Thursday, July 26, 2012

OSX Mountain Lion is here


Yep, it's finally launched!

There are a lot of new stuff, with the main highlights being the ones that cater to the iOS user as well. Since I'm not an iOS user, it's quite easy to see how I won't benefit from some of their key features. Still, its good to take a look at the features and see how significant they are to me in my daily routine.

iCloud (Not for me)


Since I'm not an iOS user, iCloud probably won't really mean much to me. iCloud docs seem good but since it's only for iWork, it probably won't be of much use for me since my current work environment is heavy on Word and Excel...plus with Dropbox, it's syncing of all documents is pretty good enough for me that I don't even use Google Docs either.

Notes and Reminders (Ok la I currently sorta have this)


Reminders in a nutshell is an revamped version of iCal, I say revamp cause apart from location reminders, everything you can do on Reminders, you could do it previously on iCal as well.

The key difference with Reminders is that it can choose to be non-alert base, meaning, it needs not have an alarm trigger, though without an alarm trigger I might as well use Notes. But since all my reminders are in fact alarm triggers, I've been using this feature for the longest time and since iCal syncs with Google Cal, I'm alright for now...still no location reminders from Google, would love to see that become a feature as well but it really boils down to whether I'll use it.

Notes is now part of OSX and iOS...previously I was using Evernote, and then now I'm on Notational Velocity. Not that big a deal I guess, one can argue that Notes is more integrated compared to the other two apps but...ok la, you don't really need that much integration to sync a few texts across devices. With Notes though, it means you can "Zen" your mac and not rely on third party stuff.

Messages (Not for me)


When it was first launched, there were a few bugs with messages that caused texts not being sent or later being sent as a chunk when a connection is detected, of course Messages back then was in beta, maybe they've fixed this.

Honestly if done correctly, this is a super great feature, tho with quite a lot of people still on Android, Winmo, and BB, I'd say Whatsapp is still the more popular option for most...hopefully they'll have a chat client some day too?

Powernap (Looking forward to it in future!)


To my understanding, it only works with the latest range of Intel Ivy Bridge processors, so no use for me here, but this is definitely a cool feature that I'm looking forward to when I purchase my next laptop!

Dictation (Great if they get it right)


To my understanding, Apple uses Nuance's engine for its dictation, the same engine Nuance sold as a stand alone previously. I've used the standalone app before...though it does learn your accent, it still doesn't get it very clean and I found myself typing faster than I speak in this case, and stopped using it after a week of installing.

Maybe the new one's better...iono, since Nuance also owns the Swype keyboard, they've got dictation on Android as well, and though it's useful from time to time, it's mainly for short messages, not long sentences. Even Google's latest voice dictation is 90% spot on but I still find myself typing faster...maybe it's cause I stutter at times? Perhaps it is that reason.

Notifications & Sharing (Useful feature!)


You can now share directly from your windows, onto Facebook, Twitter, Message...Vimeo? If you're familiar with the Apple-Google saga you'd understand why Youtube isn't up there. Oh well...my tab for Facebook is always open (to snoop ard) and so is Twitter...but it's definitely convenient not having to copy and paste link back and forth to share something, I think that's sorta one of the reasons why I like Android's share feature...I can see myself using this on OSX too.

AirPlay (No Apple TV)


Yep. No Apple TV. =(

Game Center (Don't play that much games)


I seldom indulge in games, more movies and music for leisure, great feature but not one for me.

Gatekeeper (Great Option!)


The reason why I'm saying its a great option is cause there was a bit of concern previously about Gatekeepr preventing people from downloading and opening apps not taken from the App store (Adium being one of the examples though for me, I'm more concern with some of the apps I actually use, such as PDF Shrink, Noise Ninja etc).

I doubt it'll affect most people, but for those who are concern, they'll be glad to know that this option can be TURNED OFF. =) So that means with Gatekeeper on, it protects those who aren't familiar with messing around with their computers, with the more power user, they can decide to flick the switch and do things they way they like.

Safari (One cool feature I like)


I use Chrome...and since Chrome's on my Nexus, everything's synced...I can reopen tabs from my phone which I was viewing on my laptop. Safari now has that feature too, and thoough it is of no use to me, it's one great feature iOS users who aren't on Chrome can look forward to!

Hence, you can see Safari doesn't have much to offer me. Though there is one cool feature I like, which is the pinch to zoom out, and swipe to another tab...if you're a shortcut keyboard user, control-tab is all you'll need really, but still the pinch feature is coo la, for when you're too lazy to lean forward and touch the keyboard. =)

All New Features for China


Yes...no use to me either. =P

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So I'm still stoked about Mountain Lion, but mainly just that one sharing feature for Twitter and Facebook...productivity wise, I'm good for now, Dropbox, iCal and Notational Velocity's got me covered.

It's good to know that on an Android phone, I'm not missing out much of the features besides iMessage...it does mean, however, that with Mountain Lion's new features, it makes switching to an iPhone even easier because the stuff I'm enjoyed on my Android phone are now available on iOS with every new version update (the latest being Safari's reopening of same tabs on other devices).

I remember my key reason for using Android as my first smartphone was cause I wanted something to replace my Zen Vision media player, downsizing my carry-ons from one media player and one phone, to just one smartphone. However, along the way I've slowly grown to discover and love other features I'd not expect from it. Am definitely looking forward to seeing what's in store for the latest iPhone (are those leaks even real?)...even if I don't make the switch to iOS, at least I know Google's got me covered on the Mac platform too.

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