Before Monday's World Wide Developer's Conference keynote speech, rumors about Apple's new iOS 7 had been circulating for a while.
The big reveal showcased a crisp and clean look, as well as several impressive new features.
One of the most eye-catching elements of the new design is the 3D effect provided in the home screen. iOS 7 promises to set application icons so your phone will recognize when it's being tilted or rotated and will display your wallpaper at more of a distance, making it so you can see your customized image easier and your apps won't simply be in the way.
All of the textures are a bit more flat looking. Gone are all of the elements that made the operating system features look bubbly and mocked real life. When showing the new, mostly white, game center, software engineer Craig Federighi said, "we ran out of green felt."
One of the most exciting new features iOS 7 will offer users is the Control Center. Similar to the drop down notification center, the Control Center allows users to swipe up on your phone and have your most used applications, such as the flashlight, alarm clock, music and Wi-Fi menu all available in one handy place that's accessible from anywhere. The availability of a flashlight means the users will no longer have to use a third party flashlight application on their iPhones as one appears to be built in.
The next innovation the iOS 7 will bring to users is the AirDrop function. AirDrop is a peer-to-peer file sharing service that allows nearby users to share photos and other files. In the Control Center you can make yourself invisible to other users if you don't want your phone to suddenly get bombarded with AirDrop notifications if you're in a room with trigger-happy iOS 7 users.
iOS 7 allows iPhone users more freedom than ever before to limit their connectedness with others. For the first time you can block messages and calls from certain users. The days of having to read everything your ex sends you are over.
Apple also did a lot of work on their camera, offering four different pages for the still camera, video camera, panoramic camera and the crop grid camera. They have also released active-live camera filters like on Instagram and Twitter. The new iOS also makes it easier to see all of your photos, even offering you an organizer by the time the picture was taken.
Other features to the new iOS 7 include: iTunes Radio, updates to Siri, updates to Safari, audio only FaceTime Calling, multitasking for all apps and a new feature which makes the app store update your applications automatically.
For fans who are excited about the new iOS 7, there's some bad news. iOS 7 won't be available to the public until an unspecified date this fall. iOS 7 will only be available for the iPhone 4 and above, the iPad 2 and above, the iPad Mini and the fifth generation iPod Touch. In the meantime, you can check out an interactive list of all the features HERE at Apple's website.
Watch CNET's video clip of the announcement at the WWDC HERE.
