Used iOS 6 yesterday

[petvas]

Can you use OS X Mavericks which still has a iOS 6-like UI theme?

iOS' design was certainly inspired by OS X, especially the icon style. Having said that, OS X is different than iOS, so any comparison is just not relevant.

 

[C DM]

Mavericks isn't very iOS 6 like. There's no fake felt/fake leather/fake wood/fake linen etc. (except in Game Center, which I *never* use, and messages which is an eyesore but I power through it or i just go back to messages on my iPhone)

Mac OS has never felt really like iOS to me, at least not since Lion. It seems to be more unique. I mean they took out most of the obnoxious aqua elements and slimmed then down, and by the time we've gotten to Mavericks it more embraces iOS 7 similarity while still keeping the mac familiar face

For example, the "grey suble brushed metal look" that they've had since like 10.7 doesn't remind me of iOS 6. The only thing that does is the icons for stock apps actually.

The whole leather calendar or felt in Game Center thing really didn't define iOS prior to 7. Sure they were two examples of things going way too far, but those were rather isolated. People use them as some way to describe the whole design if iOS 6 and before, when they really were but a small piece of that.

 

[0000757]

The whole leather calendar or felt in Game Center thing really didn't define iOS prior to 7. Sure they were two examples of things going way too far, but those were rather isolated. People use them as some way to describe the whole design if iOS 6 and before, when they really were but a small piece of that.

It wasn't the leather and felt specifically, it was the whole faux-fabric overall

For example, the UI had heavy faux-linen throughout the entire system.

Combined with the heavy gloss/aqua it really did feel like early 2000s to me

 

[C DM]

It wasn't the leather and felt specifically, it was the whole faux-fabric overall

For example, the UI had heavy faux-linen throughout the entire system.

Combined with the heavy gloss/aqua it really did feel like early 2000s to me

But that's the thing, a fair amount of those things still exist in Mavericks in similar proportions.

 

[0000757]

But that's the thing, a fair amount of those things still exist in Mavericks in similar proportions.

Very very very very little. In fact, it only exists in Game Center and Messages.

 

[bkends35]

I really don't think iOS 7 is slow. Animations are just slower. 7.1 animations are what iOS 7 should've been from the start.

 

[MacDevil7334]

iOS' design was certainly inspired by OS X, especially the icon style. Having said that, OS X is different than iOS, so any comparison is just not relevant.

I'm sorry but that's just plain nonsense. OSX relies heavily on glossy, 3D icons and UI elements. Menu bars have a definite 3D curve to them. Windows cast substantial drop shadows on anything behind them (WAY more effective in creating a "sense of depth" than the transparency nonsense found in iOS 7). While it's true 10.9 did strip out some of the over the top textures from 10.7 and 10.8, it retains all the design principles that have made OS X and iOS 1-6 work so well. To say any discussion of OSX is not relevant is simply not true.

I dread the day Apple brings the flat crap from iOS 7 to OSX. But I know it's probably coming in just a few short months at WWDC. Good thing it's not too hard to theme OSX. Only wish that we're true of iOS as well.

 

[petvas]

I'm sorry but that's just plain nonsense. OSX relies heavily on glossy, 3D icons and UI elements. Menu bars have a definite 3D curve to them. Windows cast substantial drop shadows on anything behind them (WAY more effective in creating a "sense of depth" than the transparency nonsense found in iOS 7). While it's true 10.9 did strip out some of the over the top textures from 10.7 and 10.8, it retains all the design principles that have made OS X and iOS 1-6 work so well. To say any discussion of OSX is not relevant is simply not true.



I dread the day Apple brings the flat crap from iOS 7 to OSX. But I know it's probably coming in just a few short months at WWDC. Good thing it's not too hard to theme OSX. Only wish that we're true of iOS as well.

I was referring to iOS versions 1-6. Maybe it wasn't clear before.

 

[gaanee]

They've been improving ios 7 ever since it's release, but once you get past the animations (which are getting fixed), just look at how much more modern and clean iOS 7 is.

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And there's room for improvement, but I'm sure many more visual changes will come with iOS 8, so it's not the end of the world.

They went too much overboard while removing skeuomorphism.
In the weather app, just having a picture of sun/cloud conveys the information more quickly than reading the text. Also in the Music app, they replaced all the common symbols (repeat track, shuffle) with text. Last thing you want to do while listening to music is having to read the text to figure out what action to take.

 

[C DM]

Very very very very little. In fact, it only exists in Game Center and Messages.

Theres still notification center as well. Buttons and windows and other elements still have definition borders and some gloss and shadows. There's a dock. Etc. Its toned down somewhat but certainly closer to esrlier versions of iOS and OS X than to iOS 7.

 

[0000757]

Theres still notification center as well. Buttons and windows and other elements still have definition borders and some gloss and shadows. There's a dock. Etc. Its toned down somewhat but certainly closer to esrlier versions of iOS and OS X than to iOS 7.

Maverick's notification center is completely stripped of the "linen" appearance

Compared to Mountain Lion's

Sure, it's a small change in difference, but that change drastically affects it's appearance. The Notification Center is more friendly to iOS 7 users than it is iOS 6 users. Even when I go back to my school computer, which is on ML, whenever I open the NC on there I feel like I'm getting a blast to the past, it feels drastically different.

This idea is even better highlighted with folders on Mavericks compared to iOS 7 vs. compared to Mountain Lion/iOS 6

While it still retains the form factor of iOS6/(M)L folders, it strongly reflects the idea and design of iOS 7 than it does iOS 6.

Of course not EVERY UI element is more similar to iOS 7 than it is iOS 6 (for example,

definitely looks and feels like pre-iOS 7/pre 10.9 design philosophy), but thing is the Mac has several UI elements that don't have any equivalent in iOS, and personally I feel that many of the components feel more comfortable in iOS 7 than they did in iOS 6 (for example, the design of Safari 7 fits in with iOS 7, whereas an older version of Safari, say Safari 1 introduced with Panther fits in better with pre-iOS 7 versions).

Overall the elements in Mac OS Mavericks fits in a lot more comfortably with the iOS 7 experience than any previous version does.

 

[jamesnajera]

Ok, I agree that iOS 7 is "modern" in that flat design is really trendy right now. And I agree that it is "clean" in that it has tons of empty, wasted space. But, these things do not make iOS 7 inherently "better" than what came before. And I have yet to see a single convincing argument to the contrary.

But, since you posted the pictures, let me point out a few ways iOS 7's "awesome" design is a real step backward.



Ok, so in iOS 6 we had a weather widget that showed the current temperature in large, easy to read font and the current conditions were shown with a large icon that allowed you tell the weather at a glance. A single swipe then got you a 6 day forecast. In iOS 7, everything is presented as a paragraph of text in small font that you have to read. Nothing is easy to glean at a glance and there is no long term forecast. My favorite part though is that is DOESN'T EVEN ALWAYS TELL YOU THE CURRENT CONDITIONS. Sometimes it will tell you what the high WAS. Why would I want to know that three hours later? Inconsistent information that is not easily read at a glance seems like a step backward to me.

Also, the calendar has regressed. In iOS 6, your upcoming events were presented in a succinct list. Now? It's shown as a calendar that takes up a TON of space to provide you with not that much information. The worst part is that the space is still taken up even if you have nothing on your calendar. Good call Apple.



Ok, let's start at the top. In iOS 6, the navigation was easily recognizable as, well, a navigation bar. It was a different color than your content. It was a different shape, and buttons looked like freakin' buttons. In iOS 7, the navigation bar is a flat, translucent area that is almost always white (because the background of most content is white). It is separated from the content area by the thinnest of grey lines. The title of the page is now plain black text that is only slightly bolder than the text found in the body of an email. And then there are the new "buttons" in iOS 7. The borders are gone because clearly borders are for sissies who hate change and are stuck in the past. Why on earth would you want to be able to identify tappable elements in the UI at a glance? The best part is that Apple also reduced the size of the tappable areas around buttons, which are now just the size of the text. Anyone remember Steve Jobs's joke about having to whittle down your finger tips to a point? Doesn't seem so funny now.

Next, we have the text bubbles. I'll grant you that removing the gloss was probably a good move. I always thought the effect looked nice, but that's just my opinion and it probably wasn't necessary. But I don't find the thin fonts easier to read. This I think is a personal preference kind of thing though.

Finally, the keyboard. In iOS 6, you had keys that clearly stood out because they were presented on a dark background. The letters on the keys were bolder and easier to read. In iOS 7, you have white keys on an ever-so-slightly darker grey background. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since low contrast seems to be the "in" thing in design these days and is absolutely rampant in iOS 7. But I don't get how a flat, low contrast keyboard is inherently better than a high contrast keyboard with some depth to the keys.



Well we did get rid of the unnecessary black space from iOS 6. But the dynamic backgrounds in iOS 7 lead to another low contrast situation. This is especially problematic when you have a cloudy day, where you get white text on a light grey background. Are you seriously telling me that is an improvement over the static background in iOS 6 that always made the text easy to read? Also, all the apostles of iOS 7 love to rail against how terrible skeuomorphism is. But, I'd just like to point out that the iOS 7 weather app is actually MORE skeuomorphic since the backgrounds are now made to look like real-world weather effects. I thought the whole argument behind iOS 7 is that we didn't need the app to actually look like rain to know it's raining outside. Did I miss something?



Ok well we get a preview of the open app. That's definitely an improvement. But, it comes at the cost of fewer open apps on the screen at a time. Way more scrolling now. It would have been nice if Apple had done something closer to Expose on OS X.



I agree Siri's new look is an improvement. iOS 7 isn't a total step backward!

Another thing that bothers me in ios7 are the changes like in the Messages app. What happened to the clear "Edit" button? Now it has the "Contact" button, and a user needs to be taught to hold there finger down on a part of the conversation to select the "more" option. In iOS6 you could just scroll to the top of the conversation by tapping the time and make a call, FaceTime, or select Contact to see all the persons info you have. Sometimes I wish Apple would just have "flattened" ios6 and left the UI/UX interaction alone. If there are any talented graphic artist, please start another thread and show us shots of an interpretation of ios6 flattened. Also if mavericks kept the ios6 style folder, then ios7 should have to, just add page swipe panels to folders like in iOS7 and remove the linen.

 

[Max(IT)]

And was amazed at how fast and clean the experience was.

Look, I love iOS 7 and it's philosophy, and I'm not a hater, but it does irk me that an older OS opened and closed apps more quickly, went into multitasking more quickly and efficiently, and all around felt less cumbersome.

Have you ever tried pulling up control center while reading to change brightness? I end up always initiating a page turn when I never meant to.

Opening any app will show me an old screen shot of the app while it takes a minute to refresh, causing confusion and compounding the feeling that this is a slow OS.

And I know there are many others on these threads that have complained about the screen's unresponsiveness while we way for animations to settle after unlocking/opening an app.

I know the major argument is that half a second here and there doesn't make a difference, but going from using a device that seems lethargic to using one that feels instant makes a world of difference in daily use IMO.

Design changes aside (I love the look of iOS 7, more or less)... how did they let the slowing of the OS occur after giving us one that was so instant and solid?

There were people complaining almost every day about how old and stale iOS 6 was.
And when Apple will release iOS 8 there will be a lot of whining about how good iOS 7.1 was ...
It's always the same on this forum.

I have to use an iPad mini with iOS 6 almost every day, since it's my company iPad and I can't update software without their permission. Well it's awful to use it compared to my iPad air experience.

 

[tomtattoo]

In my kitchen there is my ipad4 with ios6 and every morning the same effect: Aahhhh....my eyes relax, I see real folders and not this grey crap background, wonderful 3D icons, it looks mature, it feels mature, this is good for me. I wouldn´t update it for 100€...never.

I only can bear my i5 on ios7 due to JB and themes...and ofc I like the new functions. But the rest: Crap colors. Crap buttons. Crap icons. Just crap.

 

[sracer]

There were people complaining almost every day about how old and stale iOS 6 was.
And when Apple will release iOS 8 there will be a lot of whining about how good iOS 7.1 was ...
It's always the same on this forum.

Do you believe that there was a middle-ground that would've been preferable between doing nothing to improve the look-n-feel of iOS6 and the dramatic changes in iOS7?

Were people complaining about the staleness of iOS6 specifically or were they complaining about the cumulative staleness of iOS in general?

 

[Max(IT)]

Do you believe that there was a middle-ground that would've been preferable between doing nothing to improve the look-n-feel of iOS6 and the dramatic changes in iOS7?

Were people complaining about the staleness of iOS6 specifically or were they complaining about the cumulative staleness of iOS in general?

I don't really know their reasons , but what I know is people are always complaining on forum like this.
If apple release a white iPhone there will be people saying "oh what a crap iPhone, I want a black model !"
If apple release a black iPhone there will be people saying "oh what the f .... do you remember the good old times of the withe iPhone ?".
People about Apple complains for the sake of complaining .... It's always the same ....

 

[SakuraSuki]

I don't really know their reasons , but what I know is people are always complaining on forum like this.
If apple release a white iPhone there will be people saying "oh what a crap iPhone, I want a black model !"
If apple release a black iPhone there will be people saying "oh what the f .... do you remember the good old times of the withe iPhone ?".
People about Apple complains for the sake of complaining .... It's always the same ....

People complaining about iOS 6 were complaining staleness of iOS. I mean before iOS 7, simple task like swtich WiFi on and off take several steps to complete. iOS 7 in my opinion did not really bring much to the table, but it runs not as good as iOS 6 on older devices, like iPod Touch and iPad mini.

I am much perfer the speed and fluidity of iOS 6. Improvements persented on iOS 7 could easily done by jailbreaking.

 

[jr866gooner]

People fail to mention iOS 6 was perfected over the course of a year and 2 devices... We've had a few minor updates since release and due our first major update. It may not be ideal but hopefully a apple will have learnt.

 

[bkends35]

People fail to mention iOS 6 was perfected over the course of a year and 2 devices... We've had a few minor updates since release and due our first major update. It may not be ideal but hopefully a apple will have learnt.

iOS 6 was perfected over 6 years! Yes, it was only released a year and a half ago but it's so similar to iPhone OS 1 that they've just been perfecting it ever since.

 

[petvas]

What many people don't understand is that iOS 6 had nowhere to go anymore. Its design had reached a level where a big change was needed. iOS is that big change, but of course, it has to mature and get optimized. This doesn't happen over night.
Things have to be tested, ideas tried, and developed. Apple has done the right thing with iOS 7. The rough edges will be gone eventually.
The only thing that bothered me was the many crashes, but with 7.1 this is also history.

 

[mKTank]

iOS 7 was a step in the right direction from a technical point of view. From a design point of view it's very incoherent and, since it lost skeuomorphism, it tossed out all feeling of familiarity with the OS. White background and thin blue text is a terrible replacement for what we had before. Ive's good at hardware but he's frankly ruined 6 years of engineering by stapling on a sad excuse for concept design. I'd do anything to have iOS 6 on my iPhone 5S with the features of iOS 7. Anything.

 

[Infinus.gold]

I have used both iOS6 and iOS7

I will always prefer iOS7..
as far as defects and bit crash prone...
updates will fix them..
Apple has always done this....

 

[abshole765]

If I was able to get constant Wi-Fi, I'd carry my iPod with 6 on it JUST to be able to use a working keyboard.

 

[Alphabetize]

I haven't used iOS 6 in a while, so I've forgotten how quickly it opens apps in comparison to iOS 7. The only noticeable slow animation for me is that when getting to the app switcher, there is quite a bit of delay, like I could double tap the home button and use a stopwatch to record how long it takes. It's not horrible, but only if I actually pay attention to it. It's something that could probably be fixed easily.

Anyway, I will certainly take the UI of iOS 7 over iOS 6.

 

[attila]

They've been improving ios 7 ever since it's release, but once you get past the animations (which are getting fixed), just look at how much more modern and clean iOS 7 is.

I miss the old keyboard...