There is a lot getting published today about Apple’s new iOS 7 operating system for the iPad and iPhone. I’m not going to go in depth. (If you are looking for that, Macworld.com is the place to go.) Nevertheless, I do have a few observations having used it now (full time) for about a 6 weeks.

• Give iOS 7 some time. It takes about two weeks to adapt and it will grow on you.
• Everyone keeps talking about how “flat” iOS 7 is but it doesn’t feel that way to me. Zipping up and down through folders and apps makes this operating system feel like there truly is a third axis. I can’t wait to see what developers do with that. I think the three dimensional nature of this “flat” operating system may turn out to be its best innovation.
• The new font support is great if you like text a little bigger.
• Multi-page folders: Golden for app packrats (like me). No longer do I need three separate folders full of utilities (or games).
• Spend some time with the new notification center. I didn’t like the text summary at first. Now I prefer it.
• I know a lot of people are worried about background app refresh updating a cherished app with a broken version. I’m not. I’m just glad to not have to see all those uninstalled updates every time I go in the App Store.
• Background Syncing is going to be huge for me. I’ve already been using it on a few beta apps and soon we’ll take it for granted.
• I’m still not entirely happy with buttons that are just words. I understand the design decision. I’m not even sure I have a better idea. It just still looks odd to me. Maybe this one will take a few more months of use.
• After an hour of use of iOS 7, bubbly iOS 6 apps look very, very old.

Macworld’s first look at iOS 7 gives a nice feel for the big update. It’s been a few days now since Apple unveiled iOS 7 and it seems like the general consensus is that this new look gives Apple a place to grow where the prior look didn’t have much future. While I have no inside knowledge, I suspect getting this new look presentable in time for WWDC was Apple’s own Manhatten Project and there are probably a lot of really great stories about how they pulled it off. That being said, I think they will refine it quite a bit in the early days something akin to what happened in the early days of Mac OS X. While I‘m largely a fan of iOS 7, I can’t stop looking at that white stuff around the new Safari icon and wonder, “what the heck is that?” 

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