A comprehensive review of iOS 7

Big changes, small changes. Exciting changes, boring changes. As people set their iPhones next to their WiFi routers to speed up the large update, here are some of the first impressions about the new mobile operating system.

When we reviewed iOS 6 a year ago, we called it a “spit-and-polish” release and stand by that assessment today. Between the new Notification Center, iCloud, and iMessage, iOS 5 felt like a big, substantial release in ways that its immediate successor did not. A lack of impressive new features (the useful-but-minor Do Not Disturb, the niche Passbook, the busted Maps, etc.) and a visual design that was just past its fifth birthday both contributed to a feeling of inertia in iOS 6. There was a sense it was time for a change.