in. Swiping across the bottom brings up options for the standard camera or the video camera.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nInstagram Friendly\nThere is a new square mode on the camera, perfect for Instagram. The panorama mode is still here too.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nHouston We Have Filters\nApple also has its own filters built-into iOS 7. Rather than simply applying a filter in post, these filters are actually real-time and you can look through the viewfinder in that filter before taking a shot.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStocks and Notes\nThe Stocks app looks totally fresh. Notes also has a new coat of paint. The texture is still there but the yellow lined paper and Marker Felt are a thing of the past.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\niTunes and Wish Lists\niTunes and the App Store both have new designs. Additionally, Apple has introduced a new Wish List feature on mobile, making it easy for users to save an app to buy later.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nApp Store\nThe App Store structure is still the same but the look is more fresh. In addition to the general charts, users can also check to see what apps are popular in their area.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSharing Or Adding to a Wishlist\nA new share button shows off what you can do with an app which includes AirDrop and adding it to a wishlist.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPassbook and News Stand\nBoth look fresh.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLock Screen \n\nThe Lock screen no longer has anything to slide to unlock, just swipe to the right.\nYou can choose to make Control Center available at the lock screen or not.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNotifications and Weather\n\nPulling down from the top still brings up notifications, only now without linen and with a history.\nThe weather app is beautiful and animated.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nReminders\n\nReminders is now more robust in its appearance. There are different groups of reminders, not just lists. \nThe new reminder screen also has a refined look. It still has texture, but the lines are less bold.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCompass\nThe compass looks totally new and totally great.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSwitching Apps\n\nDouble tapping home brings up full screen previews of various apps. Scroll back and forth and see previews of your apps in real-time.\nSome might say this is copying Window Phone, but really, this look was pioneered by Palm with the late, great, webOS.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDialer and Messages\nThe dialer and the iMessage interface follow the new trends of being bright and with lots fo color.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNotifications\nNotifications pop-up in dark now, not white. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCalendar\nThe calendar is de-leathered and has a very Google+ look.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCalendar Inbox\nThe calendar gets a proper inbox for incoming invitations.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMaps\nApple Maps has toned down some of its textures but the basic app looks very similar.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nDirections\nThe directions page in Maps has been rebuilt and it looks much more sleek.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nCalculator and Clock\n\nThe calculator still pays homage to the great HP calculators of the 70s, but with fewer bevels.\nAs for the clock, gone is that patent-infringing world clock look. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAlarms and Stopwatch\nCheck out the 3D effect when picking a time.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTimer and Settings\nThe timer is totally new too. This is what one of the standard settings pages looks like.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSafari\n\nThe bookmarks section for Safari is texture free but full of color.\nThe search and URL omnibox makes a glorious return (it was separated with iOS 3 back in 2009).\nThe whole look of this browser would look equally at home at Mountain View as it does in Cupertino.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSearching and Loading a Page\n\nTyping in a URL or string of text offers up real-time suggestions for an address or search query.\nThe thin bar at the top of the screen indicates page load progress.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTabs\nIt's like Cover Flow, but vertical!\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFaceTime Audio\nFaceTime can now do audio calls! \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWhen Tim Cook unveiled iOS 7 at WWDC this week, he called it \"the biggest change to iOS since the original iPhone.\"\nHe's right. iOS 7 isn't just a visual overhaul of Apple's venerable mobile operating system; it's a near-total rethink of many of the core paradigms that have come to make iOS, well, iOS.\nSEE ALSO: See How Siri Works in iOS 7\n\niOS 7 looks different, sure, but even in beta, it feels different, too. As Marco Arment wrote on his blog, this \"isn't just a new skin.\"\nInteractions and Animations\n\nInteractions and animations are much less subtle on iOS 7. Ken Burns-style transitions abound, making it feel both modern and slightly disorienting. Tapping on an icon or on a folder diagonally zooms in on its content. Tapping away or pressing the home button zooms back out.\nThe animations make a great first impression, but eventually seem to take too long, which messes with the overall navigational flow. I fully expect that by the time iOS 7 launches, it will meet a balance between eye candy and productivity.\niOS 7 is much more gesture-driven than any previous version of iOS. Now, in addition to dragging the notification drawer down from the top of the screen, users can pull up the Control Center from the bottom.\nOther gestures include dragging slightly down at the top of an icon row to reveal a search bar (no more navigating back eight pages to search), sliding up to release alarms and sliding right to unlock the phone.\nThis is the first version of iOS in which I've needed to gesture back in order to reach the home screen. The user interface simply feels more optimized for gestures than any other.\nBrand New Look\n\nApple remade nearly every pixelated inch of iOS in its newest version. Only the App Store and iTunes Store feel like reskins \u2014 everything else looks and feels rebuilt from the ground up.\nIt's not just the icons or the new love for Helvetica Neue Ultra Light (the new system font), even details such as in-app purchase prompts, share sheets and other pop-ups.\nSEE ALSO: The Mysterious Appearances of Jony Ive\n\niOS 7 is not what I would call flat design. It's flatter in some respects to iOS of yore, but it's filled with plenty of textures and gradients. Apple is especially fond of transparency with overlays mimicking frosted glass, letting backgrounds just peek through. The effect is similar to Microsoft's Aero Glass theme from Windows Vista and Windows 7. \nIt also reminds me a bit of the early brushes with transparency in the first versions of OS X in the early 2000s.\nAs Mashable's technology editor Pete Pachal noted earlier this week, many of the design cues and design patterns in iOS 7 are similar to those from other operating systems. \nIt's popular to compare iOS 7 with Windows Phone 8, but from a broad level, it seems the design has much more in common with the work of Matias Duarte. Duarte was largely responsible for the design of Palm's webOS, and since Android 3.0 Honeycomb, he has led the UI efforts for Android at Google.\nMoreover, many of the design decisions follow some of the more forward-facing trends in web design and mobile UI.\nIt's Just Getting Started\n\nA friend of mine compared the transition from iOS 6 to iOS 7 to moving from OS 9 to OS X. I think it's an extremely apt comparison.\nReleased in 1999, Mac OS 9 was the final major release of the \"classic\" Mac OS, which originated in 1984. In 2001, Apple officially released the first version of OS X (then Mac OS X), which had not only a radically new look and feel \u2014 but also an entirely new infrastructure that required developers to create new versions of their apps for the operating system. \nWhile OS X was clearly the future, it took some longtime Mac users a long time to grow accustomed to that shift. If one revisits John Siracusa's decade-plus of exhaustive OS X reviews, it's apparent that the interface and user paradigms evolved over time.\nI was a senior in high school when Mac OS X 10.0 was released. I will never forget cursing the OS, its lack of FireWire and DVD playback support \u2014 and getting confused by the dock and the new menu system. In fact, it was Mac OS X 10.0 that convinced me to buy a PC for college instead of a Mac.\nHowever, over time, OS X evolved and improved. By the time Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar rolled around in August 2002, the system, apps and the interface were finally starting to feel like home.\niOS 7 will likely follow a similar path. I don't expect the breaking-in period to last as long \u2014 mobile simply moves more quickly than the desktop world ever could \u2014 but there will be a transition period for users, app developers and, yes, even Apple.\nWhat we see with iOS 7 is not the end of a journey but the beginning of a whole new quest. \nLet us know your thoughts on the new look of iOS 7 in the comments.\nThumbnail photo by Nina Frazier, Mashable. Images courtesy of Apple, iOS 7"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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