It’s coming. Apple’s annual Worldwide
Developers Conference is taking place in June, the company has confirmed. But
in an unusual twist, the tech giant’s marketing boss has already confirmed that
it will play host to new versions of both iOS and OS X, its software for
iPhones and Macs. That means the eagerly awaited iOS 7 will be making an appearance – and we’ve got a
few ideas for what we’d like to see in it.
WWDC 2013 takes place from 10-14 June
at San Francisco’s Moscone West centre, where Apple’s Phil Schiller says the
company “can’t wait to get new versions of iOS and OS X into [developers’]
hands”.
While WWDC has played host to new
iPhone launches in the past, we’re expecting Apple to stick to its annual
Autumn release cycle it’s adopted since 2011 for the new must-have mobile
hardware, so like last year, the focus in the summer will be on the next generation
of iPhone software instead. Here’s our wishlist of things we’d like to see – is
there anything we’re missing?
A new look
Sir Jony Ive, the British design legend
responsible for Apple’s delicious hardware, got a promotion last year: he’s now in charge of the look and
feel of its software too. Rumours are flying around that iOS 7 will get a much
needed lick of paint, including a “flatter” design that ditches some of the
bizarre and gradient-heavy anachronisms in iOS, like the pointless green baize
in the Game Center, the bookshelf in iBooks and the notebook style pages in the
Notes app. Think more like Windows Phone’s 2D homescreen, and you could be on
the right lines.
Improved Apple Maps
The new look Apple Maps made without Google’s help was meant to be
the tentpole feature of iOS 6: instead, it turned into a disaster. It was
hopelessly inaccurate and out of date, and though the company’s worked hard to
resolve this in the last year, we’re still finding shocking errors in British
maps that make it effectively unusable. Apple really needs to up its game here,
and come up with a solution that stops people running to the free and excellent
Google Maps iPhone app.
A better Notification
Center
If Google’s Android has been heavily
influenced by iOS, the drop down notification tray on iPhone is the return
favour. Unfortunately, it’s a poor man’s imitation of the powerful tool in
Android “Jelly Bean”, which lets you read whole messages and reply to them or
swipe them to the side individually. Apple’s take on it is slow, ungainly and
full of wasted space – why it needs to re-arrange all your alerts in front of
you is beyond us, and not everyone wants a Twitter shortcut, Apple – and
desperately needs some more customisation options, not to mention a speed
boost.
Siri for all
Siri has become something of a shorthand for a rare Apple
failure, but we think that’s unfair. Voice control is very difficult to do
well, and we think Apple’s personal assistant is one of the best examples of it yet. Apple really needs to unleash its
true potential though by giving the keys to developers, and let them make all
their apps work with the voice control killer.
iCloud that makes sense
Apple’s iCloud should make backup of
all your vital data absolutely seamless, and something you can forget about
completely. It’s a laudable goal, but here’s the thing: many iOS developers
find that it simply doesn’t work still. Apple needs to fix things on the
back end in a big way if it’s to become the default back-up service for your
digital life that you can truly rely on.
Have we missed anything? Tell us what you’d
most like to see in iOS 7 in the comments below! [Source]
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