TECHnically Speaking: 6 Reasons You Should Upgrade to iOS7

Well in my opinion, you should always upgrade. When you stamp your feet and say “I’M NOT GOING TO DO IT”, I secretly wait for the day when you say “I sure wish my phone would do XYZ” so I can say “you would be supported if you upgrade”. Yes, BDbleE, I am looking at YOU! iOS 5? YOU ARE FUCKING KILLING MY SOUL. But I digress.

You may have seen a little or a lot of about the update. It is a drastic UI change. So if you don’t handle change well or like it when someone moves your cheese, then brace yourself. You can read all about the usual feature updates and such here from Cool Mom Tech (ANY other tech outlet but i figured they were more parent centric). So after you oo and ahh over the moving wallpaper, flat icons and WHERE DID DELETE GO IN EMAIL (slide the opposite way as usual), let’s talk the cool little things that I am excited about!

1: Clearer Way to Manage Multiple Photos/Videos

Now if you read here religiously, you will know I already taught you how to do this in previous OSs but I guess Apple got the memo that it wasn’t super intuitive and FIXED it.

  1. Now in your album you have a “Select” button in the upper right. Click that bitch.
  2. Then pick photos.
  3. To delete, click the Trash can in the bottom right.
  4. To do other stuff, click the box with an arrow in the bottom left.

What is the other stuff, Brandy?

Welp something new is AirDrop. Supposedly you can share with people near you. I can’t see the point of this honestly. I just text what I need to people. Seems a little touchy-feely for me but I am app savvy and already have an established work flow for things like this.

And as before, you can message, mail, icloud(note this is where you go for Photo Stream now…not intuitive in my book but whateves) , FB share , Tweet and any other app you have configured for that mess. For videos you can airplay to your AppleTV if ya like as well.

2: Contacts will use Nicknames in Texts


20130920-215220.jpgThis is really minor and silly but i had filled out the nickname portion of my contacts for some people in hopes I could have shorter names in my iMessages. It never worked. UNTIL iOS 7!!! Now I get to view the hilarity like texts from “AIDS Face” and “Higgy”.

  1. To set a nickname for a contact:
  2. Open the contact.
  3. Click Edit in the upper right.
  4. Scroll down to “add field”.
  5. Select Nickname.

Now you are all set 🙂

3: Command Center

20130920-213105.jpgThis is a big one that seems to excite the most people. At any time (lock screen included – but probably not for long because it can be hacked…sads. Apple is working on a fix right now), swipe up from the bottom. From here you can

  • Toggle Airplane mode
  • Toggle wifi
  • Toggle Bluetooth
  • Toggle Do Not Disturb
  • Change the brightness of the screen
  • See playing music and control it
  • Change volume
  • Set Airdrop
  • AirPlay

And I think the best additions are quick access to utilities including:

  • Flashlight – turns the flash on to make an epic flashlight
  • Open the clock – Read: set a timer quickly, parents. Siri sets A LOT of timers up in this piece. NOTE: The timer countdown can now be seen on the lock screen. BONUS AWESOME.
  • Calculator
  • Camera

What I wish they would add? Toggle for cell data and possibly a spot you could select a quick tap app of your choice? Just a thought.

4: Built in Level

Yup. Another simple one since you already have a compass but a simple to read level. I can see using this much if we ever sell this FREAKIN house.

To access:

  1. Open the Compass app
  2. Swipe to the left.

5: No Limit on Apps in Folders

20130920-212900.jpgNo more having to make a second games folder, yo! You can fit as many as you want in there. They just start paging. HOORAY.

6: Background App Updates

Cmon. Admit it…how many have you let your updates get to? Kevin would literally pass out when I would have like 30. I would forget…didn’t care…whatever. He reads the release notes on every app. Yum. I caught me a nerd, ladies. BACK THE FUCK UP.

In iOS 7, you can configure your apps to automatically update. Yup. No notifications just ticking up. You can then see in Notification center when things got updated. Nice new apps. VOILA!

For you, Higgy
For you, Higgy

So those are just a few that I have taken account of in the first few days. What are your favorites?

8 thoughts on “TECHnically Speaking: 6 Reasons You Should Upgrade to iOS7

    • September 24, 2013 at 9:26 am
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      Connect to drop box, sync those damn photos off 😉 You will get extra space from drop box just for connecting it.

      Reply
  • September 23, 2013 at 9:36 pm
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    Thank you! Forgot about the Command Center and have been trying to figure out how to unlock my screen rotation. I like it locked most of the time, but have wanted to rotate a couple times in the last few days and couldn’t find it. 😛 Loving how fast the camera is now. My favorite change so far.

    Reply
    • September 24, 2013 at 9:27 am
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      Fun app: FastCamera. Just fires as fast as possible the second it opens.

      Reply
  • September 24, 2013 at 8:44 am
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    THANK YOU for explaining in normal people language. I updated, but was all, how do I know what’s different? Well, besides the obvious.

    Reply
    • September 24, 2013 at 9:25 am
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      I may do a part 2 of fun tricks. Do what I can to spread the nerdiness around.

      Reply
  • September 24, 2013 at 2:38 pm
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    Instead of updating my 4, I traded up. I LOVE the new camera (specifically burst mode). My kids never stop moving and it makes a huge difference. I still wish they had a select all option to delete pics for those of us who let that mess get to 1000.

    Reply

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