Yes, they are. I also think that this is where the weakness of flat design really shows, it is confusing as hell. When you tap on the picture icon in messages to send a picture, the camera turns on automatically and shows you what it's filming. Then they hide more icons on the left side and your pictures are crammed into two rows on the right side. It looks absolutely horrible.
Just for laughs I also tried out the other features, such as the Apple-Watch-like gestures/taps and the extensions. I found it very difficult to figure out how the former worked, because it isn't obvious at all. It uses a combination of interactions (touches, gestures, taps, long-presses for the heart beat and such) and 'explains' them only with some obscure icons on the right side (you can tap on that area too, to reveal even more icons). It is a mine field and once you do tap on that area, this gesture will be sent immediately to the recipient. It is one of the messiest interfaces I have seen in a long time and it is absolutely unparalleled to what Apple has done before. All the other visual effects are very over the top, I think it would really freak people out when they receive one.
I think Apple is also using the frosted-glass effect way too much. To me it is worse than the linen backgrounds we had before. I am very much inclined to skip iOS 10. The feature improvements are just so not worth these UI changes, at all.
