Online polls find many prefer iOS 7 icons over iOS 6

After Apple unveiled the new look of its iOS 7 mobile operating system earlier this month, many in the design world criticized the platform. But a series of online polls this week show many users like the icons featured in the upcoming operating system more than those in iOS 6.

The polling service Polar is hosting a series of polls comparing icons on iOS 6 with their iOS 7 counterparts. In most of the polls, users are choosing the new operating system, and when votes from all of the polls are added up together, more go for iOS 7.

Out of the 289,000 votes cast so far, 66% favor iOS 7 icons, according to Polar. In total, 26 icons are compared, and iOS 7 icons win in 20 of the polls.

PHOTOS: The hidden gems of iOS 7

In the case of the iTunes, Weather, Compass, Phone apps and a few others, iOS 7 wins in a landslide.

“What this might tell us is that the new icons are an improvement on the old,” said Luke Wroblewski, chief executive of Polar’s parent company, Input Factory Inc. “But that’s only when you are comparing icon to icon, not when you are looking at [or using] the complete operating system.”

The testing is only, at this point, on individual icons.

Apple doesn’t plan to release iOS 7 to the public until this fall. For now, only developers have access to a beta version of the new operating system, so Apple still has time to make changes.

Given the voting in the poll, Apple should probably look at changing the icons of the Game Center, Safari and Camera apps, all of which had more votes for their iOS 6 versions than iOS 7.

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