iOS 7
iOS 7 sports an entirely new look, with redesigned icons and an overall “flatter” feel that makes for the biggest visual overhaul of the OS since its release. Skeumorphic elements like green felt in the game center and leather stitching in the calendar have been removed, giving way to a much more grown-up and clean look. Apps look much more consistent, with white backgrounds and narrow Helvetica typography almost everywhere.
Multitasking has been vastly improved too, on the same level as Windows Phone, with nice big thumbnails. A new control panel is accessed by swiping up, giving you access to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles, music controls and oft-used app shortcuts. The Notification Center have also been tuned up, with a new Google-Now-style ‘Today’ tab and synchronised notifications across devices. Finally, iOS 7’s Music app includes a new Spotify-style music streaming service called iRadio.
iOS 7 is available in beta form for developers now, but will be released for the iPhone 4, iPad 2, iPad Mini and iPod Tough 5G or later in the autumn.
Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks
The new version of Mac OS X, 10.9, is called Mavericks. Apple have ditched the cat naming scheme in favour of Californian themed names; Mavericks is reportedly a surfing destination. The new OS is similarly flatter with less skeumorphic elements, and includes upgrades to a load of system apps including the Calendar, Maps, Safari and more. Performance has been improved in some rather clever ways and there are now iOS-style notifications.
MacBook Air & Mac Pro
There were a few new pieces of hardware too. While the keynote kicked off with some cool new intelligent driving cars – that serve as iPhone accessories that can be influenced remotely – we quickly got into the more exciting stuff.
The popular MacBook Air has been equipped with Intel’s new Haswell processors, keeping performance about the same but boosting battery life to 9 hours on the 11-inch Air and a whopping 12 hours on the 13-inch model. There’s no Retina display, sadly. The new Air models have already started shipping.
Mac Pro was also updated, with powerful new internals stuffed inside a case shaped like a drinks can and one-eighth the size of the previous Mac Pro. The Mac Pro was billed as just a preview, and won’t be released to the world until this Autumn.
Conclusion
All in all, it was a fairly riveting press conference and I’m thrilled to see a new modern look for iOS. What do you think of the changes? Let us know in the comments below!