Some tricks with new iOS 7, iPhone 5S, iPhone 5C

Apple's new iPhones and iOS 7 operating system for
mobile devices are packed with new features,
although not of all them are readily apparent. I've
had a chance to learn a few tricks in the week I
spent with both the iPhone 5C and the iPhone 5S,
which come with iOS 7 installed.
Here are five things to know if you download the
software on one of Apple's older mobile devices
starting Wednesday or buy a new iPhone starting
Friday. The update is available for free for the
iPhone 4, 4S and 5 models, the iPad 2 and later, the
iPad Mini and the iPod Touch released last year.
You'll need about 3 gigabytes of free storage.
TIP ONE: CONTROL CENTER AND SWIPES
Many of the improvements added to iOS 7 are
delivered after swiping from various edges of the
screen. This redesign is meant to make it easier to
navigate, but there is no guide for knowing when
and how to swipe. Fortunately, you can still use an
iPhone the traditional way, by tapping on an icon or
button, even if you don't learn all the new ways to
swipe.
As a general rule of thumb, keep swiping from
various edges to see what happens. If you discover
something neat, remember it for next time. Swiping
may produce different results if you're in the lock
screen, the home screen or an app.
Here's a guide to the basic swipes:
- From the lock screen, swipe up from the bottom
right corner to access the camera. This is a holdover
from iOS 6.
- Whether locked or unlocked, swipe up from
anywhere else along the bottom edge to get the
Control Center. It gives you easy access to
frequently accessed settings such as Airplane Mode
and Wi-Fi. It also gets you to key apps such as the
flashlight feature and the clock, for timing how long
the turkey needs to be in the oven. There's a
volume control, but only for audio and video
playback. You need the volume buttons for the
ringer and alerts.
- Swipe down from the top edge to get the
Notification Center. You'll see the day's highlights,
including the weather, appointments and stock
quotes. Tap on "All" or "Missed" near the top to get
recent notifications from Gmail, Facebook and other
services.
- Swipe down from anywhere else on the screen to
get a search box.
- From various Apple apps, try swiping from the left
or the right. Not every app will respond, but many
will. With the Safari browser, for instance, you can
use the left and right swipes in place of the back
and forward buttons.
TIP TWO: ORGANIZING AND SHARING PHOTOS
The new Photos app organizes your photos into
moments, based on when and where you took the
photos. Several moments will be grouped into a
collection, such as a vacation to Europe. Collections
will then be grouped by year. It's all automated, so
you can't reorganize shots if you would rather break
a collection into two. But it's better than having
hundreds of unorganized photos.
From any moment, collection or year, click on the
header on top of the photos to pull out a map
showing all the places you've been, with the
number of shots taken at each. You can share entire
moments, by hitting "Share" on the right side of that
header. A menu should pop out from the bottom. It's
tricky because it's easy to miss and hit "Select"
above it instead.
Once you have the moment or set of photos chosen,
another menu will pop out from the bottom, giving
you such choices as sharing by email, Facebook,
Flickr or text messaging.
TIP THREE: ASK SIRI
Frustrated with Siri's inability to hear what you're
trying to say? Instead of repeating yourself over and
over, you can click "tap to edit" to make the change
manually. You shouldn't have to with voice search,
but fixing one letter is still easier than having to
type in the entire phrase.
Just for fun, you can give Siri a sex change by going
to the settings, choosing "General," then "Siri," then
"Voice Gender." You can now use Siri to change
phone settings and return recent calls. And Siri will
speak out turn-by-turn directions when walking.
Before, the vocal instructions were limited to
driving directions in Maps.
TIP FOUR: FREEBIES
Apple's new streaming music service, iTunes Radio,
is easy to find. Click on the Music icon at the bottom
of each home screen, then choose "Radio" at the
bottom. Create music stations by choosing some
genres you like. Then fine-tune your picks by hitting
the star when a tune is playing. You can ask the
service to play more songs like it or remove that
song from future playlists entirely. You can also
create new stations based on specific songs or
artists. The service will try to find other songs like
them.
Best of all, it's free. Just prepare to put up with
some ads, unless you subscribe to Apple's iTunes
Match for $25 a year.
Meanwhile, you might qualify for some free apps -
Pages for word processing, Numbers for
spreadsheets, Keynote for presentations, iPhoto for
photo editing and iMovie for movie editing. They
usually cost $5 or $10 each. To qualify, you need to
buy a new iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The offer is
retroactive to Sept. 1. Once a new device is
activated, the app can be downloaded for free to
other devices on the same account, as long as the
device is upgraded to iOS 7.
TIP FIVE: FINGERPRINTING
With the new fingerprint ID system on the iPhone
5S, there's no longer a reason to avoid protecting
your phone with a passcode. I know passcodes can
be very disruptive. I've often lost my train of
thought before I could get to an app to jot
something down. But your fingerprint now bypasses
the need to type in a four-digit code in many
situations.
It's easy to set up. The iPhone will walk you through
scanning one finger when you set up the phone. You
can scan four more fingers - yours or someone
else's - by going to the settings. Go to "General,"
then "Passcode & Fingerprint."
I'm still confronted with passcode screens,
especially when I need to authenticate an app
purchase. It took me a few days to realize that even
though you're asked for a passcode, the fingerprint
usually works unless the phone specifically tells
you otherwise.
One more thing: The screen needs to be on for the
fingerprint sensor to work. To save a step, just
press on the home button firmly and let the button
pop back up. But keep your finger lightly touching
the button's surface. The hard press will activate
the screen, and the light touch will unlock the
phone.
(Indianexpress)

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