Apple iOS 7 beta review: Evening the odds

New camera interface, filters with live preview

The camera app has been completely rewritten. There are four modes available - Video, Photo, Square and Pano. There is no dedicated switch for those, you need to swipe to get to the desired camera mode.

The iOS 7 camera interface

There are no image settings besides the flash and HDR toggles, but there are 8 filters with live preview available for the Photo and Square modes - Mono, Tonal, Noir, Fade, Chrome, Process, Transfer and Instant.

Filters with live preview are available in Photo and Square shooting modes

You can use filters and take square photos with the front camera as well.

Connectivity

There is one new feature in the iOS 7 connectivity department - AirDrop. It's a system-wide file sharing service between supported iDevices. AirDrop needs both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on to work.

AirDrop is available in every share menu throughout the iOS 7. You can send pictures, videos, App Store and iTunes links, Notes, Maps links, all kind of files from file managing apps (i.e. Filer, Flash Drive, Air Disk, etc.), Office docs, and more.

AirDrop in Photos, Browser, Notes, Mail

If there are people with AirDrop service around you, they will automatically appear in the dedicated AirDrop field. You just mark your files, select people and hit the send key.

AirDrop in action

AirDrop won't work with other phones and PCs, but will work on Macs running on OS X Mavericks.

Apple is continually improving its Find My iPhone service. The latest iOS 7 updates it with the so-called Activation Lock. This will not only protect your personal data but also make your iDevice inoperable once wiped unless you enter your Apple ID. This means the stolen or lost iGadgets will be of no use to thieves or finders.

Activation Lock

Safari browser gets unified search field

Apple has finally updated the Safari browser. Yes, it got flat looks and 3D tab switching, but that's just the beginning.

The first thing you'll notice is the unified search/address field. It was about time, really. The next long-awaited features are the full-screen view and auto-hide.

The new Safari web browser

Safari supports more than 8 tabs at last. We quit trying to reach the limit at 22. The tab switching interface is a 3D arc where you swipe a tab left or right to close it. You can rearrange the tabs, you can add new ones or switch to private browsing.

The tab switcher • switching to Private browsing

When you switch to private browsing, you'll need to either close all current tabs or migrate them to Private as well. It's not possible to have private and non-private tabs open simultaneously like in Google Chrome. When you are browsing in Private mode, Safari switches to a dark gray color scheme.

The Private Safari skin

When you open your History you'll find a new tab called Shared Links. Here you'll find all links from your Twitter timeline, with authors and comments.

Bookmarks • Shared Links • Safari settings

Safari in iOS 7 supports iCloud keychain where you can store all of your passwords and credit card info (sans the security code). There is also a password generator available, in case you are out of ideas.

In SunSpider and BrowserMark 2, Safari on iOS 7 scored just a few points better than the Safari on iOS 6. Once the final iOS 7 is out, we'll try again to see if there is a real performance bump.