Well my mother and grandmother have been using iOS 7 with no usability issues since beta 2 came out, other than the usual beta bugs, so you're assumption is wrong on that basis....
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Wow. iOS 7 is a disaster.
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Well my mother and grandmother have been using iOS 7 with no usability issues since beta 2 came out, other than the usual beta bugs, so you're assumption is wrong on that basis....
Maybe he meant glasses
Ah. Unfortunately, my vision issue is only partially correctable with glasses.
Ah well
. Hopefully the bold text/larger text option helps, maybe even the higher contrast as someone mentioned earlier
Ah well
As I've posted many times, first thing I did was turn on all those options. And they do help where they are applied, but it only seems to apply to app content. Things like UI text, and especially annoying, the text in the Notification Center doesn't change.
I installed iOS7b2 yesterday. I like it. It's fresh compared to last generations of same s*it even though it's not that much different. I like to new "multitasking" and lockscreen, but the animations definitely need some tuning. If Im not dreaming I think my battery consumption has also dropped both in standby and while using the iPhone.
Completely agree. Here's hoping we get a quick jailbreak to give us a 'dark' theme.
Let's face reality. Your going to have some people that like the changes and some people that will hate them. Unlike Google's OS you don't have any choice but to look at the pastel colored icons (unless you jailbreak but we all know Apple). The biggest question is the performance hit that may affect current iOS devices. If it runs like crap on millions of iPhone's your going to have millions of disappointed customers. If the perception of smoothness is lost iOS 7 will be considered a failure; you don't upgrade for lag. iPhone 4 already runs like a pig on iOS 6 so just put that 3 year old phone out of it's misery. You run the risk of just ruining the experience without the option of rolling back to the previous OS.
2nd issue is fragmentation. Apple likes to talk a good game about Android fragmentation but when you take features away from device to device just to say it runs iOS 7 it ruins the experience. Not all Android phones get upgraded but when they do they receive all features. It's either you do or you don't; don't go halfway. It becomes a jumbled mess that is no different from the charts Apple likes to display for Android.
To enjoy the Apple experience you need to upgrade to iPhone 5s with all the features intact. The issue is that it's a iPhone 5s.
2nd issue is fragmentation. Apple likes to talk a good game about Android fragmentation but when you take features away from device to device just to say it runs iOS 7 it ruins the experience. Not all Android phones get upgraded but when they do they receive all features. It's either you do or you don't; don't go halfway. It becomes a jumbled mess that is no different from the charts Apple likes to display for Android.
To enjoy the Apple experience you need to upgrade to iPhone 5s with all the features intact. The issue is that it's a iPhone 5s.
Thanks for the thoughtful review of IOS7 usability.
Like you, I no longer have the eyesight of a 20-year old and I have many of the same concerns about IOS7.
For those who think disgruntled iPhone users shouldn't "complain" during the BETA process please let us know a more logical time.
Should we air our grievances before the beta is released? How about after the new IOS officially launches?
I think Apple would tell you - this is the time to share positive and negative feedback.
That's what BETAS are for.
Should we air our grievances before the beta is released? How about after the new IOS officially launches?
I think Apple would tell you - this is the time to share positive and negative feedback.
That's what BETAS are for.
The babies have grown up and the grandmothers are dead...
(Just being silly, not argumenting... I get that some like it and some don't... I don't get why either side are so insecure in their positions...)
Agreed. Calendar looks like it was rushed out at the last moment just to have something to to show at WWDC. I keep telling myself this is really just a placeholder until the actual app is coded. Hopefully that's turns out to be the case.
At least with calendar, there is an easy fix.
Calendar apps like "Calendars+ by Readdle" and "Week Cal" are superior to the IOS calendar apps.
Calendars+ is a great app. I've been using it for the past couple of months. Apple has to be looking to greatly improve the functionality and UI of Calendar but although they will undoubtedly improve Calendar it will be hard to beat apps like Calendars+.
Calendars+ is a great example, but there are many third-party apps that are superior to the stock Apple apps. Sadly, relatively few people know about them. In other cases, people have managed devices (I.e., employer-provided iPhones) that do not permit the installation of third-party apps, so they are stuck using the stock apps.
Although it would hurt some third-party developers, Apple could dramatically improve many of its stock apps, and the IOS platform, if it would just adopt some of the features and design ideas of these third-party apps. I thought Apple might do something like that with IOS7, and I am somewhat disappointed that they have not (so far). Most of the stock apps have improved very little since Apple unveiled IOS.
iOS 7 looks very interesting. The iPhone 5 is nice but it wasn't enough of an upgrade over my previous Android phone with a 4.3 inch screen. I just upgraded to a SG-S4 with all the bells and whistles and I am extremely happy so far. I really like Apple's desktop and notebook line of products. Apple needs to continue to focus on innovation for it's smaller portable and hand held devices. It's time for Apple to step out side of their own box that they created with the iPhone. If Apple improves the look and functionality by adding many of the better Android like features and if they add a model with an increased viewable screen size of at least 5 inches I will give that iPhone model 5s, 6 or later a more serious look before my next upgrade.
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I don't think Calendar is going anywhere anytime soon. There is a WWDC video where an Apple guy spends a lot of time digging into the design of the new Calendar app and how "perfect" it is. The same goes for all the apps. I don't expect much design change at all before release. Apple doesn't take design criticism.
I saw that video too <sigh> Maybe the UI won't change much but hopefully it will be tweaked. And functionality can always be improved. Hopefully
I agree, in the iOS human interface guidelines, Apple say it themselves -
"Controls should look tappable. iOS controls, such as buttons, pickers, and sliders, have contours and gradients that invite touches."
Nobody can tell me that text with no gradient, no border 'invites touches'.
The only reason why people know that it's a button without tapping it, is either because we've used iOS before, or it's obvious (Back).
The iOS 7 design team seem to have forgotten what a button should look like. I appreciate they're taking to do something new and innovative, but they've taken 'flat' way too far. It's not just in iOS though, even in Windows 8 people are complaining about this in metro mode.
This is utter nonsense. WP8 is the easiest OS every produced. Thats why people complain. You don't need a giant staples easy button to know its a button. Your just complaining to complain. There is no such thing as metro mode in WP8 its just two screens with boxes or rectangles. You either push the app or you don't. iOS 7 is so simple that my 2 year old daughter can use it. I don't buy any of this argument that its complicated or not intuitive.
Some parts of it aren't. Ex. Slide to Answer a call is a green block that looks tappable because other UI buttons are large blocks (Cancel on the picker selection dialog screen is a large blue block when tapped for instance) and the slide to answer text is hard to read on that particular shade.
It's a work in progress and I believe the design will start to mesh the closer they get to final.
So far my favorite UI elements is the new lockscreen. It's so much more useful than iOS6's and it makes your walls look gorgeous! No more smokey glass time element blocking my families faces!
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Yes! They really need to fix that, and also the "slide to turn of" text, which is illegible thin white on a giant red block.
See, I don't have a problem with that one but I do have great eye sight with my contacts in.
A simple UI does not mean it's a good UI. Just being simple, on it's own, doesn't make it good.
My brother has used my iPad / iPhone occasionally before, but when I gave it to him the first thing he tried to do way swipe up because of the arrow for control center. I think the lock screen is fine as it is, but for new / younger users it may be confusing.
I'm not saying the whole of iOS7 is non-intuitive or complicated; but some parts are.
For example, when you're viewing one photo, in iOS7's photos app, you can pinch and zoom out to 'moments' or tap the back button. From moments you can't pinch to get back to 'collections', you have to press the back button. It feels like you should be able to pinch all the way back to the years view of photos. A good feature would be able to zoom all the way back from viewing one photo to year's view with a big pinch, and only back one level with a small pinch, so you're not having to press the back button 3 times (or pinch 3 times).
Pinching to zoom in and out is natural -- it's been hyped up and most people know of this gesture. Pulling down with one finger on the springboard to bring up search is not -- it's always been swipe to the left to get search (and that was obvious because of the dots / icon at the bottom); you wouldn't know how to search without accidentally swiping down or someone showing you.
Size, colour and boldness of text is used to emphasise what are controls, where are controls, what are titles, which are most important. In iOS7, some panels loo so confusing - what is a title, what are options, why are some options smaller than others, what is a description... In the maps panel, at first the blue text is the title and the black text is the content - if you tap on it the whole section highlights and takes you to the web address, for example. But then blue text (same exact size) is used for the 'directions to here' and 'directions from here', as separate options. Then it changes again back to segments with blue text as the title, but non-tappable options. Then at the end the blue text is used again as separate options but slighting bigger.
I wasn't talking about Windows Phone 8; but now that you've brought it up -- in settings the titles are smaller than the descriptions of what each setting does, and the main title is cut off. I was talking about Windows 8 -- some options look like titles and I feel surprised when I can click on an option that looks like a title.
In iOS, details matter - when the music app says N...pling instead of Now Playing, the app feels rushed.
With the lock screen they should make it so you can swipe either way, because if they put a visual cue to which way to swipe I think it'll ruin the simplicity of it.
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