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iOS 7 release date: On your iPhone next week!

10 September 2013 6:59 PM
iOS 7 - Design

iOS 7 – Design

Ready for iOS 7? The latest version of Apple’s smartphone software was first revealed back in June, but now at long last we have a release date for it. Read on to find out when you’ll be able to install it on your iPhone or iPad – really soon!

Apple software boss Craig Federighi has revealed live on stage that you’ll be able to download iOS 7 on 18 September for the existing iOS gizmos in your house. It’s the first version of the software to be overseen by legendary Apple hardware designer Sir Jonathan Ive, and the first major visual revamp for the hugely successful mobile operating system.

We already knew to expect a flatter design as well as a redesigned Notification Centre, and a new Command Centre that swipes up from the bottom to give you quick access to settings from anywhere, but Federighi also showed off several as yet unheard of features in iOS 7: you can now search from anywhere just by pulling down from any panel on the home screen, while Siri has also been improved and can also search through Twitter. Apple’s even added even more standard ringtones for you to choose from, while notifications and alerts have been given a complete facelift too. As we’ve seen before, the camera has also been updated with built-in filters like Instagram, while scrolling through photos has been made even easier, as they’re now sorted into “moments” and even years if you pull back far enough.

iTunes Radio, which made its debut at Apple’s last WWDC event, is also a huge part of the latest iOS update, and brings with it Pandora-like radio stations and free music streaming. It’s out 18 September, and it’s coming to iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini, and iPod touch 5th gen.

Will you be downloading it on the day? Tell us what you think in the comments below!

Here’s How To Demo iOS 7 Free Without Downloading It To Your iPhone

19 June 2013 10:33 PM
Apple iOS 7

Apple iOS 7

Want to try out Apple’s iOS 7, but don’t want to hassle with the incomplete beta version? Recombu has created an interactive mock up online that lets you try out some of the signature features we saw in last week’s WWDC.

You can see everything from how the new Music app looks to what’s new on the Camera app, as well as the new settings menu that you can swipe up from the bottom of the iPhone’s screen.

Recombu offers this disclaimer about their demo:

This demo is based on the iOS 7 Beta Apple has now released and there will potentially be a few more changes and tweaks before the final revision of iOS 7 hits consumer’s devices.

Naturally, this isn’t the whole experience that iOS 7 offers – there’s only so much you can do with HTML and Javascript alone. All the wonderful animations and transitions are missing from our experience, but the roots of the redesign are all there, showing off the new range of icons as well as the core apps that have been tweaked.

We’ve even included some of the new features of iOS 7 for you to play around with. You can pull up Control Center and fiddle with some toggles, try out the new keyboard in Messages, and even take a cheeky snap of yourself using your computer’s webcam in the Camera app.

Quick reminder, though: iOS 7 isn’t anywhere near finished yet. Certain elements are no doubt going to change before the final release, and as we mentioned above, this isn’t an entirely fair representation of the full operating system. Think of this more as a fun little demo rather than a serious showcase of the OS. With that in mind, click away and enjoy.

Click here to check it out yourself! If you’d rather download iOS 7 and get the whole experience we offer UUID Registration & iOS 7 Download

Apple iOS 7 coming this fall to iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later

10 June 2013 8:34 PM
Image courtesy of Apple, Inc

Image courtesy of Apple, Inc

So when can we get our hands on that new refreshed flavor of iOS? Well, it’ll depend on your device of choice. Naturally, it will arrive on the very latest iPhone 5 and retina iPad, but it also will be supported on the iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and 5th-generation iPods. Developers will get a version for iPhones today, with an iPad iteration coming in the next few weeks. Regular Joes, however, can expect to see an iOS 7 release date sometime this fall.

See All: iOS 7 Photos

Additional new iOS 7 features include:

  • A new Find My iPhone Activation Lock feature that requires your Apple ID and password before you can turn off Find My iPhone, erase data or re-activate a device after it’s been remotely erased;

    • Night Mode in Maps that responds to ambient light when you use it in the dark;

  • FaceTime audio for high quality calls over a data network;
  • Notification sync, so when you dismiss a notification on one device it is dismissed on all of your devices;
  • Phone, FaceTime and Messages blocking to prevent specific people from being able to contact you;
  • Tencent Weibo support for users in China, a Chinese-English bilingual dictionary, and improved Chinese input including handwriting recognition for multiple Chinese characters;
  • The ability for businesses to more efficiently deploy and manage iPhones and iPads; and
  • enhanced in-car integration, bringing an Apple designed experience into the car for the first time.

    The iOS 7 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation) this fall. Some features may not be available on all products.

    *US English, French and German will be available with the launch of iOS 7. Additional languages will be added over time.

    • MobileMe runs till June 2012 – no refunds?

    7 June 2011 1:35 AM

    If you went to MobileMe's page on Apple's website Monday 6th June 2011, this is the message you saw.

    It’s great news for many that Apple is offering free email, contacts and calendars, but it irks those people who have recently paid the $99 annual fee for the MobileMe service. Here’s what they need to know, and what Apple hasn’t yet explained.

    MobileMe isn’t shutting down. It may be “dead” but Apple is giving everyone who paid for the service another 12 (and a half) months. The company stated that the service will shut down on June 30, 2012.

    MobileMe may run for another year, but as of now, there are no new subscribers. Apple is refunding anyone who bought the subscription box with a code, provided they have not yet used the code. If you have the code, or recently paid up, you will simply have the MobileMe service until it shuts down. (If you have a family pack, you can still create family member accounts.)

    Hello, iCloud!

    The much-talked about iCloud service from Apple was officially detailed today by Steve Jobs himself at the Apple WWDC keynote in San Francisco. Apple will now let you store your files on their servers, but the real application for Apple fans here will be the syncing possibilities iCloud opens up, and that’s what Jobs focused on the most in his speech today.

    iCloud is free of charge for everyone – iOS device users, Mac users and PC users alike. All devices registered to you will be able to communicate with iCloud, and all applications on your devices will be fully integrated with it. The service will automatically push new data to all of your other devices. Buy an iBook, and it will be automatically downloaded to your other devices. Take a picture, same thing happens. Store a contact on your iPhone, the iCloud pushes it immediately to your iPad.

    Almost everything about the iCloud is automatic. Once a day, your data will be backed up to the cloud, wirelessly. This means all of your data – if you buy a new phone, you can enter your Apple ID, and everything saved to your old phone will be automatically downloaded to your new phone.

    iCloud has a few little advantages depending on which app you use it with. When reading an iBook, your progress will be automatically pushed to all of your devices, so you can pick up immediately where you left off on your book when you switch between your iPhone, Mac, and iPad. Photo stream will upload your camera roll to the cloud and push to all other devices. This works with PCs, too, using the pictures folder. iOS devices will then store the 1000 most recent photos, due to storage space considerations, while Macs and PCs will store all photos from all devices.

    This isn’t a permanent storage solution, though. Files are stored on iCloud for up to 30 days, meaning this is more of a wireless syncing platform with rolling cloud storage. It’s also not a streaming service – files and apps are downloaded to your devices, so no form of media can actually be streamed from the cloud. There will be 5 GB of free storage available to everyone in iCloud, but purchased items like books and music do not count toward that limit.

    iCloud seems to be more of a wireless syncing platform than a storage solution, and is certainly not the streaming media center many were hoping for. But, it is fully integrated with all apps, and to say it’s easy to use would be a little misleading. You don’t really use iCloud at all. You set it up on your devices, and it does the rest in the background, pushing new and updated files and apps to all of your devices in (literally) seconds. It is amazingly fast. iCloud will work over Wi-Fi connections, and will completely replace MobileMe, which will cease to exist after iCloud is fully implemented, which will be sometime this fall, alongside iOS 5.

    I’m not going to pretend I’m not looking forward to this, but I will miss the MobileMe gallery, if there’s no suitable replacement. And as for the people who paid $99 for a premium service that won’t be premium in three months, I guess Apple is happy to charge you the early adopter tax. Like you’re surprised!

    More on this at:
    Apple Announces iCloud at WWDC – Goodbye MobileMe – ChipChick
    MobileMe runs till June 2012 – GadgetBox