Apple, Gadget, iPhone, Technology
That new interface
Like it or loathe it, there's no denying that iOS looks very different. It's much more minimalist than before, with a distinctly flat look - check out the new Messages or Mail compared to the iOS 6 versions and the differences are obvious. Apps that haven't been designed for iOS 7 yet are going to look a little bit odd compared to the stark new Apple apps.A new lock screen
Control Center
Control Center is something many iOS users have been clamouring for for ages: instead of wading through endless Settings screens to turn on features such as Airplane Mode, Control Center provides quick access to key features: Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb and Rotation Lock. It also provides media playback controls, Airdrop file sharing, and quick access to the phone's LED light and the Clock, Calculator and Camera apps.Notifications
Notifications have been given a major revamp: there are now three sections (swipeable left to right) headed Today, All and Missed. Today tells you what's on your schedule and includes cute details such as "it would take you about 9 minutes to drive home right now" and a summary of the weather forecast. All collates notifications of app updates, messages and so on, and as you might expect Missed tracks notifications of missed calls and notifications you didn't deal with. You can customise which apps can access Notifications in the Settings app.Camera
The Camera app has been dramatically redesigned and offers four kinds of shooting: video, photo, square (for Instagram-style shots) and Pano (for panoramas). You also get Instagram-style filters for adding retro effects.Photos
The Photos app has been redesigned too, and it can automatically organise your photos into what Apple calls Collections. The feature uses your device's GPS to sort photos not just by date, but by location - and it's smart enough to know the difference between the exhibition centre in one part of a city and the cinema in the city centre. You can also zoom out to see your photos by year, which is handy if you never, ever clear the pictures from your iOS device.Spotlight search
Spotlight has been moved: to activate it, just pull down in the Home screen.Safari
Bookmarks can access shared links from your Twitter feed, the address and search boxes have been combined into a single box, and iCloud Keychain can generate and store passwords and securely store your credit card details too.
You'll have to wait for that last one, though: Apple pulled it from the Gold Master release at the very last minute, and we're expecting it to appear when OS X Mavericks ships.
FaceTime
Good news for fans of FaceTime who'd rather not have, or whose connections aren't good enough for, video: iOS 7 now offers audio-only FaceTime.Smart Mailboxes and easier mail management
Mail.app doesn't just get a cool new design. It gets some useful features too. Smart Mailboxes enable you to pin frequently-used mail folders for quick access, and swiping right to left on an email header gives you the choice of Trash or More. That latter option gives you Reply, Forward, Flag, Mark as Unread, Junk and Move options.Multitasking
As with iOS 6 you can force-quit apps by double-tapping the home button to invoke the multitasking view, but in iOS 7 you dismiss them by swiping them upwards. Multitasking has been changed under the hood, too: according to Apple, "iOS 7 learns when you like to use your apps and can update your content before you launch them. So if you tend to check your favorite social app at 9:00 every morning, your feed will be ready and waiting for you."iTunes Radio
The new iTunes Radio feature will supplement your music library with streaming songs, and if you're an iTunes Match subscriber it'll be ad-free. It'll feature personalised stations based on the music you already listen to, and more than 200 genre-specific stations. Apple promises exclusive previews of some new releases too.Automatic App Updating
Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah once more! Keeping our iOS apps up to date was beginning to feel rather like gardening: time-consuming, tedious and utterly pointless. Now iOS lets apps update themselves, although you can disable the feature if you prefer to keep things manual.Airdrop
Sharing files from iOS devices hasn't been as easy as it could be, which is why many of us use apps such as Dropbox or send photos over email to the person sitting six feet away from us.
Airdrop makes things simpler: if the person you want to share with is nearby and running iOS 7, you'll be able to share photos, videos, contacts or anything else app developers decide to support. You can share one file with lots of people or lots of files with one person, and you can restrict Airdrop to people in your address book or anyone in the vicinity.
Smarter Siri
More App Store options
The familiar App Store has been given a new look and two new discovery features: Apps Near Me, which shows you the most popular apps downloaded from your current location, and a new Kids category for - you've guessed it - kids' apps.Activation Lock
iOS 6's Find My Phone features have been enhanced to make criminals' lives more difficult: disabling Find My Phone or erasing the device requires your Apple ID and password, and those ID details are also required to re-activate it even once it has been wiped. Remotely erasing your iPhone doesn't prevent your phone from displaying a custom message of your choice either.iOS in the car
Apple, Blackberry, Gadget, Technology
BlackBerry has announced that its popular instant messaging service BBM will
be available on Android from 21 September and iOS from 22 September.
Research in Motion had dominated the
corporate smartphone market but regular consumers have been drawn to
phones with big touchscreens Photo: ALAMY
BBM runs in the background and is always on, meaning that messages on BBM are
typically delivered and read within seconds. It also keeps a record of
messages that have been delivered and read, and uses a PIN to keep contacts
and information secure.
“BBM is a very engaging messaging service that is simple to use, easy to
personalise and has an immediacy that is necessary for mobile
communications,” said Andrew Bocking, Executive Vice President for BBM at
BlackBerry.
“With more than a billion Android, iOS, and BlackBerry smartphones in the
market, and no dominant mobile messaging platform, this is absolutely the
right time to bring BBM to Android and iPhone customers.”
Android and iPhone users who download the BBM app will be able to carry out
both one-on-one and group text chats, and share files such as photos and
voice notes instantly. They will also be able to send a message to all of
their BBM contacts in one go using the 'Broadcast Message' function.
BBM will be available as a free download for Android smartphones running Ice
Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean (Android 4.x) beginning at 12.00 Midday BST on
September 21. BBM for iPhones running iOS 6 and iOS 7 will become available
for each market on the App Store schedule of 12.01 local time on September
22.
The news comes amid rumours that it is planning to cut up to 40 per cent of its workforce by the end of the year in a bid to save costs. The Wall Street Journal said people "familiar with the matter" had revealed the planned cuts which are expected to affect all departments and be implemented in waves.
BlackBerry is also reportedly considering spinning off its popular messaging service BBM to form a new company. This would allow the new business to operate with greater independence, but it would also pitch it against much larger services such as Skype, owned by Microsoft, standalone messaging apps such as WhatsApp and increasingly popular in-house options owned by other manufacturers, including Samsung’s ChatOn.
In the UK, BlackBerry's share of the smartphone market has shrunk from 11 per cent to 3.5 per cent in the last year, as consumers opt for rival devices running Andriod, iOS and Windows Phone OS. The company announced last month that it has put itself up for sale in the hope a new owner might help it turn around its struggling smartphone business.
