The Hardships of the IOS 7 Update

When it comes to upgrades in technology and social media, I like to be on the forefront. I like to fall in line with the latest trends and then learn sooner rather than later all the new features and quirks of the new upgrade. So, when Apple came out with the latest 7.01 software (and then 7.02) I had full intentions of updating ASAP. That was the plan, anyway.

However, I quickly realized that I would have to do more than just press the update button to get the new software. You see, in order for the download to occur you needed 3.1GB if available space. I had .07GB remaining. With the daunting possibilities swirling around in my head on what I would have to part with from my phone to achieve the necessary amount of memory to get the new software (coupled with working long hours), I put the transition on ice for about ten days.

Last night I arrived in Spokane for a weekend getaway of relaxation and breathing room. While watching on television my high school alma matter take on our arch rival in the Battle of the Bell football game, I decided to make the necessary adjustments so that I could download 7.02. Unfortunately for me, it was no easy fix.

I spent the whole second half of the game freeing up the necessary memory to satisfy the massive software download. I had to completely delete my entire music library…I am talking every single song. But that just scratched the surface. I then had to turn my attention to my roughly 7,000 photos I had stored. In a painstakingly long process, I went through and deleted photo after photo. I would then look back at my storage information and see that I was still way off of where I needed to be for the download. I would then go through and delete even more pictures only to look back and see that I still needed to do much more work. After about the sixth round of “cutting fat” my device finally met the absolute minimum amount of space needed for the download. I hit the upgrade button.

It took what seemed about two years for the software to download. After all the waiting the progress bar finally filled up and I thought I had successfully downloaded the new technology. Not so fast! A prompt came up and notified me that before the changes could be made I still had to free up 100 MB of space. I had nowhere to go but to my applications. Not even having two pages of apps I had to choose very carefully which ones I wanted to get rid of. I ended up chopping my Yahoo Sports App, my Emoticons, and a picture cropping aid. My phone then went black and another progress bar appeared and it had to fill up two separate times before the upgrade finally kicked in. Long after the high school football game had concluded (my school lost, 10-0) I finally had the 7.02 software update installed on my phone.

I don’t think the new update is terrible. I think, just like with anything, it will take a little getting used to. In fact, I have only had it for 12 hours and I feel I am almost accustomed with it. I will say this and I don’t know if anyone else feels the same way but I think the presentation itself with the icons is a little bit of a step back. To me it seems like the screen I am looking at now is the screen that the iPhone would have had if it existed 10 years ago. But believe me, I am well aware with how the “retro” look is in so maybe that is what Apple was going for.

Sure, the new camera features are pretty cool. Although if I am going to apply a filter to a photo I take I am still going to open up Instagram and go from there because IG has both a better and more vast selection. I also hear the panoramic tool is pretty cool but I am yet to master it. I attempted to take a photo at the restaurant we were at last night but it did not work.

Even though I am not blown away with the 7.02 software, I am glad I finally made the time (and the sacrifices) to update. It is important to stay with the times, especially when it comes to technology. Especially with my profession and with my interests, I need to speak the language and use the current tools of the techies around me. Shame on myself for not getting this taken care of sooner. Don’t Blink.