What Do People Really Think About iOS 7?
By Jasmine Henry on October 16, 2013 / 1 Comment
When Apple released itâs new operating system, iOS7, back in September, consumers and critics were divided in opinion. But now, weâve spoken to real users of the software to tell us what they really make of it.
The life of a critic, particularly a technology writer, is an interesting one. The very fabric of technologies around us are ripped apart, critiqued and scrutinised on a level of which the average consumer hadnât considered. Because of the way that some critique (methods of reviewing software can differ between journalists), real uses can get lost in the cracks. Reviewers can often forget that consumers and users of a product might be using an iPhone with iOS7 installed to play games on the bus to school or on the commute to work and are not necessarily looking for dedicated handheld gaming consoles and thus fail to review it as such. Thatâs why weâve taken to the world of the Internet to ask real life users of iOS7 for their opinions, which you can find, along with commentary below. (All names have been reduced to initials for anonymity.)
Of the people we spoke to, the first, named âNâ, had plenty of praise for Appleâs iOS, saying that he âloved iOS7 as a wholeâ. Going into detail, N cited issues as the fact that â[his] dynamic background messes up sometimesâ, that there are âapp failuresâ but mostly âthe battery drains excessivelyâ. He also stated that they âneed to fix the minor issuesâ but âlike most first iOS releases it’s expected that they will come with some problems.â So clearly iOS7 is ambitious, if not without some teething problems.
Another person we spoke to, named âJâ, had plenty to say in terms of iOS7âs issues. Also pointing to iOS7 backgrounds, she mentioned that âyou used to be able to scale it and now you canâtâ signalling Appleâs unusual decision to remove a feature that was liked, rather than keeping it. In turn, J âdidnât like the formatâ of iTunes Radio and that when she used it, it âcrashedâ, so perhaps Apple are going to have to do more than include an app and are going to have to substantially improve it.
We also spoke to âLâ, who was brief, but rated iOS7 an 8 out of 10 and said that it was âgoodâ, when given several adjectives to choose from that included âexcellentâ. On the other hand, we spoke to âRâ, who picked out what worked and what didnât. R, like N, pointed to iOS7âs battery life issues, candidly saying that âthe battery life sucks” due to some of the new features like the âgyroscopic backgroundâ and âthe delete button when youâre in the phone appâ. Another issue that R was unhappy with was that â[Apple] still havenât fixed the iMessage bug where if you send a message and it doesnât work itâll say sending but the bar remains stuck near the end and you have to manually switch to SMS sometimesâ. There were, however, some good points in what R had to say, with one incredibly handy use being the flashlight, which âstays on when your phone is lockedâ and that she hasnât âseen any flashlight app doâ.
In all, mixed opinions were given, but as a whole, most issues with iOS7 seem minor, and fixable, should Apple decide to address them.