iOS 7 Beta 4 Tidbits: Lockscreen Redesign, Notification Center Improvements and New Search Options

[JoshBoy]

Has anyone else noticed when you plug your phone to charge into another computer it now alerts you asking do you trust the computer?

 

[tazdotcom]

iOS 7 Beta 4 wallpaper bug

Not sure if everyone has experience this but the wallpaper looses its dimension.

Image one is the dynamic wallpaper looks and works fine.

Image two normal static wallpaper cannot be resized looks blurred.

 

[Rogifan]

What is the point of tweaking the gradient on the icons, when the issue is that they need replacing?

Seriously I am going to post Jony Ive a freakin colour wheel. (yes I know he didn't design them, but he ought to be fixing them)

There are too many other things to go into detail here, that are bad design. Back arrows bigger than accompanying text, bright yellow text on a white background, all of control centre, icons without textual clues, it goes on.

The features are great, but the look and feel? I am amazed that they are going to release this. They are not addressing the obvious errors, from what is clearly a rushed effort due to time constraints after Scott's departure.

Well people said it was polarising. It certainly is, but it needn't be.

Those icons though!!!??£@#!?!# Please, my eyes!

You don't need to go in to detail as nothing you've said hasn't already been said before.

 

[driceman]

Am I alone in thinking that Microsoft's UI prowess has improved immeasurably over the last 5-6 years? Looking at the UI for the XBox 360 and Windows 7/8, it's hard to deny that Microsoft finally has a decent grasp on UI design, at least visually. I won't go so far as to say they've caught up with Apple (in my experience the functionality and organization still gets muddled by MS) but visually, I have no complaints with them. Long gone are the days of UI abominations like Windows XP.

I think insulting a UI by calling it "Microsoft-like" has become an anachronism at this point.

Now if only Windows 8 didn't suck without a touchscreen, they'd be doing well.

Downloading Beta 4 right now. Anyone know if Siri's voice when giving directions is normal yet? In 3 she talked really fast and in 2 I think she talked really slow.

 

[Nem]

Map colours seem to have changed for the UK, now got blue motorways and green 'A' roads as they should be.

Also night mode using the ambient light sensor, unless I've just not seen this in action in previous betas?

 

[ryant601]

as others have mentioned, many of the headset control capabilities have disappeared.

 

[cstout]

Trim Videos?

Has anyone noticed that you can no longer trim videos in iOS 7? Was this feature moved or removed?

 

[QuarterSwede]

One thing I don't like is in Safari you now have to tap twice to go to the top of the page. Once at the top to get the URL bar and then again to get the page to move to the top. Some things haven't been thought out right.

Actually it's a very well thought out change. You can finally refresh a page where you're reading and have it reload at the same spot. 'Bout freaking time!

 

[cstout]

Not sure if everyone has experience this but the wallpaper looses its dimension.

Image one is the dynamic wallpaper looks and works fine.

Image two normal static wallpaper cannot be resized looks blurred.

That's due to the new movement tracking feature. It will oversize/stretch your background image to allow parts of it to be seen only when you move your phone from side to side.

 

[lostpee]

You're right, it's not BUT this is a nice possibility. Ex. I'd LOVE to add the Webster dictionary as a comparison to the Oxford.

It actually works for me after a clean install
and they let you choose from a selection of dictionaries.

 

[devilofspades]

Yes they can.
They just can't make the claim that they've been optimized for iOS7.
eBay and Shazam were both broken under iOS7 but updates got them both working again.

actually that is not true either. this is apples doing, by fixing beta software to better support backwards compatablity. i have not updated my ebay app in sometime since as you stated was broken in early editions of ios 7. the most current versions of 7 resolved issues without updating the app.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Not sure if everyone has experience this but the wallpaper looses its dimension.

Image one is the dynamic wallpaper looks and works fine.

Image two normal static wallpaper cannot be resized looks blurred.

You can turn off parallax in Settings > General > Accessibility > Reduce Motion > On

 

[CosmoPilot]

The update to the messages app show the first name and the first initial of the last name.

In my contacts, I have:
Eric Wood
Eric Williams

If the messages app reduces the name of both to "Eric W" how am I supposed to tell who I am talking to easily. I think this update needs to be reverted, like "NOW" because that is going to cause a lot of issues.

Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendar

Tap on Short Name and turn this feature off. That will solve your issues.

 

[Bako-MacAddict]

Animations are quicker for sure, less glitchy too.

Sometimes going back to the home screen from the app switcher - by tapping on it rather than pressing the home button - would cause a loss of wallpaper ... this is now fixed.

Exactly , Thats the first thing I checked after the update lol

 

[rdlink]

Yes they can.
They just can't make the claim that they've been optimized for iOS7.
eBay and Shazam were both broken under iOS7 but updates got them both working again.

This is true, but the one thing to keep in mind is that developers are going to be somewhat hesitant to push an update for iOS 7 and risk it breaking iOS 6 and below. Black eye for nothing.

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I don't know if it's really anything revolutionary because I have been able to swipe away notifications on my Android phone since the last update.

It is a nice feature though.

You've been able to do it on iOS for a long time, also (swipe to the side). But it wasn't working correctly in earlier versions of iOS 7 beta.

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Ok, I stand corrected. However, they cannot use any iOS7 API or the newer tools to build their apps, since that will not be allowed by Apple.

This, is true. No use of beta Xcode to upload apps.

----------

There are some very radical iOS changes. Some are nice but others are quite disturbing. Will the next iPhone bring the Apple flagship product back on par with Samsung G4?

Already surpassed it, because it's not Android.

 

[Xano]

Unfortunately, most of what I'm seeing is just that...eye candy.

How about getting with the times and doing what Blackberry and now Android have done with the swipe to the right to show open apps.

And how about some real multifunctioning.

Let's have more Blackberry functionality.

Keyboard, BlackBerry Z10 keyboard is killer ... so far the best keyboard I ever used on a touch phone.
So Apple let's work and polish the keyboard.

 

[timneilsen]

iTunes Match playlist "download all" now available

With the previous betas, there was no option for iTunes match users to "download all". songs in a playlist. "Download all" was available for artists and albums but not for a whole playlist. In beta 4, the option is now available for all songs in a playlist as well.

 

[j-hov]

In Beta 4 iPhone 4s now supported for Camera Filters

how is the performance (speed and battery life primarily) of iOS7 on the 4s? I've been contemplating updating my phone to iOS7 because iOS6 has virtually crippled my 4s. It constantly freezes and crashes on native apps like messages and photos. If even freezes and soft resets occasionally when i scroll through my apps.

My battery life is by far the worst out of any iPhone I've ever owned and this is the only iPhone I haven't jailbroken. Very, very disappointed!

 

[uncleungie]

Muddy translucent folders...

In betas 1 and 2, folders were barely translucent making them muddy and hazy looking. In beta 3, they changed folders to a lovely, pristine transparency. They've reverted back to the muddy look. Nasty.

 

[weing]

This just gets worse and worse. I wonder how many iOS7 users will be digging into the accessibility functions and features for the first time just to be able to use their iPhone.

 

[gspannu]

It actually works for me after a clean install
and they let you choose from a selection of dictionaries.

How do you enable Dictionaries ?

 

[Primejimbo]

The update to the messages app show the first name and the first initial of the last name.

In my contacts, I have:
Eric Wood
Eric Williams

If the messages app reduces the name of both to "Eric W" how am I supposed to tell who I am talking to easily. I think this update needs to be reverted, like "NOW" because that is going to cause a lot of issues.

Great point! I hope they at least give you option to change it to the fill name.

 

[smac.css]

Looks like the magnifying glass in the search bar in iTunes Store and App Store is gone. Also, tap to focus in Camera now shows a yellow square instead of a blue one.

 

[gspannu]

Great point! I hope they at least give you option to change it to the fill name.

Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Short Name > Disable Short Name.

All back to normal (pre iOS 7 style)

 

[jozeppy26]

Great point! I hope they at least give you option to change it to the fill name.

They do. Go to Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars and scroll to the very bottom. Change the "Short Name" option. It's been there since beta 3 i thought (that could be wrong, but it was definitely in beta 3). I actually use Nicknames. It's much better to have my Mom's text show up as "Mom" instead of "Desiree Ray"