iOS 7 First Impressions

[TheStu]

Something to note about photostream that a lot of users don't know about.

You don't get the full res non compressed photo from an iDevice, you have to retrieve it from your computer's photostream.

This really irked me when I found out cause I loss some high quality photos.

You mean this sort of thing:
I take picture on iPhone
It shows up on iPad at less than full res
It shows up on Windows/OS X at full res
?

 

[Eug]

Very responsive on my iPad 2. I'm impressed. The colour scheme and flatness will take some getting used to though.

I'm now optimistic about the iPhone 4, for responsiveness.

 

[Printer Bandit]

 

[Eug]

Very responsive on my iPad 2. I'm impressed. The colour scheme and flatness will take some getting used to though.

I'm now optimistic about the iPhone 4, for responsiveness.

Installed the GM on the wife's iPhone 4. UI lags a bit sometimes particularly for launching actions like emailing a photo, but then again it lagged in iOS 6 too, although a bit less so. Clicking on certain settings to go to those settings submenus also lags a bit sometimes. By the way, I turned off background tasks for third party apps. However, actually running apps is fine, once the apps are launched. FWIW, Safari sees a small improvement in SunSpider scores, although overall it feels about the same. The photos app is actually very responsive. I assumed the "Collections" view would lag like crazy but it doesn't. It feels fast.

In summary, I'm overall pleased with iOS 7 on the iPhone 4. There are occasional UI lags, but it is nowhere near as bad as iOS 4 on a iPhone 3G, and it is nowhere near as bad as the descriptions of the early betas on this phone. Furthermore many report that it is significantly better than even iOS 7 beta 6.

BTW, that is the assessment of a picky geek. My wife actually thinks it is faster. She just doesn't like the white background of the Messages app threads. Furthermore, it actually lags a lot less than my dual-core 1.5 GHz 1 GB Motorola RAZR HD running 4.1 Jelly Bean.

 

[bearxor]

One feature from Windows Phone that I wish they would bring over to iOS.

When you use the Here Maps app to search for a business, and then you decide to call it, it stores the name of the business in your call history. This way, when you're browsing through your call history, instead of jus a list of numbers because there no associated contact, it will at least show the name of the place you called. I'd really like to see a little touch like that implemented in iOS.

 

[Rakehellion]

I found a bug:

1. Put 10 or more apps in a folder. Now there are two pages worth.
2. Sync your phone using iTunes.
3. Add/remove apps in iTunes.
4. Sync again.

Now your folder will have only 9 apps. Can someone confirm this?

 

[Eug]

This is probably of small significance overall, but FWIW:

SunSpider 1.0.1 iPhone 4 iOS 6.1.3
3235.2ms
3177.0ms
2973.9ms

Best 2973.9 ms. Average 3128.7.

SunSpider 1.0.1 iPhone 4 iOS 7.0
3881.1ms
2722.5ms
2736.5ms

Best 2722.5 ms. Average 3113.37, but with an outlier run that was 42% higher than the average of the other 2 runs. I wonder if photo indexing or something was still running at that point.

I think this means that JavaScript is probably around 10% faster on the iPhone 4 in iOS 7 than it is in iOS 6.1.3.

I found a bug:

1. Put 10 or more apps in a folder. Now there are two pages worth.
2. Sync your phone using iTunes.
3. Add/remove apps in iTunes.
4. Sync again.

Now your folder will have only 9 apps. Can someone confirm this?

What hardware, and what happens to the app?

 

[Rakehellion]

What hardware, and what happens to the app?

iPhone 5. Folders are supposed to be able to take several pages of apps, but if you use the add/remove apps feature in iTunes, all of your folders will be stripped down to just one page. Try it.

 

[Eug]

I just tried it. I think the problem is that iTunes 11.1 beta only sees the first page of 9 apps.

So in iTunes I added an app to a folder which already had 13 apps in it on the iPad 2. The apps were organized as 9 on page 1 and 4 on page 2.
Then I synced. iTunes does sync the app. However, what I now get is 3 pages for that folder on the iPad 2. I have the same original 9 on page 1 and the new single app on page 2. The other remaining 4 apps are now on page 3.

ie. 9 + 4 (two pages) plus add one app = 9 + 1 + 4 (three pages).

However, if you go back to iTunes, it still only sees the 9 apps on page 1.

Another bug:

On iTunes, I have main 4 pages of apps and folders. On my iPad 2, I only have 2. The extra 2 pages in iTunes are filled with apps that are in the extra pages of the folders on my iPad 2. WTF. So, I think this is directly related to your bug.

Look at the 4 pages on my iTunes screen.

However, there are only 2 pages on the iPad 2.

The apps on the extra pages of my iTunes screen seem to belong to the extra pages within the folders on my iPad 2.

 

[Rakehellion]

On iTunes, I have main 4 pages of apps and folders. On my iPad 2, I only have 2. The extra 2 pages in iTunes are filled with apps that are in the extra pages of the folders on my iPad 2. WTF. So, I think this is directly related to your bug.

Bingo. I've been reporting this since beta 3, but now it looks like it's going live.

Now I can have only 9 apps in a folder, which is less than in iOS 6.

 

[Eug]

Well one point I was making is that the apps are still in folders on my iPad 2. They just don't look that way on iTunes.

See here. The apps are on page 2 of my Games folder (iPad 2 screen shot). There are 16 apps in that Games folder on the iPad 2:

But yeah, on iTunes, I can only have 9 apps per folder.

 

[Rakehellion]

On my iPhone, I can only have 9 apps per folder.

Click one of the the install/remove buttons and then sync.

 

[Eug]

On my iPhone, I can only have 9 apps per folder.

Click one of the the install/remove buttons and then sync.

Oh, what I did is dropped the app into the folder.

It did sync to that folder, but on its own separate page.

So like I said before:

Folder with 13 apps with 2 pages
Page 1 - 9 apps
Page 2 - 4 apps

Add an app to the existing folder via iTunes using drag-n-drop, and I get:

Folder with 14 apps with 3 pages
Page 1 - 9 apps
Page 2 - 1 app (new one)
Page 3 - 4 apps

However, the view on iTunes is completely confused.

 

[bearxor]

With regards to folders

I didn't think Apple could do folders worse than they way they've been done in iOS so far. I was wrong. The iOS 7 method of folder hierarchy is just ridiculous. So much wasted screen real estate. So jarring to the UI.

 

[Eug]

With regards to folders

I didn't think Apple could do folders worse than they way they've been done in iOS so far. I was wrong. The iOS 7 method of folder hierarchy is just ridiculous. So much wasted screen real estate. So jarring to the UI.

Yeah, it really looks stupid on the iPad. In a folder, the iPad effectively becomes a 3.5" iPhone in terms of usable screen real estate.

 

[Eug]

I'm getting longer hangs on the iPhone 4 (single-core) from time to time. For example, it took about 3 seconds to load up the pop up dialogue box to sign out from the Apple Store. However, at other times it might be under 1 s.

I generally don't get these on the iPad (dual-core).

P.S. This behaviour is NOT unique to iOS 7. I've had the same thing happen in iOS 6, but I think it happens somewhat more often in iOS 7. OTOH, iOS 5 was more consistently lag-free, and iOS 4 was downright fast.

Note though I seem to remember iOS 6.1.3 being faster than iOS 6.0. No solid evidence, but just my general impression. Hopefully the same will be true for iOS 7 as it matures. These occasional 2-3 second lags aren't complete deal-killers, but they can be annoying nonetheless... which is one reason I dropped the iPhone 4 last year (with iOS 6) as my main phone.

 

[annomander]

I like you're back drop EUG, wheres that from?


The question is, is it worth upgrading right away, or is it worth waiting and keeping with 6 for a whie?

 

[Eug]

I like you're back drop EUG, wheres that from?

It comes with the OS, but it's not the default one.

The question is, is it worth upgrading right away, or is it worth waiting and keeping with 6 for a whie?

Well, I just went ahead and updated. For my iPad 2 I wasn't too worried because it's got the A5 CPU, and the iPad isn't a critical device in our house. However, I was so impressed with the performance of the iOS 7 GM on the iPad 2, I just went ahead and updated the iPhone 4 to GM as well.

Like I said, it's remarkably reasonable on the iPhone 4 in terms of UI speed. This is in stark contrast to reports for prior betas. It does hang for a couple secs more often than it does in iOS 6, but I got those hangs in iOS 6 before too.

Personally, I think if you have an A5 or better (iPad mini, iPad 2, or iPhone 4S), performance won't be a significant issue. The only one I would caution you about is the iPhone 4 for the reasons above.

The only caveat is I believe iOS 7-only applications are being held by Apple until Wednesday. So if you update today, you may not have a compatible app until later this week cuz the devs aren't allowed to release them if they aren't backwards compatible to iOS 6. However, all of my important iOS 6 apps work fine in iOS 7. YMMV.

 

[Printer Bandit]

anyone notice it sometimes takes a few presses of the sleep button for the screen to turn off?

 

[Eug]

iOS 7 has burst mode for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 (as well as iPad mini, and iPad 3 and up).

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2013/09/...iphone-4s-and-more-added-in-ios-7-gold-master

It's not listed as supported in those iDevices, just for the 5S, but nonetheless, those with the iOS 7 GM have burst mode with those older devices.

However, it's way, way faster burst mode on the iPhone 5S at 10 fps. Reports are around 3 fps or so for the iPhone 5.

Not supported on my iPhone 4 or iPad 2 though.

 

[Rakehellion]

App Store allows downloading older versions. Is this a result os iOS 7?

http://9to5mac.com/2013/09/17/ios-a...loads-to-support-older-hardware-and-software/

 

[Eug]

App Store allows downloading older versions. Is this a result os iOS 7?

http://9to5mac.com/2013/09/17/ios-a...loads-to-support-older-hardware-and-software/

I suspect it's because currently you can't make fat binaries to include combination iOS 6 32-bit / iOS 7 32-bit / iOS 7 64-bit support. This is supposed to change in a few weeks though, I suspect with the release of the next version of iOS 6.

There was a note on the developer page about this but for some reason they've taken it down.

You can create 32-bit / 64-bit fat binaries, but right now the support is only for iOS 7. If you are creating a binary that includes 64-bit support, you need to create a separate binary in 32-bit if you want to support iOS 6.

iOS 7 has burst mode for the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 (as well as iPad mini, and iPad 3 and up).

http://appadvice.com/appnn/2013/09/...iphone-4s-and-more-added-in-ios-7-gold-master

It's not listed as supported in those iDevices, just for the 5S, but nonetheless, those with the iOS 7 GM have burst mode with those older devices.

However, it's way, way faster burst mode on the iPhone 5S at 10 fps. Reports are around 3 fps or so for the iPhone 5.

Not supported on my iPhone 4 or iPad 2 though.

It turns out this is incorrect. Burst mode works on both the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 as well, just more slowly. I just tested it - a couple of fps. (Burst mode on the iPhone 5S is 10 fps.)

P.S. I'm pleased with the surfing experience on the iPad 2. It's definitely not slower on iOS 7, and may even be faster. Dunno about other browsing benchmarks but at least for JavaScript it's very decent. SunSpider 0.9.1 is 1313 and SunSpider 1.0.1 is 1304.

 

[smackababy]

Official release for this is tomorrow right?

 

[bearxor]

Yes.

 

[Megatomic]

An email went out from the director of IT (corp. VP level dude) telling us we are forbidden to update to iOS7 until his teams have ample opportunity to test it on our networks. This is gonna take weeks so y'all have fun and post lots of pics and anecdotes about how it goes for you (especially those of you still sporting 4Ss).