iOS 11 - Kind of like getting a new phone

On Sept 19, Apple released iOS 11 to the masses.  And I mean masses.  One of the unique things that Apple does is do a mass release to their supported products.  

 For iOS 11 this means all of these devices:
  • iPhone X, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 5s
  • 12.9-inch iPad Pro, 10.5-inch iPad Pro, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, iPad (fifth-generation), iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 2
  • iPod touch (sixth-generation)

So my older Apple TV and iPads were our of luck as Apple has moved to 64 Bit only.  But my wife's 3 year old iPhone 6 updated fine.

 Versus what you experience with Android it's kind of nice.  With Android you are so much at the whim of the OEMs / Carriers since they often develop custom shells and/or launchers, etc and often are very slow to market.  

 I've written in the past with my disappointment with Samsung for example who often takes months and months post release of a new version of Android to release an update.  My Galaxy S7 got Android 7 (Nougat) some 7 months after Google released.  

 But on to iOS 11 itself.  So the first few things you notice right away are...

 Some new and clearer icons and a larger, heftier font.  Makes it very easy to read the screen.  

 The new Control Center in my opinion is excellent - it's easy to get to the vast majority of items you need to control and is very clear to use.

 There is also a new store app.  I'm not sure I like it yet and a lot of screen space is taken up by large graphics so the amount of new apps shown is less.

 But overall in my opinion it is a good update.   I've read some reviews that call it a hot mess on iPads - but on my wife's iPhone 6 it downloaded and installed cleanly - updated key apps and was all working in about 35 minutes.  

 So one comment I saw in reviews of the new iPhone 8 kind of summed it up.  the 8 is basically a 4th generation iPhone 6 and now with that 6 running the same OS as the 8 - it feels a little like getting a new phone.

 Bottom line - iOS 11 is out.  It covers a pretty large portfolio of Apple products and my experience was very positive.  To me the approach Apple takes with iOS and how it supports it's customers is the bar by which you have to measure all other mobile OS.  You may like or hate specific features but no other vendor comes close to supporting their customers like Apple.

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