Tuesday 17 September 2013

iOS 7 release date, features, news and pictures revealed

Everything you need to know about iOS 7 in one place, including features, images, news and availability

Twitter planning massive update for iOS 7

Twitter is planning a rather significant update to its mobile apps that will coincide with the release of iOS 7, reports suggest. 

The social network will release a minor update hot on the heels of the release of iOS 7, with a major overhaul landing in the not-too-distant future. 
The news comes via The New Yorker, which claims the new-look Twitter application will be very significant and focus on bringing more multimedia into your timeline – that means more pictures and videos.
“Among Twitter's plans for the app redesign include getting rid of the four categories listed at the bottom of the app. Instead, users will be able to swipe with their finger across several different streams. Also gone in the update will be the Discover tab,” reports Pocket-Lint.
The new version of Twitter is expected to feature a dedicated photo and multimedia stream, bringing the service more in-line with peer applications like Instagram.
The overhauled version of Twitter is also expected to get a release on Android. No images have yet been published of what the finished article will look like but with the release of iOS 7 just around the corner – it’s landing tomorrow – it shouldn’t be too long before we know more. 

Apple confirms iOS 7 release date

At Apple’s media event today the company announced that iOS 7 will become available for current iOS devices next Wednesday, September 18th. iOS 7 will be a free download for anyone who has a compatible iOS device. Those devices include the iPhone 4 and later, the iPad 2 and later, the iPad mini, and the iPod touch (fifth generation).
“iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface and over 200 new features, so it’s like getting a brand new device, but one that will still be instantly familiar to our users,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Next month we’ll be shipping our 700 millionth iOS device, and we’re excited about what our hundreds of thousands of iOS developers are doing to bring great new features to their apps.”
In addition, if you plan on grabbing the new iPhone 5S with the 64-bit A7 processor, know that iOS 7 has been rewritten from the ground up as a 64-bit OS to take advantage of the latest chip architecture. In other words: iOS 7 on the latest iPhone 5S is going to be screaming fast.
iOS 7 will be available on iPhone 4 and above, as well as the iPad 2, iPad Mini and iPod Touch (Fifth Generation). 
 Control Center, which gives you quick access to the controls you want in one convenient place with just one swipe from the bottom of your screen; With more than 200 new features, iOS 7 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch includes: 
• Notification Center, now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events; 
• improved Multitasking that gives users the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background;
• AirDrop, an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby;
• new Camera app filters so you can add real-time photo effects, a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras—video, photo, square and panorama—with just a swipe;
• a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organise your photos and videos based on time and location;
• full-screen browsing with Safari’s new redesigned user interface, the new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there’s a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs; 
• Siri with new male and female voices, Twitter search integration, Wikipedia integration and Bing web searching within the app; and
• iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalogue of music from the iTunes Store, combined with features only iTunes can deliver.
"The interface is purposely unobtrusive. Anything that doesn’t add value has been stripped away. So the focus is on what matters most: your content. Layers and translucency create depth and provide a sense of context and place,' said Apple.
"Animation and motion make everything more engaging. And the result is a better, smarter, more delightful experience overall. iOS 7 is just another way iPhone 5s is the culmination of forward thinking."

A Dilemma for App Developers?

Big changes are afoot inside Apple's iOS platform. But will the advent of iOS 7, with its new flat design and colourful imagery, cause issues for developers?
KYM reached out for comment on the issue and today we bring you an expert insight from David Pinches, CMO at ShinobiControls, on the potential ramifications of iOS 7’s redesign. 
Much has been said and written about iOS7 already with its new look UI being the standout point of contention.  Polls and surveys have been run across the real and virtual world with personal opinions sometimes deeply divided, although it would appear that consensus is moving in favour of the “new kid on the block” 
Basically it comes down to this, should the app look and feel like iOS6, iOS7 or both?  If you design your app for iOS6, it will likely look gaudy and out of place on iOS7's new minimalist, content-first design. 
If you design for iOS7, anyone who is still on iOS6 will likely find it under-designed or lacking in chrome compared to the rest of the OS. Either way your app is going to feel out of place to some users. 

Of course, this very much depends on what level of adoption we see for iOS7 in the coming weeks and months, but even if the iOS7 adoption keeps up with iOS6, it will likely be a year or more before you can safely drop iOS6 and even iOS5 from your supported OS version list.
What then to do?  Well, if you're not willing to sell either of your user bases short, you have two choices.  Firstly, you can come up with a new look and feel which doesn't look out of place on either platform.  I suspect this is possible, but it's certainly not easy and it's likely to be fairly complicated to do.  
The second option you have, of course, is to embed two distinct looks in the app, one for iOS6's 'skeuomorphic' world and one for iOS7's flat, clean world.  That will give your users the best experience of your app, regardless of the platform they're running.  It also means you can transition your app as your user base shifts towards iOS7 with its continued adoption and when iOS6 use falls below a level where you feel the need to support it, you simply remove that look from your app.  That said, it could be a rather large amount of work.
In some cases you may not be able to freely select an option?  If you are in the Enterprise Apps space, particularly one which runs specific mobile policies and standards, you may be constrained by these and have to design to one or the other, or indeed something specific to that organisation.
This is further complicated if the enterprise runs a bring your own device (BYOD) policy and, once again, you will be catapulted back into option choices.  No one ever said this was easy! 

Download iOS 7 ahead of official release date

iOS 7 GM is here and in the hands of Apple’s legion of dedicated developers. But if you’re the impatient type and don’t mind encountering a few bugs here and there, you can download the iOS 7 GM now to your iPhone or iPad. 
First you need to download the iOS GM itself, which you can do via the links below: 
Now, follow these steps – courtesy of Download iOS 7 – to get iOS 7 GM running on your iPhone or iPad:
1. Ensure the latest iOS 6 firmware for your device is downloaded. iPhone 5 users should download iOS 6.1.4, while iPhone 4/4S, iPad and iPod Touch 5 users should download iOS 6.1.3.
2. Download iOS 7 Gold Master IPSW for your device (from the links given above). 
3. Connect the device to computer via USB cable.
4. Launch iTunes on computer (download latest version of iTunes from here).
5. Tap the Shift key on your keyboard (use Option key for Macs) and click Update at the same time on iTunes. 
6. Choose the correct IPSW file for your device: iOS 6.1.3 or 6.1.4 ipsw
7. Let iTunes restore your device to the chosen firmware and set it up as a new device, but not from the back up.
8. On the Home Screen, find Check for Updates 
9. Do not click, just highlight it and hold down Shift or Option key. Then hit Update again. 
10. Select the iOS 7 GM IPSW and iTunes will update your device to the new firmware.
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