iOS 7 on iPad 2

After a painless download and installation, everything worked quite well.  Animations were smooth, and I changed the background to one with stars and having a subtle parallax effect - I really like it.  (No I didn’t get any nausea as reported by many people….).  The one with the moving bubbles, I put on my lock screen as it was just too distracting.

The flat icon style is really too colourful and almost childish, but overall, it some brings a much required change and freshness to the OS.  Still no widgets, but that’s Apple I guess…

Speed-wise, it may be a tad slower than iOS 6 and some apps look too plain, especially notes, which looks quite boring and white/ yellow.  Other apps like Safari look cohesive with the system and changes seem to be for the better.

iTunes Radio is my favourite new feature.  I listen to it all the time.  It’s similar to Pandora, but hey it’s Apple and there are only a few ads.  While listening to it on my macbook, it actually syncs with Lastfm, just like the songs in my library.  Plus, you get to listen to latest releases (just listened to Justin Timberlake’s new album).  With extra features like this, I think it will definitely give it an edge over other services.

I also like the fact that apps auto-update by themselves...Yeah!  No more irritating small red icon telling you that you need to update your apps...

Why is there no weather app for iPad like the iPhone?  I don’t know why it is present only on the iPhone.  Apple needs to rectify this.  And, they should also update the weather icon, like they do on the clock icon and date.  Also, some apps don't work too well and I've had a few crash on me.  However, for an OS upgrade that supports 32bit and 64bit, I think it's reasonable to expect a few bugs and crashes..

Overall, I’m pretty happy with iOS 7.  And I'm glad that it still runs on the iPad 2.  Apple has added a lot of useful features and apps, and it’s a great start.  Some Apple made widgets would really spice up the system….Maybe that's coming in iOS 8.

WWDC 2013 Review

Well, well.  I think this was one of the best WWDCs ever.

The presenters were relaxed and except for Tim Cook's rehearsed usual fact files, I think it went pretty well.  Everyone seemed really excited to present their respective segments.  Craig Federighi was very relaxed and even funny on several occasions.  And he really interacted very well with the audience.  This was probably the first event that these guys did a really good job, post Steve Jobs...

The only negative:  Too many references about Scott Forstall's  skeuomorphic designs.  Hey, I kind of liked it and it gave ipad software some character and made it stand out; i.e. the book shelf, notes, and reminders.  In fact, I am probably one of the few people who says BRING BACK SKEUMORPHISM!  (Did you see the new plain looking notes and calender in iOS and OSX?  Uggh!!).

Scott was not the bad guy - O.K. he screwed up on maps and may have been an arrogant control freak, but let's stop beating the dead horse....

The new features of iOS7 and OSX Mavericks look very good indeed along with the new MacPro (not that I'd ever have enough money to buy it).  I think Apple is on a roll, both on the hardware and software side.....

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT iOS 7

O.K. iOS7 has been released in its beta form for the iphone.  Here are some things that I like about the release:



1) It supports all devices dating back to ipad 2 and iphone 4.  Yay, apple!  At least you support your devices for few years.  My last year's xperia got a late update and will probably be stuck at the current version of android os.

2) Multitasking -  looking good!

3) Automatic app updates and preferential fetching of the apps, according to usage.  Brilliant

4) Other changes including control center, weather, maps and various apps

5) I love the changes they have done to the notification center, and the addition of the today screen!  HP Palmtop, anyone?

6) Auto update of apps - FINALLY!!!

My only gripe is that they could have added some real time information in the icons or made cool apple widgets showing information, like the dashboard in OSX (Am I the only one who uses dashboard?  I love it, especially checking the weather and system stats, memory etc..)

People say they are copying from android, windows phone and I agree....Hell, they are copying off ubuntu mobile/jolla/meego as well.  But they refine the ideas, and make them slick and easy to use - the same that they do with hardware.  Speaking of which, once you use an apple multi-touch trackpad, you'll never and I mean NEVER EVER want to use a clumsy windows touchpad...It's that good.  And it's really so good that I don't even feel the need to use a touch screen...But that's a story for another day...

Can't wait for the fall to install it my ipad 2 (which my family and I love, love, love, love and love) and download and try OSX Maveriks on my unibody Macbook white ( as far as I'm concerned, Apple lost it's distinctiveness after it developed the current Macbooks with black keyboard! )