So…I got…early access to iOS 7. Well, okay, I stole a file from the interwebs and I can’t freaking get my developer account because I suck at money and I’m waiting on my Google Developer Console purchase so I can hopefully get enough money to actually get an Apple developer account BUT…it’s iOS 7. And it’s glassy. Well…it was. From Beta 1 to Beta 4. It’s still glassy in some spots. And it’s so simple…apparently Jony Ive thought that a TOTALLY WHITE UI provides you with a sense of nirvana or something. To me, I just always get the feeling the iPad is using more power to display all the whiteness. That and I have a black iPad, which dosen’t gel, if you catch my drift.
The glass. Why do I get the feeling that Glass = Windows 7/Vista? WHY DO I GET THE FEELING THAT A BLUR EFFECT EQUALS FROSTED GLASS. WHY DID APPLE FEEL THE NEED TO TURN METAL INTO GLASS??
And why the parallax effect? Well, it is in my Dad’s professional opinion that they are merely setting up for a total overhaul in iOS 8. You see, the parallax effect consists of a “layers” deal, wherein if you tilt the device, the layers slide underneath each other (in the case of the home screen, the icons are closer to the viewer than the background), creating this really cool 3D effect. The apps do not react to this (yet). The system messages and all message popouts (even the share sheet) do react.
So in iOS 8, what will happen is that everything going on in the phone/pad will be 3D, and the gyroscope in the iDevice will make sure not a single iota of 3D-ness is lost. Yes, the 3D home screen is coming. Get ready for Google/Yelp/Weathercube/Everything else to look f**king awesome. BUT totally white. File your complaints via the Windows Media 3D Share Sheet (Vista/7 edition) and DirectX will get back to you with a single simple sheet of white A4 legal paper.
Oh, and I can’t downgrade to iOS 6. I tried, there was a driver error, I found a video about how to fix the driver error, and that’s how I found out it was a driver error, and you needed to go into and edit the driver file, and NO. That is where I draw the line in terms of messing with Apple’s stuff. So now I’m only upgrading betas to keep the expiration date hopefully ahead of the projected release date.
What I don’t draw the line at is looking for glitches in the OS. I derive this weird joy from that. I love it when I can completely confuse the home screen on which way the device is turned. You need a pass code set. Lock the device, then turn on the screen and advance to the pass code screen, rotate the device sideways (works either direction, produces different results depending on what orientation you started in), input your pass code…and welcome to a completely screwed up home screen! Explore around! But don’t access multitasking, or that’ll reset it. In this state, the home screen is shoved toward a corner of the screen, and is cut off at various points, the blurred areas seem confused on which part of the background to grab for the effect, and the iPad/iPhone just dosen’t know how to handle itself graphically (except when zoomed into folders, everything looks okay then). Notification Center and Control Center work perfectly though, and the apps run and look okay (the zoom animation is off-center though). If you lock and unlock the device again, it either resets it completely, partially (everything looks fine, but the folder’s blur areas are still confused), or not at all. I still don’t know the criteria (I’m assuming it’s based on time).
This is for Beta 5, btw, it might be changed in later betas.