Hands on with Apple iOS 7.1: What's new? (pictures)

The iPhone's main feature, the Phone app, has been redesigned with rounded buttons instead of square spaces. The background still blurrs through when a button is pressed.

For iPhone 5s users, the Touch ID fingerprint sensor has been improved significantly, with the aim of reducing how many attempts it takes to recognize an authorized user's fingerprint.

From the Phone app, you can now add a contact directly by tapping in a person's phone number, and tapping the circled plus button to the left.

Users can now switch between light and dark keyboards from the Accessibility settings.

The keyboard has also been improved to make it visually easier to see whether or not the upper-case mode has been enabled. Tap twice on the shift key to enable capitals.

From left-to-right: Caps lock mode, shift mode, normal lower-case mode.

A very slight visual change has been made to the Message, Phone, and FaceTime app icons, making their color darker and the graphics flatter.

For those struggling to see where the buttons are in the upper-left and upper-right hand corners of menus, it's now easier to see with Button Shapes enabled. This is one of numerous accessibility improvements made to iOS 7.1.

You can now reject a call from the Phone app when a call is received by pushing the red "decline" button.

In keeping with the rounded design changes, the power off screen now features a different, more circular slide-off switch.

Siri now knows when you're finished talking to it, by using the Home button as a "push-to-talk" control. Hold the Home button down when you're asking it a question, and release it when you're done.

Siri's voice for certain regions is far more natural, clearer, and easier to understand than before. No more of this robotic-type audible feedback from your iPhone or iPad.

You can now choose whether or not to enable or disable the "parallax" effect — the background motion feature — from the screen where you set your wallpaper, instead of diving deep into the Settings app.

Daily scheduled items are now displayed at the bottom of each day chosen in the Calendar app, giving users an at-a-glance look at what's ahead on their schedule.

CarPlay, previously known as iOS in the Car, is included in iOS 7.1, allowing users with select vehicles to hook their iPhones to their car displays. This enables phone calling, maps and navigation, and Siri-based functions while you're driving.