Apple Inc. iOS 7 for iPhones,iPads: 7 things you need to know

Apple unveiled 'the most significant OS update since the original iPhone' on Monday.

Apple Inc. unveiled ‘the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone’ on Monday. The iOS 7 (seventh iteration) for iPhones and iPads was pioneered by Jony Ive,senior VP of design. iOS 7 signals a shift from icons that look like their real-life counterparts to a flat look.

iOS 7 WILL BE AVAILABLE IN OCTOBER

Here are six of its best features.

CONTROL CENTER: Android users have had a robust notification centre for a long time. Apple finally gives iOS users quick access (swipe up) to connectivity options (WiFi,Bluetooth),music playback,essential apps and user profiles.

MULTI-TASKING: At last,iOS enables true multi-tasking. Your apps will update in the background,and iOS learns your usage and updates accordingly. If you use Twitter a lot,your timeline will be refreshed more often,giving you instant notifications.

MOMENTS: The Photos app has been redesigned to include Moments. It organises photos based on the time and location,so if you zoom out,you will see all photos clicked in a month or year or at a particular location.

AIRDROP: Already available on Mac- Books,AirDrop is now on iOS. This feature allows quick sharing of files between supported Apple devices. Available only on iPhone 5,iPad (4G),iPad mini and iPod Touch (5th generation).

SIRI: The voice-based app now sounds like a real person,and adds integration with Twitter,Bing search and Wikipedia.

iTUNES RADIO: With over 200 radio stations and the large catalogue of music from iTunes Store,iTunes Radio aims to be the best music discovery service in the market. This is free with ads for all users,while iTunes Match subscribers (Rs 1,200 per year) can use it without ads.

12-HOUR BATTERY LIFE FOR MACBOOK AIR

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The new MacBook Air features Intels Haswell series of processors that help improve battery life and Intel HD 5000 graphics that improve performance.

MacBook Air 11

1.3 GHz processor

4 GB RAM

9 hours battery life

Rs 67,900 (128 GB)

Rs 81,900 (256 GB)

MacBook Air 13

1.3 GHz processor

4 GB RAM

12 hours battery life

Rs 74,900 (128 GB)

Rs 88,900 (256 GB)

Mac Pro

Mac Pro will receive a major update by the end of this year. The most exciting aspect is its size,it is just one-eighth the size of the current Mac Pro. The new model is just 9.9 inches tall and according to Apple,is 2.5 times faster than the current one. It will have next-generation Intel Xeon E5 processors and two AMD FirePro graphics cards.

(Compiled by: Pranay)