CNET también está disponible en español.

Ir a español

Don't show this again

  • The familiarity of iOS 7
  • Multitasking between apps
  • Clicking that shutter button
  • Circles for photo filters
  • Control at your fingertips
  • Photo managing by events
  • What beautiful weather
  • WP8 users choose to ignore
  • Notification Center aesthetics
Prev Next
1 of 9

Double-take: Is Apple's iOS 7 really all that new-looking? (pictures)

The familiarity of iOS 7

At WWDC 2013, Apple unveiled its updated mobile OS, iOS 7. And while it may look fresh, clean, and totally modern to some, to Microsoft Windows Phone 8, Android Jelly Bean, and even BlackBerry 10 device users, Apple's new OS has plenty that looks familiar. Take a look for yourself to see how much Apple has borrowed from other UIs. What do you guys think? Is the company committing the highest form of flattery, or are we just stretching our imaginations?

Photo by: James Martin/CNET

Multitasking between apps

The iOS 7 interface (left), which highlights the software's multitasking abilities, is very similar to how Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 flaunt the same skills (though the former did it first). Note the close use of tiles and square icons that represent open and operating apps.

Photo by: Lynn La/CNET

Clicking that shutter button

Gone from the iOS camera is the big gray button with a camera inside and a toggle to switch between photo and video. Instead, iOS 7 (left) has two plain circles that are on top of one another. This has been seen in multiple iterations of Android, which features a small blue circle on top of a slightly transparent black one.

Photo by: Lynn La/CNET

Circles for photo filters

iOS 7 also brings new photo filters directly in the camera app (left). You can see that the icon for these new effects is indicated by a colorful Venn diagram of three circles. We've seen this icon before, though not in color, in pure Android Jelly Bean on the right slide's bottom-left corner.

Photo by: Lynn La/CNET

Control at your fingertips

We're glad that iOS 7 finally has a swipe function to call up control settings (left). It's a feature that has long been included in Google Android, so we weren't that surprised that when it finally arrived, it looked a lot like the notifications bars we've seen before, like in Samsung TouchWiz's UI.

Photo by: Lynn La/CNET

Photo managing by events

iPhoto on Macs may have been grouping images by date automatically for years, but iOS 7 is the first of the company's mobile operating systems to behave in such a way. Of course, owners of the HTC One's new Sense UI (right) know that their phone's camera gallery also associates photos with events in time.

Photo by: Lynn La/CNET

What beautiful weather

While iOS 7's new weather app (left) looks tremendously better and more elegant than before, it looks pretty familiar to the popular weather app from Yahoo. True, iOS' weather app always gathered information from Yahoo (as indicated in the bottom-left corner), but now it has taken up the aesthetics as well, complete with white text overlaying a large graphic of current weather conditions

Photo by: Lynn La/CNET

WP8 users choose to ignore

iOS 7 handles incoming calls (left), at least graphically, in much the same way as Windows Phone 8. Users see a large image of their caller, if it's available, and they have the option of responding with a canned text message. But, we do acknowledge there is a difference between opting to be reminded later of a call and ignoring it altogether. Hint: The latter makes your friends sad.

Photo by: Lynn La/CNET

Notification Center aesthetics

Apple's iOS 7 sports a new Notification Center with a Today tab (left) that looks almost identical to the lock screen you'll find on Windows Phone 8 devices. Meeting, date, and weather info are shown on both platforms. Heck, even the font appears to be the same. People who use the Android app DashClock will also feel that iOS 7's Notification Center looks familiar.

Photo by: Lynn La/CNET

REVIEW

Meet the drop-resistant Moto Z2 Force

The Moto Z2 Force is really thin, with a fast processor and great battery life. It can survive drops without shattering.

Hot Products