iOS 7 Beta - Insights and Experiences

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Could anyone please confirm whether or not Siri will now read out new messages when the phone is locked? Usually it says you have to unlock the phone first, which I'm not going to do whilst driving.

Thanks!

[Bizkit]

Beta 2 seems to have better battery life, but not as good as iOS 6. Getting there. Beta 2 made things a lot smoother. 

 

I'll test the Siri text message reading next time I get a message, Hardcore Til I Die.

[SMELTN]

I agree beta 2 is a nice upgrade. Definitely more speedy, and battery life is improved. Good question on Siri though Hardcore

[Gandhi1]

Love ios 7 is anyone else having problems with the music controls

[jasondefaoite]

Beta 2 appeared to run faster on my 4s compared to Beta1. However, it is far less stable for me. Random crashes, graphical glitches on multitasking. A reboot helped with the glitches but the crashes are there.

 

Music controls: When you are playing back music, and the screen is off, waking the phone shows the music controls of the music app, with album art etc, but no time is displayed on the screen. You need to unlock the phone to get the time. Not a fan of that.

 

Anyways, fun to play around with, but I've gone back to iOS6.

[Dinggus]

Is it worth losing my jailbreak on my iPad Mini? Only main tweak I use is BTC Mouse & Trackpad, but it isn't that serious to have to use a mouse.

[SMELTN]

Is it worth losing my jailbreak on my iPad Mini? Only main tweak I use is BTC Mouse & Trackpad, but it isn't that serious to have to use a mouse.

 

Still trying to decide that myself. I have it on my iP5 so I am really thinking I may not update my Mini because its pretty much the same thing

[Dinggus]

Still trying to decide that myself. I have it on my iP5 so I am really thinking I may not update my Mini because its pretty much the same thing

I need my jailbreak on my 4S. I just want to play with iOS 7.

[Dinggus]

...chrome must me double posting...

[SMELTN]

I need my jailbreak on my 4S. I just want to play with iOS 7.

 

Then sure I would. You will get to test out all the good stuff!!

[Dinggus]

Then sure I would. You will get to test out all the good stuff!!

 

Going to do so now. Thank you.

[Jaybot]

Overall, I like the new look of iOS 7. I'm sure the minor UI inconsistencies will be fixed by release (I hope.) I'll never understand why Apple doesn't let us just download useless apps like Newsstand, Passbook, etc. If I wanted to use them, I would download them. They don't bundle iBooks, so why bundle those? 

[hdca18]

I think its dope

[Pootis Spencer]

Has anyone had any problems with Wi-Fi? My iPad on 6.1 can find loads of local wireless routers but my iPhone 4 on 7.0 beta 2 barely picks mine up even though I am right next to the router.

[philcruicks]

Anyone tried it on an iPad yet? as much as I dropped back to iOS6 on my 4 (because GPS is broken)

I have an iPad 3 which doesn't have any GPS to get broken...so might upgrade it over the weekend.

[.Markus]

Could anyone please confirm whether or not Siri will now read out new messages when the phone is locked? Usually it says you have to unlock the phone first, which I'm not going to do whilst driving.

Thanks!

SMS and emails can be readout while at the lockscreen. With emails you can say 'please read email' and it'll list the last 25 and read them out.

Shame it doesn't work with WhatsApp or Skype messages though...

[sundayx Veteran]

Beta 2 has been much smoother and stable for me, still some issues now and then, and some apps don't work (not sure when the developer might update the app).

[Hardcore Til I Die]

SMS and emails can be readout while at the lockscreen. With emails you can say 'please read email' and it'll list the last 25 and read them out.

Shame it doesn't work with WhatsApp or Skype messages though...

 

I should've said this the first time, but does it work when the device is locked with a passcode?

 

Thanks :)  

[.Markus]

 

I should've said this the first time, but does it work when the device is locked with a passcode?

 

Thanks :)

Yes, it does. I'm not sure if you're able to change that in settings due to privacy and safety concerns though...

[Hardcore Til I Die]

Yes, it does. I'm not sure if you're able to change that in settings due to privacy and safety concerns though...

Thanks!

Would be nice if Apple added the option to allow it to be called from a Bluetooth device whilst locked, but not by simply holding the phone button.

Considering the device has to be unlocked to pair a new device, it shouldn't be as much of a privacy concern as someone would have to have access to a device that has already been paired.

[joemailey]

Update from me and iPhone 4S:

 

As like other its a lot faster and battery life seems a bit better. It is a lot quicker than beta 1, but not as stable.

 

I got a lot of apps hanging and have to reboot the phone a lot, also get a lot of apps crashing, mostly the ones that connect to website links.

 

Roll on beta 3, which will hopefully give as a much stable/quicker build.

[Dinggus]

I've noticed on my iPad Mini that the multitasking doesn't always show whats open. I'll try and quit apps but it just shows a blank home screen when I activate it.

[Mohitster]

I am really looking forward to the final release and perhaps even breaking my jailbreak and upgrading. It seems it answers lot of gripes of the Jailbreakers with respect to functionality. I like the way Apple is going with gestures.

 

But, I really really want them to take a deep hard look with respect to colors and UI. It's just not looking cohesive at the moment. I hope they surprise me!

 

Sidenote:

Default icon-size of iOS - Is it only me or these icons are actually unbelievably huge since they don't necessarily exhibit any kind of detailed functionality. They look bloated and oversized. Is it not something Apple should carefully consider? Scaling down of icon-size a bit? May be it's only me since I use scaled down icons which really come out against the background. I am on jailbroken iOS 6. 

 

Side By Side

[Shadrack]

I'm looking forward to the release, but I don't think I'll be installing this beta.

 

Too much dependency on the JB hardware to want to muck with that.  Hope that it has a certain level of polish.

[FrostAM]

I'm using beta 2 right now. I haven't had too many issues with the beta thus far. I absolutely love the new features; especially the control center, swipe down to bring up the search and the task switcher. The little animations that they've added also add a very pleasing touch to the OS (though they could be sped up in some areas). That being said, I don't like how bright everything is. On a black iPhone it just feels out of place. I also hope they fix some of the color choices before the final release as well (white text on a lime green background. Seriously?). Overall it's a great OS, they got a lot of things right with it.