I’ve seen a glimpse of the future and I didn’t like what I saw. I tried out the iOS7 beta from Apple. Some of you may recall that last year I went from the iPhone to the Galaxy S3 and really didn’t care for it and returned to Apple. In case you didn’t know, I don’t do fanboy. In other words I don’t run around believing ANY product is great because of the brand. I like whatever is best, in my opinion.

In this case, my iPhone had both a few scratches on the screen and a broken power button. It needed to be repaired or replaced and my contract was coming up. I had used iOS7 beta for a week and it was, to be perfectly honest, horrible. There were a few bright spots but overall the experience was bad. I have beta tested for many, many years so I am aware of possible issues with the software, plus I read the notes. I don’t see the next iPhone catching up to the competition. Nothing mentioned comes even close. I would even say that if Steve Jobs was alive, you would never have seen a beta like this. I think he would have had a fit!

John Ivy has said that “I think there is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency.” I agree, but making dull icons is none of those things. Apple has remained closed lip as always regarding the next products but it’s my opinion that if this is a taste of what’s to come then it’s time to abandon ship. Everything I have seen and read makes me go meh.

I did some reading and decided between the HTC Evo and the Samsung S4. I did decide on the S4 and while people say the differences from the 3 to 4 are minimal, I strongly disagree. If you went from an S2 to an S3 to an S4 then the changes are subtle. But if you had an S3 for a short time and jumped to the S4 a year later, the differences are night and day. I found the S4 easier to use than the S3 and to me, that’s a big deal. One problem I had with the S3 is that it simply was not as intuitive as the iPhone. That problem seems resolved and the interface is more friendly and polished. The calendar works so much easier, for example. Little things like that make a big difference.

They really need to ditch the bloat or allow the user to do so. What a waste of space. Loving the big “phablet” size and enjoying customizing it. I am also glad to be rid of iTunes, the one thing that I consistently hated about my iPhone. The graphics are nice, the camera is impressive and in case I forget, it actually is a really good phone. You know; the phone part of Smartphone.

It’s all good. I hope Apple makes a killer next phone because Apple set the bar, if we are being honest, for everything that followed it. Now, it’s starting to look the other way around.