ios 7
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Some other cool (and relatively unmentioned) iOS 7 features
Craig Federighi simply didn't have the time to go through all of the features in iOS 7, so I decided to scrape some of those features from a slide. View PDF annotation -- in iOS, it's been impossible to view annotations that someone has added to a PDF. It appears that feature is finally coming to iOS 7, and that will bring even more PDF power to our apps. Enterprise single sign-on -- Not sure how this is going to be implemented, but providing a way for enterprise users to use one sign on for all of the sites that they need to work with on a daily basis is huge. This resolves the issue of needing to log into multiple apps on an enterprise network. Turn-by-turn walking directions -- Finally, what we have in Google Maps, available for iOS Maps. Do Not Track option in Safari -- I believe this is similar to Chrome's "incognito windows. A feature brought over from the desktop version of Safari that blocks websites, ad companies, analytic services and social networks from tracking you online. A version of it was present in iOS 6 as Private Browsing, but was not officially announced. Improved Mail search -- I currently find searching iOS mail to be frustrating, and when I really need to look up an old email, I resort to OS X. I can only hope that iOS Mail search is improved to that level. Night mode for Maps -- No more glaring screen when using Maps at night. WiFi HotSpot 2.0 -- Not sure what the improvements are going to be, but it's interesting to see that "Personal Hotspot" is getting an update. Hotspot 2.0 is a public access WiFi standard that allows devices to connect automatically to a compatible WiFi service when a user enters a coverage area. It'll let users walk around their city and connect to WiFi hotspots on the fly without any interaction with their phone. FaceTime Audio -- the ability to do FaceTime using only audio -- this could be helpful for doing podcasts. App Store Volume Purchase -- This may be a way for developers or Apple to offer volume purchase rates to schools, perhaps with "promo codes" that work for a large number of users. Scan to acquire Passbook passes -- At a store? Want to get a Passbook pass for a discount coupon? Just scan a code to have it automatically loaded into Passbook. Inclinometer == built-in level. We'll continue Zaprudering the slides as time goes by here today. There's a lot of information to digest!
iOS 7 to include security feature dubbed 'Activation Lock'
Apple today unveiled a slew of new iOS 7 features, one of which aims to make the iPhone a less desirable device for thieves. With a new iOS 7 utility Apple calls "Activation Lock", thieves who attempt to turn off "Find my iPhone" will not be able to do so unless they have a user's iCloud credentials. What's more, even if a thief attempts to wipe a device clean, he won't be able to reactivate the phone without entering in a user's credentials. Apple writes: Losing your iPhone feels lousy. Thankfully, Find My iPhone can help you get it back. But if it looks like that's not going to happen, new security features in iOS 7 make it harder for anyone who's not you to use or sell your device. Now turning off Find My iPhone or erasing your device requires your Apple ID and password. Find My iPhone can also continue to display a custom message, even after your device is erased. And your Apple ID and password are required before anyone can reactivate it. Which means your iPhone is still your iPhone. No matter where it is. Ideally, this will help take some of the wind out of the growing resale market for stolen iPhones. It's no secret that smartphone thefts over the past two years have been on the rise, with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg even speculating that iPhone-related thefts were at the root of New York City's increased crime rate in 2012. It remains to be seen how effective "Activation Lock" will be to combat iPhone thefts, but Apple's Craig Federighi seemed rather confident. "We think this is going to be a really powerful theft deterrent," Federighi said. Either way, it's nice to see that Apple is cognizant of the issue.
Apple unveils a new iOS 7 site
As you might expect, Apple has unveiled a brand-new official website for iOS 7, showing off the new operating system, its new (flat!) look and new features. You can see a hint of what the new look is like above, but of course the website goes into much more detail, and shows off all of the new status bar features, the new notification center, multitasking panels, the new photo app, the new weather app, iMessage layout and the new iTunes Radio feature in the music app, too. That's a lot of newness -- as Tim Cook said, this is definitely one of the biggest changes the iPhone has ever seen. iOS 7 is available to developers starting today, and then it will see a public release later on this year. What do you think of the new look? I think it's cleaner for sure, which is nice. But it may take a little getting used to.
Apple updates the App Store app with a new look, features
In addition to all the other changes in iOS 7, Apple updated the App Store with a fresh look and feel. The App Store has a new kids category that sorts apps by age, which is great for parents. There's also a new feature that'll let you find apps that are popular near you. One other time-saving improvement is the addition of auto-update for all iOS apps. You'll never have to be nagged by that badge with your app updates, nor hit that "update all" button again.
Game Center redesigned for iOS 7, coming this fall
Game Center will get a visual overhaul with the latest update to Apple's iconic mobile operating system, it was revealed during WWDC today. Apple aims to curb cheating through more secure game scores and support for ranking-style leaderboards. It's also added a new Sprite Kit tool to help developers create games, and Apple's adding game controller support for the "Made for iPhone" standard. The new Game Center will be a part of iOS 7, which is due out later on this fall. [Note: Current Game Center app image presented above.]
Camera and Photo apps updated in iOS 7
We all know that the camera is one of the most popular features on the iPhone, and Apple has poured some new ideas into the camera app that should add to the joy of photography in iOS 7. At WWDC today, Apple announced that the camera app has had a completely revamped GUI. I didn't see a lot of new features, but different shooting modes can be selected by swiping. You can move from a standard photo, to video, to panorama mode, and to a square 4 x 3 aspect ratio. The are big changes are in the iOS 7 photo app, too. For the first time, Apple is letting you apply filters directly. Apple has also enhanced finding photos with a concept called moments, so photos you have taken will be intelligently grouped by time and location. Apple has also enhanced Photo Stream with an improved GUI and the ability for others to drop photos into your stream. Videos are now supported as well. Those are just the highlights, and we will learn more in the days to come. It's pretty clear that Apple has taken the best mobile photo system and improved it in several aspects.
Siri and iOS in the Car updates announced at WWDC
The next update to Siri has been announced at WWDC, bringing a new graphical user interface and improved search options. Siri will now show the sound wave of your question as you speak and features a new voice that sounds a little less HAL 9000. Users will have male and female voice options, with English, French and German voices packaged out the gate. More language options will be added as time goes on. Siri's capabilities have also been updated to include the ability to play voice mails, turn on Bluetooth or increase brightness. In addition Twitter, Wikipedia and Bing searching have been enabled. The Siri improvements also include the new iOS in the Car; 95 percent of the new cars on the market today have integrated iOS support. iOS in the Car brings iOS information on the screen in your car, allowing you to access Maps, messages, play songs and more without ever taking your eyes off the road.
Streaming iTunes Radio service will be part of iOS 7
Apple has introduced a music-streaming service called iTunes Radio that'll be found natively in the upcoming iOS 7. For now, the service will be right in the Music app on iOS, and will offer up a series of featured stations (including, for the demo, a station playing the music heard at WWDC). Just tap on a station, and you'll get music from it. You also can choose to star songs to hear them again, play more songs like this or choose to never play a certain song again. The service is completely free, and supported by ads (presumably driven, as expected, by iAds). If you're an iTunes Match subscriber, however, the service will be completely ad-free, so that's a nice bonus. For the moment, there appears to be no offline play available, but we'll check and see if that's the case. iTunes Radio will be a feature in iOS 7, which is coming to the iPhone and iPad sometime later on this year.
Multitasking and notifications revamped in iOS 7
Tim Cook just said during WWDC 2013 that multitasking in iOS has been revamped completely. iOS 7 will now monitor your app usage even more closely than before, meaning it will have apps like Facebook pull in news and other updates in the background, getting them all ready to roll when you launch the app. There's also a new panel for app controls called Control Center and a new look for UI when switching apps The iPhone will now also adjust networking conditions to save battery life (so hopefully no more running out your battery while frantically trying to connect to WiFi), and there's a new notification management system that looks a lot cleaner and straightforward than the current implementation. These new features look terrific -- we'll get a look at them running in iOS 7 hopefully soon.
Siri for iOS 7 updated with Twitter, Wikipedia and Bing integration
We just got a look at the updates to Siri in iOS 7. There's now a sound wave on the bottom of the voice-control feature, and you'll have your choice of male or female versions -- and Siri will be available in French and German, with more languages to come. And, as the headline above indicates, Siri now features integration with Twitter, Wikipedia and -- get this -- Bing. Eddy Cue also teased the next frontier for Apple's voice control: iOS in the Car will integrate the latest mobile OS with an auto's infotainment system, and Siri will help drivers pull up directions and more. Don't get too excited, though, that feature isn't coming until 2014. Follow all of our WWDC 2013 coverage at our event hub.
Apple unveils new version of mobile Safari for iOS 7
Apple announced some major changes to mobile Safari in iOS 7. First and most noticeable is a new full-screen look that extends the web page that you are viewing from one edge of your screen to the other. There's also an improvement in search that provides your with a smart search field when you tap at the top of the screen. You also can access all your favorites there as well. Navigation is improved with a new swiping gesture that'll move you from page to page. A new bookmark control shows bookmarks, shared links and your reading list and a redesigned tab feature shows a scrolling, cover-flow-like view of your open tabs. A tap and hold lets you re-order the tans and a swipe to the side closes them one at a time. You can also see your open OS X tabs at the bottom and are no longer limited to just eight tabs, which is a welcome change. You can read about additional changes in mobile Safari on Apple's website.
Control Center finally brings quick toggles to iOS
OK, Apple, you got me. "It's iOS 7," I groused to our newsroom after Craig Federighi ran through the changes in Notifications. "Can we please get quick toggles for bloody WiFi, Airplane mode, etc.?" And the next thing out of Federighi's mouth was the new Control Center. Let's be real, this is a feature that should have been a part of iOS at least five versions ago. But, I'm glad it's here now, and it is gorgeous. Control Center can be accessed from anywhere on the iPhone with quick access to basic settings like Airplane mode, WiFi, Bluetooth and Do Not Disturb, as well as orientation, brightness toggle, media control, AirPlay, AirDrop and apps. There's even a flashlight. It's gorgeous, it's much-welcomed and it's so far my favorite feature in iOS 7.
Apple announces iOS 7
Apple has announced a new iPhone operating system, iOS 7. On stage today during the WWDC keynote, Tim Cook said iOS 7 is the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the new iPhone. As expected, the new operating system features a much flatter and cleaner look, a sort-of 3D home screen and bigger and wider icons. It definitely looks different. Stay tuned for lots more on this brand-new iteration of the iPhone's terrific operating system. Apple has announced that iOS 7 is available today as a beta to developers, and will be a free update to the public this fall.
Apple shows off completely redesigned iOS 7 at WWDC, coming this fall
We've read the rumors, we've seen the banners, and now it's finally here. Live from the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Tim Cook has just taken the wraps off of the latest upgrade to Apple's mobile operating system (after pumping up the crowd with some shimmering stats for the current OS, naturally), and as expected, the company's maintained its familiar naming scheme, introducing the world to iOS 7. Cook called it the biggest change to the operating system since the introduction of the iPhone, bold words supported by new features and a new design that managed to get a visible gasp from the room full of developers when shown off in a promo video. The new designs start on the lock screen, featuring a much thinner lettering. The icons have been redesigned and are flatter as expected. The company's also updated the typography and added new animation and transparency for images. The design goes edge to edge on the display, taking more advance of real estate. The Desktop moves as you do, creating "a new experience of depth." The company only focused on design during the intro video, but that was certainly enough to get the crowd excited. %Gallery-190886% %Gallery-190924% Follow all of our WWDC 2013 coverage at our event hub.
The Daily Roundup for 05.28.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Apple CEO Tim Cook's interview at D11 is tomorrow, get your liveblog here!
Just a year after Tim Cook sat down for his first non-financial interview as CEO of Apple, the man himself is back for yet another round. He'll be seated in Rancho Palos Verdes, California tomorrow evening at the D11 conference, taking questions from hosts Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, and we'll be liveblogging every moment of it. The interview is taking place with under a fortnight to go until Apple's WWDC, where we're expecting to see details on iOS 7, the Mac lineup and perhaps a glimpse at whatever the company is (presumably) cooking up in the wearables department. The action begins at 6PM PT (9PM ET) tomorrow, so feel free to bookmark this link and return at the time listed below. Tues May 28 06:00:00 PM PDT 2013
The Daily Roundup for 05.01.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
3 small UI tweaks Apple should steal from Google and Facebook for iOS 7
There's a lot of excitement surrounding the next release of iOS. Many people expect it to be a major revamp since Jony Ive has taken over software design at Apple. Some (like me) don't expect to see a major redesign in the next release, but incremental improvements -- like the removal of skeuomorphism from some apps. Whatever the case, I hope Apple will consider stealing borrowing these three smal UI tweaks from Facebook and Google iOS apps to make iOS even simpler to use: What: Drag photos (or other elements) down to close them. As found in: Facebook for iOS. How it works: In Facebook for iOS, a user can close a photo by swiping it down. They're then returned to the album view and/or the Newsfeed. Why: Tapping a "Done" button is so 2007. By now, most of the iPhone-using masses are intimately familiar with gestures. They're as natural to us as our own body movements. Any time you can have a simple gesture replace button taps, you should. There are two reasons for this: first, gestures eliminate the need to display buttons on the screen and second, they are generally more intuitive to implement than stretching our thumb to tap a Done button. How it would benefit iOS: Imagine this in the Photos app alone. It would make navigating photo albums much faster. And this wouldn't need to be limited to photos. Any kind of attachment you can tap in Mail or any other app could quickly be brought to to fullscreen and a simple swipe down would return you to the original location of the photo. As screens get bigger (if iPhone's move into the 4-plus-inch category), any gesture that stops you from having to stretch your thumb to reach those Done or Back buttons that get pushed farther and farther away makes for a much better user experience. What: Tap twice and hold, then drag up or down to zoom in and out. As found in: Google Maps for iOS. How it works: In Google Maps for iOS, Google has built in a simple one-fingered gesture that allows a user to zoom in and out using only their thumb. In Apple's Maps (and other apps that allow zooming) the standard zoom gesture is a two-fingered pinch to zoom in or out, and a double-tap to zoom in. While this is great if you're standing still, if you're using Maps while walking down the street, particularly if you're other hand is full, pinch to zoom is generally a pain. That's because generally most people can't do pinch to zoom with one hand. It normally requires the other hand to hold the device. Also, while a double-tap does allow you to zoom in, it doesn't allow you to zoom out (sure, a double-tap with two fingers allows you to zoom out, but that still requires the other hand to hold the phone). Google realized this and came up with an ingenious gesture: in their Maps app, the user can simply double-tap the map then keep their finger on the screen and move it up or down to zoom in or out. Why: Once you discover and use this gesture you realize: this is how zooming should be done. How it would benefit iOS: It makes one-handed zooming in and out easy. Apple doesn't only need to borrow this gesture for their Maps, it can add it to any other app that uses zoom -- like Photos, Safari and more. What: Gradient borders when scrolling. As found in: Google Search. How it works: When you preform an image search in Google Search you're presented with the standard search results: image icons on a white background. However, when you start scrolling down through them, the white background goes through a gradient change to black. Why: Visually, it's more appealing to the eye. The gradient change also makes it easier to pick up individual images. Plus it signals to the user that they have moved the elements on the screen so if they are looking for the the first small thumbnail in the list, they know from the black background that they have scrolled past it. How it would benefit iOS: Unlike the other suggestions, I think this would only benefit apps that use image thumbnails -- namely Photos. However, any visual cues -- even for a single app -- that give users a clue as to what they are doing on a small screen is always beneficial. So those are three of my hopes for iOS 7. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot more I want to see from iOS 7 (like fixing the disastrous way Apple implemented switching between groups in Contacts in iOS 6), but adding the above is a good start. Please use the comment below to give your thoughts on what UI improvements you hope iOS 7 brings.
5 things I want to see from Apple in 2013
2012 was a pretty good year for Apple. It released two versions of the iPad; a totally new iPad mini; a completely redesigned iPhone and iPod touch, as well as iPod nanos; super-thin MacBook Pros with Retina displays; and an incredibly designed new iMac. The company also had a few low-points, namely Maps and some major reshuffling of its executive leadership. However, the end of the year is always a time to look forward, so here are five things I hope we see from Apple in 2013. Admittedly, most of these are relatively minor -- and all are software-based -- but Apple pretty much refreshed every major hardware product in 2012, so I don't expect to see many new designs next year. 1. A redesigned Apple TV interface inspired by iTunes 11 I'm kind of cheating on this one, because I've been told by a trusted source that Apple is already working on an iTunes 11-ish overhaul of the Apple TV interface. Nevertheless, this is something I had been hoping for since I saw the new iTunes 11 UI. Currently the Apple TV has an iOS Springboard homepage interface -- big buttons represent various channels on the Apple TV. While that works fine for the main menu, I'd like to see an improved graphical elements in the submenus. Most submenus now look pretty much like the old Front Row interface: lines of text that lead to more lists. Apple really hit a strong navigation note with iTunes 11's expanded view album/TV series art interface. When/if this does come to the Apple TV it will make navigating your libraries much simpler -- plus it will bring unity between iTunes on your computer and iTunes on your Apple TV. That's all the Apple TV is, essentially -- just another version of iTunes, with a ten-foot UI. A few bonus features for the Apple TV I would like to see: a BBC iPlayer channel and the ability to display the iTunes visualizer while playing music through your Apple TV. The flipping album art display is getting old. Unlike the iTunes 11-esque redesign, I don't have any info about whether or not these are in development. As for why a real Apple television isn't on my list -- I don't think we'll be seeing one in 2013 at all. Maybe in 2014. Maybe. 2. A new iWork for OS X and iOS The last major version of iWork for OS X came out on January 6, 2009. Yeah, in just about a week that will be four years ago. Sure, it's received some minor updates since then like iCloud support and Retina display support, but besides that Apple's office productivity suite has not been updated in four years. Most of us don't have computers that old. iWork for OS X needs improvements. Pages alone has fallen well behind the capabilities of what the latest version of Microsoft Word can do. In the four years since its last release I get more and more errors when importing Word documents into Pages. Pages doesn't even offer Document Map support yet -- a basic feature for anyone who deals with large manuscripts. Numbers and Keynote have fallen behind as well. The iOS version of iWork has received more love, but still its pretty useless if you use it with iCloud. Currently any time I open a more than basic Numbers, Pages, or Keynote document created in OS X on my iOS version of iWork the iOS version tells me it wants to remove any number of important elements. It then gives me a choice to remove these elements and open up the current document or remove the elements and open up a copy of the current document. Choosing either option makes the iCloud sync support useless. I may end up with a crippled original document; otherwise I get multiple copies of that document, where some instances have the elements I want and some are scaled down and have new edits, but lack all the elements of the original. Neither is optimal, and that's why iWork for iOS is virtually useless in most cases. Hopefully 2013 will see an updated iWork for OS X and a functioning version for iOS. 3. A new iLife for OS X There was a time not five years ago when iLife was a major selling point of Apple's. Now, however, as iOS devices are the most important component of Apple's business, it's not as important for the company to keep adding features to its flagship media suite to lure more switchers to the Mac. After all, iPhone and iPads are now the primary driving force behind luring switchers. The last version of iLife came out on October 20, 2010. That's more than two years ago. I'd love to see some of the advances from Final Cut Pro and Aperture (and other digital video and photo editing apps) make it into a new iLife. 4. The fall of skeuomophism in iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 After the Maps debacle, Tim Cook booted Scott Forstall, who was primarily responsible for leading the charge in Apple's mapping solution. With Forstall's exit the primary proponent of skeuomophism in iOS and OS X was gone. Now that Jony Ive is in charge of the look of both operating systems -- and it's rumored he hated the skeuomophic design of some of the apps -- here's hoping iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 see the skeuomophic design jettisoned from Calendar, Address Book, Reminders, Notes, and more. Apple's devices are elegant, and the software on them should look elegant too. 5. The Movie Trailers app for the rest of the world This isn't going to appeal to readers in the US, but for the rest of the world its baffling that Apple has yet to release the Movie Trailers iOS app outside of America. It's Apple's only app -- on any platform -- that is a US-only app. And there's no logic to this. Using Siri I can get movie showtimes on my iPhone and iPad in the UK, so I know Apple is capable of culling that information. Apple also offers its movie trailers website in multiple countries. So why limit its awesome Movie Trailer app to only America? It makes absolutely no sense and here's hoping I can check UK show-times on my app soon (I have the app through my US iTunes account) and that my fellow Brits and Apple users in other countries can soon download the app. Well, that's my hopes for what Apple brings in 2013. Let me know yours in the comments!
