Back to the Mac: OS X 10.7 Lion Review
by Andrew Cunningham, Kristian Vättö & Anand Lal Shimpi on July 20, 2011 8:30 AM ESTLike iCal and Mail, Address Book also gains a new, iPad-like look. Like on the iPad, you have a window that looks like a real personal organizer.
Standard Organizer layout
On the left-hand-side, you have a list of alphabetically sorted contacts. On the right-hand-side, you have the information for the contact you have selected. In the bottom right, there are two buttons: Edit and Share. Edit is fairly obvious and it simply lets you edit the information of the selected contact. Share button prompts you with a new email window with the contact’s .vcf file attached to it, so you can easily share contacts. There is also a plus button on the bottom which generates a new contact.
Simplified layout
In the left bottom corner, there is a button to change the layout. There are two options: The first one is the List & Card (organizer) view from iPad but second display mode provides a much more simplified view. You don’t have a list of contacts anymore, only the search bar, contact’s information and left and right arrow buttons. If you already know who you are looking for, this view is enough, you don’t need the list of contacts hogging your precious screen estate, you can just use the search.
Groups view
In the organizer view, there is a red bookmark and like in iPad’s Address Book, it takes you “one page backwards” to your list of groups. Many of us have different groups for relatives, co-workers and friends, so this can be useful. Groups were present in the old Address Book as well, so this isn’t a new feature, the user interface is just slightly different.
Apart from UI changes, there are a few new features too, which are mainly concentrated on improved social networking and instant messaging support. You should now see instant messaging availability in Address Book. If the contact is available, then there is a green ball next to the picture in Address Book. Red means the contact is away, just like in iChat. Unfortunately the support seems to be limited to iChat as we weren’t able to get any indication of user’s availability with MSN for example when using Adium. In addition to instant messaging support, you can now add social network profiles like Facebook to a contact's information. At least in our tests, adding a Facebook profile didn’t make any difference and you weren’t even able to access the profile though Address Book. FaceTime calls from Address Book are supported as well and can be started by just clicking an email address and choosing FaceTime.
All in all, the new Address Book isn’t that special. The biggest change is the UI and like all UI changes, it will divide people into two groups: Some people like it, others don’t. In my opinion, the new looks of iCal and Address Book don’t really suit with the overall look of OS X. All other windows have grey toolbars and overall designs but the brownish look of iCal and Address book stick out quite a lot. It works in iPad where all apps are full screen but when all of your other windows are greyish, iCal and Address Book windows look like they got lost from the iPad.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
106 Comments
View All Comments
khimera2000 - Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - link
that's pretty neat. It looks like it adds in a bunch of interesting features. The one trend I do see it that both mac and M$ are driving components from there mobile platforms into there desktops. I don't mind if they do this, but I still want a different feel between devices.As for the complaints and shouts of if its a service pack that should be free, or if its an update worth 30 bucks. On this subject I think that there is no comparison, M$ has a setup that benefits its use of massive volume licencing, but the option to pay for service packs makes sense for a company that does not dominate 90% of the market, but want to maintain more talent to add more features. I know that some people might take offense to this, but its my opinion so screw you.
Still confused on the full screen thing, I can move between applications easily, with all of them in full screen, its called ALT+TAB, or Win+Tab, or CTRL+TAB (when you want to cycle through your web browser only. so the entire portion where he says its a advantage over win (this feature) makes me confused, then again i'm a big fan of keyboard shortcuts, so i could be missing things. I'm hoping that the full screen feature pans out. I am considering getting one, but not till they leave the OSX family. (still hate the way it came to be >.<)
the movement away from CD is great, here's hoping that there are plans in the works for all software to be distributed like this, because... I cant remember the last time i walked into a store and asked myself what program do i need...
Over all it was a interesting read.
chenedwa - Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - link
I just installed Lion on my circa 2009 MBP 2.53GHz C2D. I then tried to download the latest Parallels update via WiFi using Firefox 8 beta and was getting phenominal transfer speeds of more than 900kB/sec for the 203MB download! Wow!Uritziel - Friday, July 22, 2011 - link
None of that sounds wow worthy...Uritziel - Friday, July 22, 2011 - link
Or applicable to the article...ThreeDee912 - Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - link
About future support for the white MacBooks, it appears that Apple has silently discontinued them. They're nowhere to be found on the Apple Store website.Engadget also reported that they received word from Apple that they really were discontinued:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/20/the-macbook-dro...
secretmanofagent - Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - link
"Also missing is the button in the upper right-hand corner that would invoke icon-only view - those of you who use it will have to become acquainted with Alt+Command+T, a keyboard shortcut that toggles this change."Should be Command-Option-T.
SmCaudata - Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - link
So with my early 2008 Mac Book I already took a hit to batter life with Snow Leopard. In fact, I just got a new battery and after a couple of months the health reads at 80%. I have seen other's with this issue but the posts often get deleted on the main apple forums. Now I would take another hit to upgrade to Lion?I really liked my MacBook Pro when I got it, but this blatant disregard for current customers in a push to get people to upgrade is ridiculous. My laptop has plenty of power for laptop tasks. I don't need to upgrade hardware for performance reasons.
Remember how much crap Microsoft took for making Vista a system hog on older systems? Do you think that Apple will ever see anywhere near the rage?
name99 - Thursday, July 21, 2011 - link
Then don't upgrade.What are you so angry about? Your mac will work just like it used to. Apple will continue to provide security and other updates for at least three years. You'll get iTunes and Safari updates. What's the problem?
If you find you HAVE to have some Lion feature, sell your MacBook on eBay --- you'll get a surprisingly good price.
MonkeyPaw - Wednesday, July 20, 2011 - link
The 64 bit support isn't entirely an Apple issue. It is Intel that treats 64 bit as a feature to be hacked out of CPUs on a whim to make them "cheaper." It just bugs me the way its been handled by everyone but AMD. 64bit sure looks like the future, but here we are dragging our heels on support.Anyway, does OSX support SMT? I thought that it didn't, but I see the latest specs of hardware with the 2/4 core/thread configuration.
tipoo - Thursday, July 21, 2011 - link
Ehh? SMT is a processor feature, OSX will use as many cores (real or virtual) as you can throw at it.