iOS 7 evolves, borrowing from WP, Android and MeeGo

iOS 7 has finally been unveiled at WWDC 2013. The OS overhaul was referred to by Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, as “the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone”. Considering that the new changes are the first time Apple has totally changed up the look and feel of iOS, we tend to agree. Under the leadership of Jony Ive, Apple’s design department has finally rid iOS of skeuomorphism – where virtual objects are designed to look like real-world objects. The new look is more simplistic and borrows from ideas we’ve seen in other OSes. In fact, there is a distinct whiff of Windows Phone about iOS 7, with a dash of newer Android design thrown in for flavor.

Something borrowed

On the whole the new iOS look is a definite improvement, though Apple has taken design tips from every other OS on the market in the process. The typography and basic layout of various apps and menus is distinctly Windows Phone, as is the focus on bright, monotone color themes. The edge-to-edge images resemble the new Google +, the multitasking screen almost a clone of some Android skins, the new Control Center offers what Android Quick Settings does but with more fanfare and the animated weather could be mistaken for HTC’s now years-old weather widget. Borrowing isn’t a bad thing. iOS’ skeuomorphic design was becoming dated and, if I may, boring. In the case of Game Center, and it’s ‘poker table’ theme, it was downright ugly. Out of the necessity to compete with the iPhone, both Windows Phone and Android have had to target Apple where it was weakest: aesthetics. Both OSes have made great strides in the past two years, and this put Apple in prime position to learn from its competitors’ mistakes and successes. The result is a simple and elegant new iOS UI.

The new look

The classic grid icon layout has been flattened and the old iconography itself changed out for new images. Familiar icons have been replaced with simpler, stylized images. The drop-down notifications tray is now semi-transparent. This transparency motif surfaces all over iOS7 such as behind the on-screen keypad and behind the new Control Center. Wallpapers now move in relation to the display’s angle. This is done in such a way that the wallpaper appears to be a few cm behind the icons, which remain appear to remain still. Apple call this the Parallax UI. An interesting touch is that the OS seems to auto-detect the main color of the background image and pick a color theme to match. It wasn’t too clear if this was automated or if the user needs to select their own color theme. Whichever it ends up being it looks just as great on iOS 7 as it does on Windows Phone 8.

Why everyone should just relax

Manufacturers copy off of each other all the time. This is a good thing. If they didn’t then the great parts of one OS would never make it to another which would lead to a pointless lack of quality across the entire market. iOS still offers all of the functionality that Apple fans have come to know and love over the years minus the hideous skeuomorphic design cues. A rose by any other name would still sync as well with you other Apple devices and take photos of the same, if not better quality. We’ll talk about the specific features in a different post but for now we’d ask that people not freak out just because Apple’s new UI shares design elements with Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry OS 10 and even MeeGo. We’d also remind Android fans of the early days of Android, specifically the original Samsung Galaxy S which was an aesthetic clone of the iPhone 3GS. Some of the more ‘vibrant’, cartoony elements of iOS 7 are sure to be ‘tweaked’ within the next few updates, pending user feedback of course, but on the whole this looks like a win for Apple. There’s no problem with learning from the competition and adjusting to fit your contemporary market, which is exactly what Apple has tried to do here. We’re very keen to try out iOS 7 when it finally hits our handsets. It’s probably the most excited we’ve been about an iPhone product in a long time.