Apple’s latest operating system has arrived. Whilst it does not promise the major interface changes of Lion, it still has quite a bit of bulk for a simple $19.99 4GB download. Mountain Lion looks to refine rather that reinvent, with such features like Notification Center, Notes and Reminders making their debut on the Mac from iOS. After downloading the new OS X and having a play with it, here’s my take on what’s good, bad and ugly about this big cat. Go to the bottom of the page for our roundup and verdict.
Once you get through Mountain Lion’s distinctly similar login page, alterations from Lion are hard to spot. For one, the new Notification Center button hides neatly in the top right hand menu bar, and the dock has received a new facelift. It looks good, and the new Notes and Reminders icons sit well on the glass shelf.
Admittedly, the first 5 minutes of Mountain Lion weren’t its best, with a lot of stuttering, freezing and thinking. This may be because I was indexing Spotlight, getting all my mail back, loading my notifications and surfing the internet at the same time. The lag is understandable when your computer is just getting used to the new software. Thankfully, once the majority of these initial chores had finalised, I seemed to regain my 4GB of RAM back.
Other than the new dock, Mountain Lion includes but a few minor interface tweaks. Now you can search for apps in your Launchpad, and looking up a word in the dictionary requires only one three-finger tap rather than two. Overall, since Mountain Lion remembers where all of your files were, your desktop should look exactly as you left it before the install.
Notification Center is one of the best implementations in Mountain Lion. It’s seamless, subtle and very slick. If a notification comes through, like a new email or reminder, a discrete rounded panel appears in the top right of the screen letting you know, but not interrupting whatever you are doing at the time. If it’s something of interest, you can open up the iPhone-like notification panel that shifts your screen left by clicking the new icon at the top right or swiping left with two fingers.
As support for Notification Center is still in its infancy, it is still limited in its effect. But once software takes hold of what it can offer, I can imagine it becoming a very valuable tool.
After fiddling around with some of the new features; Notification Centre, Mail and the new Safari, I decided to make some notes on my thoughts for this very article. At this stage, I would normally create a new Pages document, jot down some thoughts, save it somewhere random (or don’t save it at all), and then continue onwards. But now, I almost instinctively move to the Notes application and make a new note. It works well, and the fact that I find a need for the application before I even get round to opening it for review shows its worth.
Notes is a simple but deceptively useful piece if software that allows you to quickly jot down a few thoughts without having to go through the arduous process of opening a whole new Pages or Word document. Its simplicity means it is quick and easy to delete and make notes when you see fit. You can create note folders which is useful if you want to keep sets of notes separate. And of course, everything is linked up with iCloud. This means notes on your iPad or iPhone will automatically be transferred to your Mac and vice versa.
Reminders works almost exactly like the same-named application on your iDevice. It allows you to make checklists and even set alarms for certain days of the week at certain times. It’s as equally well implemented on the Mac as it is on the iPhone and iPad, but its unavoidable flaws are very apparent. Reminders is, and forever will be, more suited to the iDevice platform purely because of portability. Whilst you are not always on your laptop or iMac when you need a reminder to do something, you can guarantee you will receive a notification to your phone which you are more likely to have on you. It’s still good for those who like to keep tasks tightly managed, but it is a feature I can’t see myself using regularly.
Safari’s most notable newest feature is Tab View which once again lends itself to the multitouch features of the trackpad. Once pinched, the Safari screen zooms out, revealing all of the other tabs open, allowing you to swipe between them. Its convenience can’t be understated for Macbook users, and it is implemented very well.
As well as being easy to switch between, Safari tabs can also be linked to your iPad and iPhone using iCloud, allowing you to resume right where you left off form another machine. The unified search field is a long awaited relief, and the extra Twitter sharing capabilities will be a excellent addition for avid Twitter users.
Game Center’s strengths are with its cross-platform multiplayer. No doubt achievement freaks will enjoy reaching new challenges, and the leader boards will generate buzz around a game, but multiplayer has the biggest promise. Game Center cross-platform multiplayer, which has already been implemented into Real Racing 2 and Sky Gamblers, allows you to play against those on an iPhone and iPad in realtime. It’s an easy solution for developers to implement multiplayer into their games, and will hopefully encourage more online titles on the Mac App Store. However, the lack of current support for Game Center – there are only 7 games that currently support it – has led it to be quite a lacklustre program for now.
Dictation in Mountain Lion is no Siri, but allows you to dictate speech into text on the page in any text field. I have always felt odd talking to my computer, but there is no doubt Dictation works, at least for my Southern English accent.
Mail’s refresh is so minor that it hardly gets mentioned at all by Apple. There is a new VIP system where you can mark contacts as important people, and all incoming emails automatically get sent to the notification center, but only if the application is open. However, despite so little tampering, it’s a wonder why Apple decided to get rid of one of the most insignificant, yet helpful little features of Mail; the little rings that signify when a mailbox is searching for mail. It’s a simple and almost trivial issue, but after using mail extensively for years, it’s incredibly frustrating not knowing when your mailbox is searching, and when it’s sitting idle.
This time around we have scored Mountain Lion on each of its flagship new features.
The green tick represents a new feature that is a valuable addition to the product. .
The yellow dash is a new feature that doesn’t have a huge impact on the final product. -
The red cross represents a new feature that has either has a shoddy implementation, or takes a step back from the previous version.
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Interface | Nothing much has changed, but whatever has is welcome. |
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Performance | First 5 minutes of use is understandably slow, but after the initial checks are complete, Mountain Lion runs like a charm. |
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Notification Center | Subtle yet powerful. Once apps get a hold of its power, it is sure to be one of the best features for Mac. |
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Notes | Notes is perfect for jotting down thoughts without having to load up a new document. Easy, quick and simple. |
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Reminders | Reminders doesn’t have the same appeal as the iOS version does, meaning it is more likely to be underused. |
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Game Center | Game Center has potential with its cross-platform multiplayer, but the lack of games that support it means it is underwhelming at the moment. |
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Safari | A small upgrade with some welcome changes. |
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The very minor upgrades are counterweighted by the simple exclusion of spinning wheels, which makes it the only regretful feature of Mountain Lion | |
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Dication | Built around the Siri framework, Dictation is the most advanced dictation software around. Whilst I can’t see myself using it much, it is expertly implemented for those who will. |
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Cost Effectiveness | At just $19.99/£13.99, Mountain Lion is a steal when compared to other systems. The Mac App Store makes it easily accessible. Unless you’re starved of an internet connection that is. |
Even though Mountain Lion is less of an interface overhaul than Lion, it continues to blur the line between Mac and iOS, with new features that fit perfectly on the Mac system.
