Wednesday 25 June 2014

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review (2013) is last year's best e-reader still tops

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review (2013): is last year's best e-reader still tops?

Amazon's really laid off the pomp and circumstance this year. Between a new Paperwhite e-reader and a trio of tablets, the company's hosted nary a press conference; just a couple of small-scale meetings. In the case of the Paperwhite, the reason seems clear. From the name on down, nothing about the device screams "major upgrade." Both the hardware and software received some tweaks, sure, but, well, if this were an Apple product, it would almost certainly be called the Kindle Paperwhite S. Then again, we loved the Paperwhite the first time around, so why mess with near perfection?

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review (2013): is last year's best e-reader still tops?

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Hardware

It's hard to say if this is just one of those in-between years, or if Amazon has just throttled down e-reader development. Maybe the company has taken a less-than-bullish view of the space, or perhaps it's convinced the original Paperwhite didn't need much work. Either way, for the first time in a while, there aren't major hardware changes here -- nothing the company can hang its latest ad campaign on. Indeed, even the product's name plays down the upgrade; it's referred to the device as the "All-New Kindle Paperwhite" in Amazon's press materials, though from an aesthetic standpoint, the "all-new" seems a tad generous.

Placed next to each other, 2012's and 2013's Paperwhites are pretty difficult to distinguish. Slip a $100 bill underneath one, and you can play a round of two-Kindle Monte. The reader's retained the same dimensions as its predecessor at 6.7 x 4.6 x 0.36 inches -- so, if you do ultimately decide to upgrade, you can at least keep your old case. Amazon managed to shed a few fractions of an ounce off the previous generation, bringing the new model down to 7.3 (which even those who've handled last year's model are unlikely to notice). The newest Kindle is also a touch heavier than Kobo's offering. (As ever, adding in 3G connectivity will add even more heft, bringing the total weight to 7.6 ounces.) The Paperwhite's noticeably taller than the Kobo Aura too, and hence not quite as pocketable.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review was last year's best ereader still the tops

In the wake of the Aura, the Paperwhite's design feels pretty utilitarian: it's a black rectangle designed to do a specific job, without much concern for style. In the center is a 6-inch display, a size the entire industry seemingly settled on during some secret, underground Masonic e-reader meeting. It's a tough point to argue, though. Kobo's recent size experiments didn't go too far in convincing us that six inches isn't indeed the sweet spot for e-readers, and Amazon didn't seem to get much traction with its newspaper-oriented DX.

As ever, a black plastic bezel juts out a bit around the display -- something Kobo managed to avoid with the Aura's contiguous design. Indeed, the Paperwhite's plastic bezel seemingly doesn't need to exist either, as the company moved from IR to capacitive touch a while back, which should have eliminated the need for the display gap. There's a prominent white Kindle logo along the bottom bezel, though the company's made it a little bolder this time out and tightened up the kerning a bit, so no one sitting next to you on the train will mistake the thing for a Nook. Once again, you'll find a micro-USB port and power button on the bottom -- and that's about it. Amazon's long made it clear that it has no time for page-turn buttons or expandable memory.

On the rear, Amazon's preserved that nice soft-touch feel, which adds a bit of traction. And while we'd definitely welcome a move toward the Nook's more hand-friendly concave back, after so many iterations, Amazon's still pretty set in its ways here. There's one interesting change back there, however: the company's swapped out the subtler indented Kindle in favor of a glossy black version of Amazon's familiar "A to Z" branding. Clearly, the smaller Amazon type on the last version just wasn't getting the point across. It's a bit louder, but when it's not set down on a table, your hand or a case will be obstructing the logo most of the time -- and heck, we're just glad that Amazon hasn't figured out that it could make a little extra money by selling that real estate to a third party. But we've already said too much...

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review was last year's best ereader still the tops

Last time, the company was all about reading in the dark, enough so that its new front-lit technology gave the reader its name. Sure enough, we were impressed, particularly coming on the heels of Barnes & Noble's Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight, though the Kindle would soon be eclipsed by Kobo's Glo. Amazon took great pains to improve illumination this year, and while the difference isn't exactly night-and-day, the company's done a fine job nonetheless. At full blast, the Paperwhite lives up to its name, with an impressive white balance and more even coverage toward the bottom of the screen.

The processor's also been bumped up this time, from 800MHz clock speed to a full 1GHz. In real-world use, that translates to a slight improvement in page-turn speed, sometimes more noticeable than others. The difference is decidedly clearer when loading books or waking up the device, with the new version outperforming its predecessor each and every time. Granted, these readers don't have to do a ton of heavy lifting, so you're not going to see a massive improvement in speeds with an upgrade like this. Still, the less time you spend loading, the more time you can spend actually reading.

Unlike Kobo, which has a strong anti-refresh stance, Amazon still gives you one every so often, with a quick black flicker as the system gets everything in place. Though the industry standard for a while was every six pages, the refreshes do appear to come about half as frequently here. The screen still has a pixel density of 212 ppi -- that's less than the Aura's impressive 265, though honestly, if you're spending most of your time reading text, the Kindle's screen should be plenty crisp. Also, the improved white balance in the front lighting helps create the appearance of improved sharpness / contrast.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review was last year's best ereader still the tops

Onboard storage is still limited to 2GB -- when all's said and done, that works out to around 1.2GB of actual space, or, by Amazon's count, 1,100 books. Again, that's probably more than most of us need to carry around at any one time, and with the benefit of Amazon's free cloud storage, you'll never want for re-reads again. Battery life is estimated at up to eight weeks, though keeping track with these e-ink devices is getting a bit silly. Even if you're a particularly voracious reader, you won't find yourself charging up too often, though keeping the light on will certainly have an impact on runtime. As will WiFi and, should you opt for it, 3G. That particular upgrade will cost you an additional $70. It's not a necessity by any means, but as frequent travelers ourselves, we can attest to the fact that being able to download books anywhere is really, really nice.

Software

DNP Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review was last year's best ereader still the tops

Notice anything different? Us neither. Not at first, at least. As with the hardware, Amazon's largely stuck to its guns on the software side, and it's not hard to see why. Over the years, the Kindle OS has evolved into something quite user-friendly. As with the Fire, content is king. When you pop into the home screen, you'll see your three most recently read books (though you can also refine things by author, dates or title) with a small, dot-based progress bar showing you how far you've read. On the left side, you can click into the cloud, to see what you've got stored with Amazon. The prominence of that feature makes upgrading simple -- just turn on your device, tap on Cloud and you can repopulate your new Kindle with the books you've already purchase.

Below all of this are four suggested titles -- Amazon does want you to keep buying, after all. Personally, we prefer to just see the books we've bought up there and save the recommendations for the store -- or Goodreads, which offers a much better system for customizing suggestions. If you decided to save a couple of bucks (20, actually), by picking up the Special Offers version, the bottom sixth of the screen will feature an ad banner. If not, you'll simply have more real estate for book covers.

DNP Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review was last year's best ereader still the tops

The book carousel is also home to two new features: Dictionary and Vocabulary Builder. The Dictionary (Oxford English, to be precise) is really just an outgrowth of the offerings on past devices. This time, however, you can also consume the dictionary as a standard book, flipping through or doing a quick search. Fair warning, though: it makes for some pretty dry reading. Vocabulary Builder, meanwhile, aggregates all of the words you've looked up while reading into flashcards. You can flip through them and mark each as mastered once you're clear on the definition. Not exactly a killer app there, but it could certainly come in handy for students -- or, as one German Amazon employee pointed out when we saw the reader at IFA, those trying to master a new language.

The reading experience, too, is largely unchanged. Again, there's not much to do when you've got a page mostly full of text. In the bottom-left corner, you'll see your location in the book. You can tap through that to find out how much time you've got left in the text or in a specific chapter -- a feature that's actually helped improve our speed reading, as we often end up competing with ourselves. It's a sickness, really. We do wish Amazon would cave and display good, old-fashioned page numbers for all titles, but the "time left" feature is pretty handy nonetheless, as is the percentage of progress you've made, which is displayed in the bottom right.

Tap in the upper-right corner, and you'll add a quick bookmark, by way of a little dog-eared animation. Tap up top, and a whole bunch of options will pop up, for searching within the book, advancing to a different section, sharing passages and adjusting the font, among others. You can also change the font with a simple pinch-to-zoom maneuver, which will pop up a box featuring eight different sizes. There are also seven styles and three options for both line spacing and margins. Once again, Kobo wins on that point, with far more potential font variations. Still, we suspect that the Paperwhite's font options will prove more than sufficient for most readers. Finally, flipping between pages can done with a swipe or a tap.

DNP Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review was last year's best ereader still the tops

Hold down on a word to highlight it and the dictionary definition will pop-up. There's also a handy tab in there for looking things up on Wikipedia -- particularly useful if you're a non-fiction buff like yours truly, though as you'd expect, that functionality only works where you've got an active connection. Oh, and if Amazon's got an X-Ray listing for that particular book, that will pop up there, too. Click on a proper name, for example, and you'll see that person's bio. You can also click through to find every time someone on that particular page is mentioned throughout the book. It's a particularly handy feature if you're attempting to slog your way through an avalanche of names in a Game of Thrones-type title.

From that window, you can also add notes, share and translate. Those options pop to the front if you highlight more than one word. Amazon's also improved the dragging functionality in highlight, making it easier to pick the correct words. Clicking on a footnote symbol, meanwhile, pops up a window with the note, rather than jumping you directly to the end of the chapter -- a handy feature for quick references. And as before, when you're all finished reading, Amazon will quickly offer you some related books before you go, which is a pretty easy way to get caught in a World War II reading loop. Believe us.

DNP Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review was last year's best ereader still the tops

Nice updates, all, but Amazon's still got an ace or two up its sleeve. Thing is, some of the biggest software updates aren't even here at launch. It's a bummer, for sure, but how often do you get an e-reader software update that legitimately brings new functionality? For parents, there's FreeTime, which lets you create profiles and generally encourage more reading through achievement badges and so on. The update we're really waiting for, though, is Goodreads -- functionality we've been anticipating since Amazon bought the startup earlier this year. Kobo made a smart move in bringing Pocket integration to its line of new devices; likewise, Goodreads may well prove to be the killer app for the new Paperwhite.

Once enabled through an over-the-air update set to arrive before the holidays, Goodreads will bring a far more social reading experience. Baked directly into the Kindle's software, it will allow you to track your friends' reading, rate books and discover new titles in a more organic way. We saw a quick demo of the functionality in beta a while back, but we're going to reserve final judgment until we get the update ourselves.

Wrap-up

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite 2013 review was last year's best ereader still the tops

More Info

  • What's new in the new Kindle Paperwhite?
  • Kindle Paperwhite hands-on (mid-2013)
  • Amazon Kindle Paperwhite review

Over the past couple of weeks, we've been bombarded with ads for the All-New Paperwhite -- and on the Special Offers screen of our All-Old Paperwhite, no less. It's a tempting upgrade; we have to admit. At the end of the day, though, is it worth the $119 starting price (or for that matter, $189 for the 3G version)? Not really. For all intents and purposes, the 2013 edition is a lot like what we saw in 2012, though improved processing speeds, better front lighting, software tweaks and forthcoming Goodreads integration are all welcome updates. Ultimately, they all help solidify the Paperwhite's status as a truly terrific e-reader.

This time next year, we'd love to see a fundamental upgrade to the hardware, similar to what Kobo did with the Aura, but between the Kindle's great UI, Amazon's impossible-to-beat content selection and the price difference (the Paperwhite is $30 cheaper), the new Paperwhite is already an extremely well-rounded choice.

Edgar Alvarez and Daniel Orren contributed to this review.

93
Amazon

Kindle Paperwhite (2013)

Pros

  • Improved front light
  • Faster processor
  • Goodreads integration coming soon

Cons

  • Largely unchanged from last year
  • Not all software available at launch
  • Starting price includes ads
Conclusion

The new Paperwhite doesn't represent a huge change over last year's version, but even so, a few tweaks have made a great reader even better.

Sunday 2 March 2014

COMPUTER BILD Jeder kann zum Spam-Tter werden

Wer seinen PC nicht ausreichend sichert, kann schnell zur Spam-Schleuder werden.

COMPUTER BILD-Experte Oliver Niesner verseuchte einen PC mit der Zhelatin-Variante des Wurms und
beobachtete anschlieend dessen Verhalten. Nach der Infektion verschickte der Rechner im Hintergrund und fr den Anwender unsichtbar Spam-Mails. Das knnen bis zu 28.000 Nachrichten pro Tag sein. Zudem kommunizierte er mit anderen verseuchten PCs und wurde dadurch immer strker in das Storm-
Netzwerk integriert. Fachleute rtseln noch, wie gro dieses Netzwerk tatschlich ist.

IBM-Sicherheitsexperte Will Irace geht von weltweit bis zu 50 Millionen befallenen Rechnern aus, whrend das Computer Science Laboratory von ein bis fnf Millionen PCs spricht. Bislang fiel Storm nur durch den Versand von E-Mails auf, doch seine intelligente Programmierung macht ihn fr kriminelle Hinterleute flexibel einsetzbar: Ein Storm-verseuchter PC lsst sich fernsteuern. So kann zum Beispiel jemand die gesamte Rechenkraft des Storm-Netzwerks auf eine Firmen-Website loslassen, die dann unter dem Ansturm zusammenbricht. Gleichzeitig sind bestimmte Storm-Varianten sogar in der Lage, einige Anti-Viren-Programme auer Gefecht zu setzen.

Umsichtige Anwender sind der Storm-Front dennoch nicht schutzlos ausgeliefert: Gute Internet-Sicherheits-Programme knnen die Schdlinge erkennen. Mit der Vollversion der Kaspersky Security Suite V ist so eine Software auf der Heft-CD/-DVD von COMPUTERBILD enthalten. Das Sicherheits-Programm erkennt und entfernt alle aktuellen Storm-Varianten zuverlssig.

Den kompletten Bericht lesen Sie in der aktuellen COMPUTER BILD (Ausgabe 25/2007, ab 26. November im Handel). Wie Sie die Kaspersky Security Suite V aktivieren oder eine bereits bestehende Gratis-Lizenz verlngern, erklrt Ihnen COMPUTER BILD in diesem Artikel.

Aktivierungscode und Lizenzverlngerung fr Kaspersky-Sicherheitssoftware

Friday 14 February 2014

Another iPad 5 case leak points to iPad mini redesign

iPad 5 case leak
iPad 5 case leak

Another iPad Air case has leaked online, seemingly supporting the idea that Apple’s next 9.7-inch slate could look very similar to the iPad mini 2.

The new case appeared at a Hong Kong Electronics Fair and when compared with an iPad 4 case (pictured), the iPad 5 is seen to be narrower and slimmer than its predecessor.

If it still maintains the 9.7-inch display of all previous iPad models, the iPad 5 should have the thinner side bezels of the iPad mini and iPhone 5 designs.

According to the staff supposedly offering the latest iPad 5 case, the cover is based on a leaked mould.

Both this new case leak and previous ones that have been seen on various sites show the iPad 5 could have the same new speaker design and relocated microphone as the iPad mini as well.

Last week an alleged iPad 5 fascia emerged online, which also suggested the next-generation Apple slate will feature a greatly reduced bezel mimicking the design of the 7.9-inch iPad mini.

It is also claimed that the iPad 5 will not only be smaller in size, but thinner too, due to an all-new LED backlight device being used. The new backlight apparatus would make the display more efficient, while the display would use more energy efficient LEDs.

As with previous launches of new iPad iterations, the iPad 5 is tipped to have the usual gamut of spec improvements from a faster processor, higher-resolution cameras to sharper graphics and improved battery life.

It is still unknown whether Apple will change the display technology in the iPad 5, but the company is rumoured to be interested in Sharp IGZO technology. Such a display would allow for extreme pixel-density that is kind on battery life, and would positively change the dimensions and weight of the iPad 5.

Widely expected to be one of the first devices to come pre-installed with Apple’s new iOS 7 software, the iPad 5 is hotly rumoured to launch at the WWDC 2013 event.

Next read about the Best Tablet

Via: Engadget

Wednesday 22 January 2014

Apple Maps (for iPhone)

Apple Maps (for iPhone)
MSRP
$0.00
  • Pros

    Beautiful, vector-based 3D graphics. Loud, clear voice prompts.

  • Cons Still has serious POI and address inaccuracies. Weak traffic reporting. No road speed limits or 3D lane assistance. No street views or public transit directions. Bizarre graphical glitches on occasion.
  • Bottom Line

    Apple's now-infamous foray into mobile mapping still needs a lot of work, even if the underpinnings of a solid navigation app are in place.

By Jamie Lendino

Apple's new Maps app is at the center of what has turned out to be quite a kerfuffle in the mobile world. Now that Google Maps is back and better than ever, with its superior feature set, we can evaluate Apple Maps on its own more easily. If you're wondering whether Apple Maps is safe to use regularly for driving, the answer is a qualified yes—but Google Maps (our current Editors' Choice), Waze, and Scout by Telenav are all better GPS free nav apps at the moment, and Apple Maps continues to have serious POI-related inaccuracies. Still, it's worth a look, if only for its beautiful graphics and interface. And while Apple CEO Tim Cook has publicly apologized for Apple Maps, you can bet the company is working hard on improving it.

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User Interface and POI Search
For this review, I tested Apple Maps with a Verizon iPhone 5 running iOS 6.0.2. I was hoping that by this time, three months after the launch of iOS 6, that Apple would have incorporated some serious improvements, but so far the answer seems to be no.

Apple Maps (for iPhone)

The basic user interface is familiar enough. Tap the lower left button to bring up your current location and compass direction. Tap the bottom right corner, and the map will curl up to the left, showing buttons for dropping a pin, displaying traffic, or activating hybrid and satellite views. The satellite view is weird; it animates smoothly, but everything looks a little crunched and distorted, at least in Manhattan. The standard road display is better, but even then, the app has a curious way of highlighting strange neighborhood names and landmarks, rather than the big ones you'd expect it to.

The tiny Search bar is difficult to activate, but once you do, you can input a street address or type in search terms.  Typing "pizza" brought up 10 places scattered across the city; I zoomed into the map and ran the search again, which was much more localized. It always missed my favorite pizza place on Madison Avenue three blocks away, even though it's been there for over 20 years. This type of missing data was par for the course; the same went for various pathways in northern Manhattan. It doesn't know where my dad's old storefront is in Brooklyn, and like MapQuest, it assumes a search for East 15th Street should default to Brooklyn even though I'm standing in Manhattan.

On the other hand, POI data pages look great, with slowly panning, Ken Burns-style photo display and access to Yelp reviews. And with a single tap, you can navigate to any POI you searched for—something that Google Maps actually gets wrong, as it requires shifting to a different mode (Directions) and takes several extra taps.

Apple Maps (for iPhone)

Built-in Siri integration lets you speak destinations into the phone. But while Siri tends to be more accurate than Google Now on Android phones in terms of voice recognition, Google Maps still beats Siri for its ability to parse complex sentences (such as "take me to the museum with the Chihuly exhibit").

Performance and Conclusions
Once en route, the app really shows its stuff. The 3D buildings look gorgeous, and map animation is super-smooth. I really like the way the camera panned around to follow what I was doing; this single trick makes other GPS apps look dated. During navigation, Apple Maps presents the next one or two steps using giant green road signs; it's easy to read at a glance. That said, the font in the top bar is really small, so it's tough to read your ETA or distance remaining for the whole trip. You can also tap a button to open a list of step-by-step directions.

I didn't run into any actual navigation issues during testing; once on the road, the app seemed to work well. On the audio side, voice prompts were exceptional: Loud, clear, and well-timed. I couldn't believe how loud the iPhone 5's speaker sounded with this app. Text-to-speech also worked perfectly; I didn't hear any weird pronunciations during testing.

Lots of stuff is missing, though. There are no road speed limit signs or current speed indicator. There's no lane assistance for exiting or entering highways, either in 2D or 3D. You can't tap the display to repeat a voice command in case you didn't hear it. And as has been widely reported, there are no photorealistic street views like there are with Google Maps, and there's no public transit information for pedestrian navigation. The much-touted, photo-realistic flyovers are fun, but you can only get them in major cities, and I'd gladly trade them for some of the more useful missing features I just listed.

Apple Maps (for iPhone)

Traffic reporting, while present, is sporadic and lacks detail; all you get are dotted lines on the map representing areas of congestion. While Apple Maps has real-time traffic data with the ability to reroute around jams, you can't see it at a glance across your whole trip during actual 3D navigation, so you can't plan ahead the way you can with, say, TomTom for iPhone.

All told, Apple Maps feels more like a tech demo rather than a navigation application that's meant to be used often. The inaccurate POIs and missing features only reinforce that impression. Simply put, this is a gorgeous app that needs better data. If that were a regular con, it would be a 3.5 or 4 star app, based on its other features. But the POI and address inaccuracies are so serious, and so hamper your ability to use the app, that we're rating it much lower. For now, Google Maps is the app to beat when it comes to free, accurate driving and pedestrian directions for your iPhone, and Google's own vector-based mapping engine also looks great, even if lacks the visual pizazz of Apple Maps.

More GPS Reviews:
•   TomTom Start 55 TM
•   Magellan SmartGPS
•   Garmin nüvi 3597LMTHD
•   Garmin nüvi 2597LMT
•   Garmin (for iPhone)
•  more

Friday 3 January 2014

Facebook considering hashtag deployment to boost Graph Search

#Facebook?
#Facebook?

Facebook may be ready to follow Twitter into the weird and wonderful world of hashtags, according to reports late this week.

The social network is said to considering the introduction of the famous Twitter indexing tool to in order to help it make the recently-launched Graph Search engine more useful and efficient.

The company has already announced that it plans to index users' posts within the Graph Search platform, something which has raised yet more privacy concerns and the presence of hashtags would certainly assist this drive.

A hashtag roll-out, already present on Facebook's own Instagram platform and the Google network, would also allow the company to make more money from advertisements targeted to those tagged words, places, locations, etc.

Facebook has so far refused to comment, claiming "We do not comment on rumor or speculation,"

As well as providing site and app indexing, hashtags on Twitter and other networks have allowed users to contribute to popular topics and have their voices heard within the cacophony, but they're also used as inside jokes between users and small groups, confusing some new users.

They've also been adopted by companies seeking greater exposure on Twitter and by TV shows looking to generate chatter during the broadcasts

Unfortunately, hashtags have become so popular, they've has also made their way into popular speech in recent years. If Facebook starts using hashtags, we can expect that to continue. #Lame.

Via WSJ

Wednesday 25 December 2013

Football Manager 2014 release date announced as October 31

Football Manager 2014
Football Manager 2014

The Football Manager 2014 release date has been confirmed, with publisher Sega revealing the latest instalment to the much loved franchise will land on October 31.

Letting you take to the touchline as the manager of your own football team, the Football Manager 2014 release date will see the game hit retailers a full month after the two leading football sims, FIFA 14 and PES 2014 are made publically available.

Confirming the new October 31 Football Manager 2014 release date, Sega has pegged the game as “the most feature-packed and technically advanced release in the series’ history.”

Said to benefit from more than 1,000 enhancements over last year’s title, the Football Manager 2014 release date will see the game become more accessible, with developer Sports Interactive introducing cloud saves to let you access in-game progress from any computer.

“The integration of Steam's 'cloud save' functionality means that managers will now be able to continue a single career across a variety of computers, as long as they are logged into their Steam account,” a Sports Interactive spokesperson said. “What's more, the cross-compatibility between the Windows PC, Mac and Linux versions means that a single career can be continued across any and all of these platforms.”

With the October 31 Football Manager 2014 release date covering PC, Mac and Linux versions of the game, Sega has revealed the title will benefit from full Retina display support, as well as the option of creating and exporting YouTube highlight packages from within the game.

As well as bringing a raft of improvements to the computer based platforms, the Football Manager 2014 PS Vita edition will be the first mobile version of the game to support a 3D match engine.

Discussing the mobile title Sports Interactive stated: “The PS Vita game will also be the first handheld version of Football Manager to feature the 3D match engine.”

The developers added: “Football Manager Classic players will not only be able to continue a single career across the three computer platforms, they will also be able to continue that same career while mobile on their PS Vita (the PS Vita version of FM 2014 is also required).”

Read More: Best Games 2013

Tuesday 17 December 2013

Apple launches iOS 7-inspired iCloud Web client

Apple on Tuesday brought the revamped iCloud.com webpage, which is designed to match the style of iOS 7, out of beta, offering users a taste of what to expect when the next-generation mobile platform is released on Wednesday.

iCloud

One day before iOS 7 will become available to download, Apple has revamped the iCloud Web portal to reflect user interface changes seen in the company's mobile platform. Previously in beta testing, the update brings congruity to the two UIs, offering users a seamless experience when moving from one to the other.

Most apparent is a dynamic background borrowed from iOS 7 that shows a pastel blue gradient with constantly moving blurred orbs. Other features introduced include app icons that match iOS 7 counterparts, including Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Reminders and Find My iPhone. Icons for beta versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers are carried over from iOS 6.

It appears that Apple has rolled out the updated website to all users.