Photo courtesy of technobruus.com.

With Apple a contending front runner of most electronic products, its only fitting that its new operating system is all the hype. Does the system really live up to its expectations?

Microsoft released its new operating system on Sept. 18, though many had access sooner as part of a beta testing campaign. The system is available for all iPhone products dating back to the 2010 models.

The good

The design of the system is much different than its predecessor. Instead of having the apps appear three-dimensional, they appear flatter and more colorful.

One useful feature about the new system is the ability to automatically update applications. This feature makes life a bit easier for the general user because they do not have to go through their applications and update them one by one to the latest version.

The most talked about new feature of iOS7 system is the control center. The control center cuts out the need to flip through a number of pages to reach the settings. Now you can change the brightness of the background, toggle wifi, airplane mode and other commonly updated settings with a swipe of your finger that brings up the control center.

“The (control center) is so accessible and helpful,” sophomore Alissa Zink said.

An unusual addition that is neither extremely helpful nor harmful is the ability to tap the side of the text messaging screen and see exactly when each message arrived. The previous system only showed the time arrival of the first message in a thread.

Airdrop allows for the quick sharing of just about any application including contacts, videos and photos. One slight problem with this feature is only users of the iPhone 5 can enjoy it.

For music listeners, the iTunes-Radio is a convenient addition to the phone. The radio is set up much like the popular music-listening service Pandora. Channels of artists in similar genres are available for instant listening, and if you like the song you can buy it from iTunes in one quick click.

The bad

The largest complaint seen about iOS7 comes from users that have older devices. The system still works on these devices but operates much slower than iOS6 ever did. Also, animations when opening and closing applications are much slower on older phones.

“My least favorite part is the new multitasking menu,” Zink said. “It is harder for me to navigate and much slower than on the iOS6.”

iOS7 does not allow for the orientation of the applications to rotate when the screen is turned to landscape view. One would assume that Apple would make that adjustment because it is available on iPads and other devices.

The game center needed a serious update from the iOS6, but all it got was some minor cosmetic surgery, and the addition of the rainbow bubbles is slightly offsetting in a program that contains among other things, many violent games. iOS7 needed to be able to set up multiplayer games and find other games based on your interests but failed to live up to this standard.

In general, iOS7 is worth the download because it is a compelling upgrade. It takes time to navigate the new system, but iOS7 makes improvements on iOS6.

Erin Cheever is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. She can be reached at erin.cheever@my.und.edu