My review comes with one primary caveat: I do not own an iPhone. I use a 5th generation iPod Touch. This means my review will focus heavily on the new Music app and how the new system handles launching and using other apps.
Pros:
- I am loving the "swipe up" to access wifi, bluetooth, and brightness. The quick launch of the apps located there is also nice, but I don't find the ones chosen to be particularly useful.
- I like *some* of the new aesthetics. The "flatness" has taken some getting used too, but I do like how they have overall simplified the icons for their flagship apps.
- "Swipe down" for search is also nice.
- I love the new method for closing apps in the multitask window by swiping upward, it's much simpler.
- I'm sure parents will like the new lock down options for adding and deleting apps. It is actually possible to remove access to the App Store now.
- New Safari. The new tab layout is much easier on the eyes and finger, and in my opinion, loads sites faster.
Cons:
- I hate the new Music app. In their effort to make "iTunes Radio" a hit and the default, it is now what launches when you try to access your music library. They have also made it considerably more difficult to access your music and your playlists.
- Playlists have been redone in such a way that it is difficult and confusing to add or delete songs from existing playlists. I spent around an hour trying to figure out how to do this, and gave up and made a new playlist from scratch.
- The app-launch animations imitate what Android already does with the zoom-out opening window, however, while the animation takes about the same amount of time on my Galaxy Note II and my iTouch, the iTouch's animation makes it *feel* like the application is launching much slower.
- I can't even notice the much-touted "parallax" effect unless I'm looking for it really closely. I don't get the sense of depth that was such a big deal. That said, I can easily believe the reports of users experiencing motion sickness from it. If you are sensitive to motion, the fact that it is hard to notice could conceivably make the sensation worse.
- You can't downgrade back to iOS 6. Which means that if you don't like having your eyes seared, or have motion sickness, or notice it draining your battery more, you can't go back.
- My battery lasts about 8 hours of semi-constant use on minimum brightness. Any brightness high enough to see in a well lit room drops that to about 6. On iOS6 I could trust my iTouch to last 24-36 hours of my normal usage (including standby.)
Things I don't use: I don't use Siri, or the camera (I still own a real camera, kthx), I don't have the ability to call out. I don't use the calendar, although my mother has said there are significant improvements in that feature.
So basically, iOS7 has some nice new features. It also has some really annoying problems, like draining battery. I will not be putting it on my now-ancient iPad2. I've seen rumors that it will slow it down, and the battery life is plenty strained by iOS6 without adding all the new background stuff iOS7 has in it.
