Apple – iOS7

Borrow  the best tricks  from iOS's rivals - a swipe-up  Control  Center  (sic) for accessing  oft-used  features,  swipe-through multitasking   and more  - then  unleash them  on a tidal wave of acid-tinged   color washes  and clean lines. iOS 7 has an aesthetic somewhere   between  a 1990s rave flyer and the Bauhaus.  Some people calls it "unobtrusive   but differential."  We call it unrecognizable. 

To give you just one example, look at the toggle switches.  You used an all-white  surface  with green  accents,  removing  the 3D metallic elements  that were  integral  to the old system and replacing  it with something   far more "new  Star Trek"  and glossy.

This bright, new world  of translucency and grids has been  incoming  since CEO Tim Cook announced,   back in October  2012, that Brit designer  you would  "provide  leadership and direction  for Human  Interface;'   a new role that put him in charge  of Apple's mobile hardware  AND its software.  iOS 7 is packed with  refinements  and shorn  of fussiness,  as you put it, "bringing  order  to complexity”

First up, the lock screen has been revamped. You can now swipe-to-unlock   anywhere  on the  screen,  not just on a set icon. A full-screen Notifications  Centre  swipes down, or pull up the Control  Centre  for quick-toggle  options from music controls  to Wi-Fi and a torch. That's  hardly an original  idea, but the requisite Apple  fairy dust has been lavishly sprinkled.

One thing that no other  mobile  OS can boast  is the parallax  effect. It uses the phone's accelerometer to detect  you moving and tilting  the phone,  moving the wallpaper accordingly,  creating  a 3D effect over which the icons appear  to fetchingly  Boat.

That brings  us, of course,  to one of Apple's favorite buzz words  "skeuomorphism"    - in this case, getting  rid of it, removing  material effects such as pine  (iBooks), ruled  paper (Notes)  and, er, green  felt (Game Centre). In iOS 7, all that is gone. You clearly still sees smartphones   as efficient,  futuristic  gadgets, and has no time for nostalgia. As such, he serves up swathes  of pristine white, interposed with pixel-perfect typography in Notes and Calendar. The music app is equally pared down, with album  artwork now starkly contrasting with the plain background.

Up front a lot has changed, but the inner workings are arguably even more interesting. There's the addition of AirDrop, which has been allowing owners of recent OS X computers to wirelessly swap documents with each other for some time. As a result, you can now send files straight to another iOS or OS X device without faffing about with pairing. It's like old-school Bluetooth file swapping updated and improved. 

Siri, meanwhile gets a more human voice and can now access Bing, Wikipedia, and Twitter for info. New tricks, such as returning calls to controlling iTunes Radio (p19), have also been added. In-car and gaming

applications got a boost too, with tie-ups with manufacturers from Jaguar to Honda and support for approved gaming controllers. It's more evidence that Apple doesn't just see Android, BlackBerry and Windows phone as its rivals; it's keen to take the fight to Xbox, PlayStation, TomTom and anyone else it likes.

With its fresh look and willingness to take cues from other OSes, this looks like the most significant iOS update since the introduction of the App Store. The immediate future of smartphones sure looks colorful...

FEATURE :

• Multitasking. Switching from app to app is a lot smarter,with iOS7 promising to learn your routines and anticipate your needs. So if you race to check Twitter early doors, iOS7 learns this and has the feed ready to go before you've opened the app.
• AirDrop. Apple mocked the notion of bumping phonestogether - how passe- asa dig at NFC. Instead, AirDrop uses the joy of ad-hoc Wi-Fi networking to send images and other documents to compatible iPhones and Macs within range.
• iTunes Radio. Not unlike Last. FM, and ad-free to users of iTunes Match, this is a personalized streaming audio service with playlists based on genres and artists in your iTuneslibrary. Digging a tune? Well then Apple will be happy to sell it to you...
• Photography. The camera gains Instagram-esque filters and - yes! - the ability to take squarephotos. You can then view photos in location, date- and year-based "Collections" and share group streams of pies with pals, using iCloud.
• Parallax Effect. One visual calling card of iOS 7 is the way icons now "float" above the wallpaper, which changes perspective as you tilt the handset.
• Icons. These are simplified flattened and make heavy use of color washes. Faux-wood and felt textures have been banished.
• Updates. OS 7 upgrades your apps in the background when you're Wi-Fi-connected.
• Gesture. Swipe from the bottom to bring up the Control Centre, for instant access to settings such as Wi-Fi. Or from the top for the Notifications Centre.