iOS 7 is Coming, Are you ready?

Wednesday, September 18th, 1 pm EST, 10 am PST. That is the exact time when Apple plans on releasing iOS 7, the most radical change to the iPhone and iOS since the days of iPhone OS 1.0. While many people go out looking for youtube videos, google pictures, or are willing to out right pay Apple to get a taste of the new iOS, many people simply are unaware the impending changes that are coming. 

If you are one of those users just finding out about iOS 7 because you are thinking about pre ordering the new iPhone 5C or iPhone 5s, then you need to inform yourself before you dive head first into iOS 7, especially if you are hesitant to change. So lets run down the list of five major changes that you need to be aware of. 

1. 1. Fonts, Colors, Status Bar, Everything. From the font, to the wallpapers, sounds, all have been revamped to reflect the paradigm shift in design philosophies from Scott Forstall, a big component and driver for Skuemorphism, to the more modern and sleek hardware master Jony Ive. From the first time the lock screen comes up, to the folders, to the settings, they all have a new, updated look.
   
   
   
2. 2. Spotlight Search. Yep, the swipe to the right on the front home page is now gone. Instead, from any home screen, just pull down below the top status bar and boom, the spotlight search appears. While the functionality hasn't changed, the look and feel certainly has. 
   
3. 3. Multi-tasking. Remember when iOS 4 added the multitasking bar that you could see what apps you had opened and could hold down until it shook and you tapped the red button top right to clear out the bar? Yep, totally goneand different. Replaced with is now a Web OS inspired way of multitasking with cards that show what the app is doing in real time. To get to the cards is the same as before, you just double click the home button to bring up the cards. However, to clear out the apps, you touch one of the cards and swipe up to throw the card out. Gone are the days of tapping a ridiculously small red button (Finally!!).
   
4. 4. Notification Center. When Apple introduced Notification Center with iOS 5, it was designed to show you a list of apps that had notified you. You could add stocks and local weather, but that was about it. With iOS 7, gone is the linen in the background and the weather widget. Rather, Apple has introduced three panes that you can swipe through with Today, All, and Missed tabs. For the Today tab, Apple gives you sort of a day view where you can view the date, birthdays, calendar events, alarms, a text update of the local weather, and predicted driving information. Think Google Now/Cards sort of thing. As for All and Missed, this is just for notifications and is exactly how it sounds. All shows all of your notifications and missed shows you ones that have been untouched for an amount of time.
   
5. 5. Control Center. This is a totally new feature specific to iOS 7 and is much like SBSettings if you are familiar with the jailbreaking community. If not, that is totally okay too. Control Center is activated anywhere and in any app (I can't seem to activate it in messages) by swiping up from the bottom, middle edge of the screen. Control Center gives you 5 icon toggles across the top with Airplane Mode, Wifi, Bluetooth, Do Not Disturb, and Portrait Orientation Lock. Underneath the toggles are the brightness control, and music controls, followed by AirDrop and Airplay buttons (Airdrop for certain iOS devices, and Apple TV if you are near one). On the very bottom, there are a row of icons consisting of Flashlight, Timer/Alarm Clock, Calculator, and Camera. All of these toggles and buttons are meant to be quick ways of accessing certain settings with out going into settings. 
   

iOS 7 will be released to the public on Wednesday, September 18th, around 1 pm EST. And remember, to get a comprehensive list of every feature for both the iPhone/iPod and iPad and which devices are going to be compatible, head on over to www.apple.com/ios/ for all the details.