Thursday, November 21, 2013

Apple Releases iOS 7.1 Beta, Here is What's New

Apple has just seeded the first beta for iOS 7.1. Registered developers can grab the update from the Developer Center. The beta release comes just four days after Apple published iOS 7.0.4 to the public that included a fix for failed FaceTime calls.
 Here are the direct download links and release notes:

Here’s what’s new in iOS 7.1 beta:
• For iPhone 5s owners, there’s a new option to upload burst photos to Photo Stream.
• A new accessibility setting to enable the dark keyboard in Settings > General > Accessibility > Use Dark Keyboard.
• Options to Reduce Transparency and Darken Colors are added in Settings > General > Accessibility > Increase Contrast.
It allows the user to turn the dock and folders background to dark grey and improves readability as you can see below. 

Folders: Reduce Transparency Off and Darken Colors Off (left), Reduce Transparency On and Darken Colors Off (Center), Reduce Transparency On and Darken Colors On (Right)
Home Screen: Reduce Transparency Off and Darken Colors Off (left), Reduce Transparency On and Darken Colors Off (Center), Reduce Transparency On and Darken Colors On (Right)
• There’s a new Auto HDR mode for the camera, but appears to be an iPhone 5s only feature. It automatically selects the best photo from the HDR photos. If you want the camera to save all 3 exposures, you need to turn off the Auto toggle in the HDR toggle. 
• The app closing animation with the multitasking gestures on the iPad has been tweaked. (via 9to5Mac)
• Larger Dynamic Type toggle has now been renamed to Larger Accessibility Sizes in the Accessibility settings.

• With iOS 7.1 beta, you can enable or disable bold text without restarting the device.
• There’s a new message that appears when all notifications are cleared from the NotificationCenter.

• Yahoo’s logo has been updated to the new one in Notification Center, Stocks, Weather and Mail.
• The Flickr icon, too, has changed in the Settings app, and now doesn’t have a gradient.
• iOS 7.1 beta doesn’t include Panoramic wallpapers, if you were hoping that Apple would enable it in future iOS software updates. There are no new Dynamic Wallpapers either.