Apple drinks the Microsoft Kool Aid, bases iOS 7 on Window

Apple, the aficiando of all things cool, is throwing away its old-style iOS interface in favor of the flat design pioneered by Microsoft in Windows 8 and Windows Phone. So say several reports. Could the move backfire and help Microsoft gain on Apple?

Apple drinks the Microsoft Kool Aid, bases iOS 7 on Windows 8 "Metro" | Computerworld Blogs

 

[GhostDog]

Personally I think this a big mistake on Apple's mistake. There is nothing wrong with the current graphical environment in the i0S. It works and it's familiar why do they want to go down a flat button/Microsoft route for? I would think for Io7 they could open it up so that themes can be applied and reset the screen so that widgets can be added.

 

[phillipduran]

I know all the iPhone users in my household are jealous of my Nokia 920.
Now they make ME take all the pictures. ha! And you should see the envy when I just lay it on the charger to recharge....

Envy? You might as well lug around a spare phone given the size of the charger. Wireless charging has been around for a while, it's not really picking up steam. You still have the cord, the wall charger and then you add the additional hardware of the charging platform. This doesn't trump the charger to USB cable that is the current standard.

It's a cute little gimmick but plugging in a cable really isn't a problem that needed a solution. Are your iPhone friends really envious of a wireless charger?

So you have never actually used it, have you?
The Nokia phone has the micro-usb connector to plug into. And with an Otter Case on it, now you have to move the little protective flap out of the way. Plugging in that fat iPhone connector is much easier than a tiny usb. But why do that, when I can just LAY it on the charging plate on the way by the desk? Oh, and when I want to get the phone, I just GRAB it and go.
Gimmicky? I can't understand your logic.

Gimmicky because it is a piece of hardware that removes the mind numbingly difficult task of . . .unplugging and plugging in. Glad we found a solution to that.

Fat iPhone connector? Maybe if you're still in 2010.
Today's iPhone connector:

 

[phillipduran]

Personally I think this a big mistake on Apple's mistake. There is nothing wrong with the current graphical environment in the i0S. It works and it's familiar why do they want to go down a flat button/Microsoft route for? I would think for Io7 they could open it up so that themes can be applied and reset the screen so that widgets can be added.

I think it is for the themes as you suggest. One of the biggest iOS QQ's that I hear about is the lack of customization you can do on the phone. There is also an all out jihad against skeuomorphism going on at Apple at the moment. I like all the skeumorphic design, it gives the phone some character, but I can see how it could get in the way of customizing the look of the OS.

 

[SIW2]

copying 8 is a catchy headline .

It is rubbish.


There are good reasons for any changes apple may make to the appearance of their os.

One of them is that is is becoming harder to get people to buy essentially the same product year after year. Make it look different and they think it is a different product.

 

[XweAponX]

Personally I think this a big mistake on Apple's mistake. There is nothing wrong with the current graphical environment in the i0S. It works and it's familiar why do they want to go down a flat button/Microsoft route for? I would think for Io7 they could open it up so that themes can be applied and reset the screen so that widgets can be added.

All of those things require filesystem access, they will never agree to it unless they put the themes in themselves and put in a control that allows you to select from a pre installed theme.

Apples motivation for releasing new IOS's is not what it looks like, but does it BLOCK Jailbreaking. The mistake Apple made was removing Personal Choice from the decision of which iOS you can use, our only choice is to NOT update to their latest iOS.

You'll notice there were 6 rapid iOS updates in a row when iOS 6.0 to 6.1.2 were jailbroken - the they gave bogus reasons for these hurried updates. The reason why they released 6.1.3 was BOGUS, it was released to break eVasi0n, not to fix the lock screen bug, because that bug was proved to not be fixed at all in 6.1.3.

So, if they do decide to make iOS look as flat and lame as Windows 8 tiles, I'll stick with iOS 6.1.2 and lock it down so it cannot be updated.

It's my personal choice to run Windows XP, Vista, 7 or 8, and I'm glad Microsoft does not force ut to use Windows 8.

 

[XweAponX]

copying 8 is a catchy headline .

It is rubbish.


There are good reasons for any changes apple may make to the appearance of their os.

One of them is that is is becoming harder to get people to buy essentially the same product year after year. Make it look different and they think it is a different product.

Well, they want iPhone users to buy brand new iPhones each time they make a new one. If they wanted this to be successful, they'd release the phones every 2 years to coincide with our Plan Renewals, which they do in a small part, when new iPhones come out, a person eligible for upgrade is offered one for sometimes a ridiculously low amount - Or you can get the previous iPhone for free practically. Not so in my case, I was eligible for upgrade last December but I was on my brothers plan and he cancelled me without warning, it was hard enough to get my number ported much less get a new iPhone on a carrier I could afford, I had to go for Sprint. I was paying my part of a Family Plan before, and it was about 60 bucks, the lowest price for single user for ATT is 150!

When I was on ATT I was eligible to buy an iPhone 4S for about 40 bucks. But not having that, I had to pay about 450 bucks for it including the deposit to Sprint and and other activation fees, it killed me the first month. End of Non Sequitur Rant.

Apple and the carriers have nice ways they can sucker you into extending your service, by offering you great deals for new phones, but the iOS, you do not buy the iOS, it is part of the product, and as such Apple wants total control over it, they do not want you to have one inch of control over your phone, how it looks, how it operates.

This is why Jailbreaking is so popular, you will not see people developing Jailbreaks for Windows 8 phones, if you can customise it as you see fit. You don't really see Droids being whatever-they-call-jailbreaking for those that often. But in the first week of eVasi0n, it was documents, over 40 million uses of it on a lesser amount of Unique IDs - But that number, was maybe 14 to 20 million. But I don't think those numbers are right, because about 1 in 4 of every iPhone is Jailbroken- There are a lot of devices still being used which have earlier iOS's and jailbreaks.

 

[XweAponX]

Personally I think this a big mistake on Apple's mistake. There is nothing wrong with the current graphical environment in the i0S. It works and it's familiar why do they want to go down a flat button/Microsoft route for? I would think for Io7 they could open it up so that themes can be applied and reset the screen so that widgets can be added.

I think it is for the themes as you suggest. One of the biggest iOS QQ's that I hear about is the lack of customization you can do on the phone. There is also an all out jihad against skeuomorphism going on at Apple at the moment. I like all the skeumorphic design, it gives the phone some character, but I can see how it could get in the way of customizing the look of the OS.

Hey PhillipDuran:



That's my default Theme, I have downloaded a Windows 8 Theme that is pretty convincing, but I havent tested it yet.

 

[Mickeylittle]

In my opinion Apple can keep control of their Walled Garden for all I care and yes I currently own an iPad 4 and have owned every model they have sold. I have also had 3 different Android tablets and now currently have and love the Ativ 500.

The advantage of the iPad over any tablet on the market in my opinion is the App Store. Not because there are 30,000 fart apps, but because if you look around you will find some of the most polished and professional tablet apps in the world in that walled garden.

Android has tried in my opinion but it really seems that they are more concerned with the OS, Jelly Bean, Key Lime Pie, Lemon Drops or whatever "L" will be called. It seems that the Android developers just never really got serious about catching Apple with the quality of apps for tablets!

And now there is Windows 8 and I'm giving it a whirl. For any Apple owners out here who have ever used iAnnotate, Omnifocus, or Notebooks, just to name a few you will understand my quest in trying to find replacements for those in the Windows environment and so far I'm drawing blanks.

So in my opinion Apple can open the door to themeing and widgets and allow developers to sell themes and widgets in the app store. Sounds like a great plan to me. Let's step up the competition and see the quality of our tablet experience rise.

 

[XweAponX]

The advantage of the iPad over any tablet on the market in my opinion is the App Store. Not because there are 30,000 fart apps, but because if you look around you will find some of the most polished and professional tablet apps in the world in that walled garden.

Android has tried in my opinion but it really seems that they are more concerned with the OS, Jelly Bean, Key Lime Pie, Lemon Drops or whatever "L" will be called. It seems that the Android developers just never really got serious about catching Apple with the quality of apps for tablets!

And now there is Windows 8 and I'm giving it a whirl. For any Apple owners out here who have ever used iAnnotate, Omnifocus, or Notebooks, just to name a few you will understand my quest in trying to find replacements for those in the Windows environment and so far I'm drawing blanks.

So in my opinion Apple can open the door to themeing and widgets and allow developers to sell themes and widgets in the app store. Sounds like a great plan to me. Let's step up the competition and see the quality of our tablet experience rise.

There is an LCARS theme for iPad in the app store, or there was, my brother has it in his iPad, it is great, it is the only app I have ever seen that applies a theme. I don't know if they still sell it, but it was beautiful, had the support of CBS and Apple, and it worked great.

For iPhone, the only thing a user can do is use their own images for lockscreen and wallpaper - I do have the images for this theme saved so I can use it, but there are other things in it, when you open a folder it has those orange and purple rounded borders like the Workstations on the Bridge.

"Walled Garden" is a good way to express Apple's Store. Is there a NAVIGIN in the Windows 8 store? Nope. No Navigon, no Tom Tom, but there is an Inrix at least. How about Evernote, Onenote, yes I have a Onenote tile... Blogger, Wikipedia, how about my Union Bank app? Nope!

This is why Microsoft really needs to nail down every application for the store with the question "What PRACTICAL use can the user get out of this?" and there should be a concrete answer to this, and if it is not fulfilled, it should be pulled. Because right now, the fake app makers put a WORD you are looking for in the apps name and tags, so you buy their crappy app, and it has nothing to do with the word you typed in.

[edit] Nope they had Evernote! You know what I do like, is in the store, there was a link to the Desktop app, I clicked on it and it brought up the IE Tile, and it seamlessly downloaded the Desktop app and started the install. They did at least get IE for Metro correct.

 

[XweAponX]

I just spent a few minutes rearranging my tiles, and wow, woops, my WD tile is finally reading my My Book contents and showing it to me. Meanwhile, I installed the Windows 8 forums app into my iPhone, And now I can speak my lame thoughts into this thing instead of typing it haha!

 

[HippsieGypsie]

This works great on my Android as well. Sure the hell beats typing on the small on-screen keyboard. Our modern technology is something to behold.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the summer of 69......"Sorry, Dave, I can't do that". I was 18. I thought I'd never see the day to speak to a computer let alone a cell phone! There were no desktop PCs nor cell phones.

 

[goodintentions]

This works great on my Android as well. Sure the hell beats typing on the small on-screen keyboard. Our modern technology is something to behold.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the summer of 69......"Sorry, Dave, I can't do that". I was 18. I thought I'd never see the day to speak to a computer let alone a cell phone! There were no desktop PCs nor cell phones.

Man you're old

I'm just old enough to remember when gas was below a buck. By the time I got my license when I was 16, gas prices had already gone up above 2 bucks. Nowadays, it's doubled that.

Anyway, that makes me just old enough to remember when you still had to launch windows from dos.

 

[goodintentions]

In my opinion Apple can keep control of their Walled Garden for all I care and yes I currently own an iPad 4 and have owned every model they have sold. I have also had 3 different Android tablets and now currently have and love the Ativ 500.

The advantage of the iPad over any tablet on the market in my opinion is the App Store. Not because there are 30,000 fart apps, but because if you look around you will find some of the most polished and professional tablet apps in the world in that walled garden.

Android has tried in my opinion but it really seems that they are more concerned with the OS, Jelly Bean, Key Lime Pie, Lemon Drops or whatever "L" will be called. It seems that the Android developers just never really got serious about catching Apple with the quality of apps for tablets!

And now there is Windows 8 and I'm giving it a whirl. For any Apple owners out here who have ever used iAnnotate, Omnifocus, or Notebooks, just to name a few you will understand my quest in trying to find replacements for those in the Windows environment and so far I'm drawing blanks.

So in my opinion Apple can open the door to themeing and widgets and allow developers to sell themes and widgets in the app store. Sounds like a great plan to me. Let's step up the competition and see the quality of our tablet experience rise.

Speaking as an android fan, I have to agree with you on the quality of apps. Android devs are some of the worst devs I've ever encountered. Both iOS devs and win8 devs will respond to your bug report and fix the bugs within days. Android devs are like cats. They don't really care about you or the bugs. It once took me 11 months to get a dev to fix a very obvious bug in his $10 app.

It was an android office app. There was no word wrap. It took that dev 11 months to put word wrap into his word processor. I still have nightmares over the ordeal.

 

[XweAponX]

This works great on my Android as well. Sure the hell beats typing on the small on-screen keyboard. Our modern technology is something to behold.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the summer of 69......"Sorry, Dave, I can't do that". I was 18. I thought I'd never see the day to speak to a computer let alone a cell phone! There were no desktop PCs nor cell phones.

One thing that is Superior with the galaxy IIIS versus the iPhone 4S and 5 is the voice recognition. I had taken ill on Christmas last year and my friends daughter took me home, she had a brand new Galaxy and was tweeking with it all during dinner -When she got in the car she continued to tweek with it, opening apps by voice, getting directions to my house, and at the same time holding a text conversation with someone else by Voice.

I had to install all kinds of extra addons to get similar functionality out of Siri, Assistant Love, SiriToggles, Hands Free. It worked great for a month, then I installed something that deleted my name from Siri, and suddenly I could no longer open apps, it would just say I don't have any apps installed.

 

[labeeman]

This works great on my Android as well. Sure the hell beats typing on the small on-screen keyboard. Our modern technology is something to behold.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the summer of 69......"Sorry, Dave, I can't do that". I was 18. I thought I'd never see the day to speak to a computer let alone a cell phone! There were no desktop PCs nor cell phones.

Man you're old

I'm just old enough to remember when gas was below a buck. By the time I got my license when I was 16, gas prices had already gone up above 2 bucks. Nowadays, it's doubled that.

Anyway, that makes me just old enough to remember when you still had to launch windows from dos.

I can remember buying gas for my first car for $0.22 and what is Windows.

 

[skallal]

Wow yet another Transformer refugee, Mickeylittle, lol... I mentioned Mickey yesterday in another thread and didn't realize he had already joined Eight Forums!

I will agree with Mickey about the iPad. I don't like Apple, but still think the iPad is the standard to beat in the tablet market. Frankly there are apps on the iPad that even Android hasn't matched, yet alone Windows 8 Store apps. But Windows 8 (not RT) has the advantage of running classic desktop Windows applications to fill in the gap until the Windows Store gets more quality apps (if ever).

Back to the topic: the Google Play store has just updated their look and feel, and it is also very flat now. It has always been flat, but now it looks even more like Metro UI, go figure...

I will be looking forward to preview photos of iOS 7 and see how Apple does the new flat look. Apple has always like skeuomorphs. Do a Google search on skeuomorphism for more info. An example is the iOS Note app with lined paper and a portfolio cover.

I've been doing websites at work recently with the flat look. The creative department has been sending me mock ups that look a lot like the Microsoft Store at http://www.microsoftstore.com. Flat is the new look on the web...

 

[HippsieGypsie]

This works great on my Android as well. Sure the hell beats typing on the small on-screen keyboard. Our modern technology is something to behold.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the summer of 69......"Sorry, Dave, I can't do that". I was 18. I thought I'd never see the day to speak to a computer let alone a cell phone! There were no desktop PCs nor cell phones.

One thing that is Superior with the galaxy IIIS versus the iPhone 4S and 5 is the voice recognition. I had taken ill on Christmas last year and my friends daughter took me home, she had a brand new Galaxy and was tweeking with it all during dinner -When she got in the car she continued to tweek with it, opening apps by voice, getting directions to my house, and at the same time holding a text conversation with someone else by Voice.

I had to install all kinds of extra addons to get similar functionality out of Siri, Assistant Love, SiriToggles, Hands Free. It worked great for a month, then I installed something that deleted my name from Siri, and suddenly I could no longer open apps, it would just say I don't have any apps installed.

Yes. I have a very low voice in this thing recognizes it pretty well. Sometimes it comes up with goofy words but editing is easy.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

This works great on my Android as well. Sure the hell beats typing on the small on-screen keyboard. Our modern technology is something to behold.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the summer of 69......"Sorry, Dave, I can't do that". I was 18. I thought I'd never see the day to speak to a computer let alone a cell phone! There were no desktop PCs nor cell phones.

Man you're old

I'm just old enough to remember when gas was below a buck. By the time I got my license when I was 16, gas prices had already gone up above 2 bucks. Nowadays, it's doubled that.

Anyway, that makes me just old enough to remember when you still had to launch windows from dos.

I can remember buying gas for my first car for $0.22 and what is Windows.

I think you're about my age. I worked a gas station in the summer of 67. I was a sophomore. We had is special > 10 gallons for two bucks. That give some idea of inflation. Damn OPEC! You probably remember the gas lines in 72. They were fun weren't they?!

Lol! Windows are what we looked out of.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

This works great on my Android as well. Sure the hell beats typing on the small on-screen keyboard. Our modern technology is something to behold.

I'm old enough to remember seeing the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the summer of 69......"Sorry, Dave, I can't do that". I was 18. I thought I'd never see the day to speak to a computer let alone a cell phone! There were no desktop PCs nor cell phones.

Man you're old

I'm just old enough to remember when gas was below a buck. By the time I got my license when I was 16, gas prices had already gone up above 2 bucks. Nowadays, it's doubled that.

Anyway, that makes me just old enough to remember when you still had to launch windows from dos.

Yeah getting up there! About to retire. Sounds like I have about 20 years on you. I'll be 62 in June.

 

[XweAponX]

Someone mention Gas? I could fill up the tank in my Pinto for 5 bucks when I was in High School.