iOS 7 – Is the upgrade a big improvement or a big disappointment?

I have an iPhone 4 and I was a little worried about putting iOS7 on it because if I blow up my phone I still have a year before I can replace it. So I was reluctant to switch over to the latest and greatest iOS. I was worried that my phone was too old.

I researched and looked into it and found that my phone was just new enough to take the upgrade. But still, I hesitated for another weekend. Finally, curiosity got the better of me so I took the plunge, and what I found was wonderful.

iOS7-VinceViloria

The first thing that I noticed was how much more room I had on my phone.

I did my upgrade while plugged into iTunes on my computer.  I highly recommend doing this upgrade while attached to your desktop or laptop, and you will definitely want to have a fresh backup.

I backed everything up to my computer hard drive and then pulled off enough of my apps to make room for my upgrade. The whole process took about 40 minutes, including backing up my data, moving 597 pictures of my grandson, and temporarily removing 29 apps.

Don’t worry. If you make room, you won’t be sorry. The 2.9 GB that you need for the update is not completely used up once you finish and what I left on my phone took up less space than it had before.  When I began the upgrade I had 2.9 GB of space. When I finished, I had 3.2 GB of space.

When I got my phone back it was like I was holding a new device. Everything moves much more quickly. The screens are cleaner and brighter. Even with all the apps back on my phone, everything is quicker to load and quicker to respond, too.  The biggest change is the necessity of a lock code to open your phone up.

In three words: I love it!

Not everyone does, of course. I have friends who upgraded on the first day that iOS7 was available and want iOS6 back. I guess there were a couple of bugs that Apple fixed quickly. The version I have is 7.0.2 so if you upgraded early, you may want to check for bug fixes.

So iOS users, what’s your take? Do you like iOS 7? Why or why not?

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Copyright 2013 Katie O'Keefe