OS X Yosemite Preview: Apple's Windows 8 Antidote
As the post-PC era marches on, it's incumbent upon Apple to find ways to unite the mobile and desktop experiences. OS X Yosemite does just that -- without mashing them together like Windows 8. Start composing an email on your iPhone, and you can pick up where you left off on your Mac. Or, dial that restaurant you just searched for right from your MacBook. Apple calls this sort of integration continuity, and it's a brilliant idea.
Spoiler alert: Apple wasn't ready for us to test this most exciting aspect of Yosemite for this preview (using the Developer Preview build), because it requires a device running the upcoming iOS 8. We also couldn't try iCloud Drive, which lets you drag documents to a folder and then access them from your Mac, iOS device or Windows PC. But there are tons of other enhancements that are ready for a critical look, including a fresh new design, a more powerful Spotlight feature, a new Today view, and a leaner and meaner Safari.
For the first time, Apple will be opening up its OS X beta to the public this summer, enabling Mac owners to kick the tires and provide feedback ahead of the fall launch. There's a lot of things we like about this release, but we're glad that Apple has a little more time to iron out the bugs before consumers get their hands on it.
Editors' Note: Apple granted Laptop Mag permission to capture screenshots of OS X Yosemite for this preview.
Design
Flatter, cleaner and chock-full of translucency, OS X Yosemite gives the Mac the same sort of extreme makeover the iPhone and iPad received with iOS 7. The icons in the dock look tighter and more modern -- making them easier to spot -- and every app has a much more spare-looking aesthetic. However, in some cases, the changes create problems were none previously existed.
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We're glad that Apple revamped the Toolbar controls at the top of windows. In the top-left corner, you'll find the same red, yellow and green stoplight buttons as before, but they're flatter. More important, Yosemite axes the separate full-screen button, instead making the green button serve that purpose. No more redundancy. Another nice touch: As you hover over the buttons, they reveal their functions.
Another big theme of Yosemite is translucency. Apple didn't just add this effect to make OS X look fancy; it's designed to provide a sense of depth, making it easier to identify one app from another when they're stacked on the desktop. Some apps also have a translucent sidebar, allowing you to see through to the desktop wallpaper. The same translucent treatment applies to the toolbars for apps; when they drop down, they take on the color of what's in the background.
We have a couple of complaints about this feature. The background color of an app can interfere with the dock at the bottom of the screen, should they overlap, which can make it difficult to discern the icons.
And while we appreciate the flat redesign for the most part, in some cases, it can be extreme, such as the Safari browser. The lines between open tabs is so fine that it takes more time for your brain to process what's what.
Today View
If you're looking for evidence that the design teams for OS X and iOS are collaborating, look no further than the new Today View in Yosemite. Swiping in from the right with two fingers on the touchpad launches a dashboard with two tabs: Today and Notifications.
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At a glance, you can see upcoming appointments, birthdays, reminders, the latest weather, stocks and more. You can also quickly update your LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter status, or start composing an iMessage. We're particularly excited by the Today View's support for widgets. For example, you can add a calculator to this screen for easy access.
Things will really get interesting when Apple allows users to download widgets from the Mac App Store. The company showed an ESPN ScoreCenter widget during Yosemite's unveiling, as well as an eBay widget that will let you monitor auctions or up your bid. The latter option was shown for iOS 8, but we suspect it will make its way to Yosemite as well.
We actually prefer having widgets in this location than on the desktop, as they'll be easier to access. However, the Today View can get pretty long vertically the more options you add. Perhaps Apple could consider adding a second swipe to the left to see all your widgets at once, sort of like a Mission Control view.
Spotlight
Spotlight is one of the most underrated features of OS X, so it was smart for Apple to put it front and center in Yosemite. Tapping the little magnifying glass in the top-right corner now launches a window in the middle of your desktop (or you can type Command-Space). Spotlight doesn't just look better, though -- it's now so much more powerful that you may use Google less.
Similar to the Smart Search feature in Windows 8.1, Yosemite can suck info in from the Web, depending on the search. For instance, as we typed "San Francisco," Spotlight displayed a snippet from Wikipedia that provided a description and key faces, as well as a link to the full article. Yosemite's Spotlight interface isn't as immersive as Microsoft's version, but we suspect Apple would prefer that this tool not take over your display.
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Some Spotlight results are interactive, but we wish more had this feature. For example, you can dial a friend (once iOS 8 is live), send her a message or locate her in Maps. You can also get directions to nearby places, look up what movies are playing and see the trailers.
However, although you can preview iTunes results from music albums (and other content), you can't play the content within the Spotlight window. You'll be shuttled off to iTunes Preview in the browser.
Our favorite feature is unit conversion, something we usually leave to Google. If you're previewing an email message in Spotlight and there's a link in the thumbnail, you can click on it to launch Safari. We wouldn't mind if Apple added the ability to copy and paste text from these previews, though.
Safari
With OS X Mavericks, a lot of the new enhancements were behind the scenes, such as a boosted performance and a revamped Sidebar that let you see what your friends and followers are posting to Twitter and LinkedIn. Get ready for a huge change. OS X Yosemite represents a complete design overhaul, starting with the toolbar.
To make more room for websites, Apple doesn't display a bookmarks bar by default. Instead, you'll see a grid of your favorite sites every time you tap the address bar. While we appreciate the slicker look, it's one more step.
It also takes an extra step to share URLs now if you go the manual route, as Safari displays just the domain by default; you'll need to click in the bar first and then select it. Fortunately, clicking the bar automatically selects the whole URL. Those who use Safari's Share button will be able to share directly from the browser to Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, as well as Messages, Mail and AirDrop.
For those who tend to have too many tabs open (like us), OS X Yosemite offers a new tab view that displays them in a grid. Pages from the same site are stacked on each other. If you're still having trouble locating a tab, you can find it just by typing on this screen. Speaking of search, the address bar doubles as a Spotlight suggestions bar.
Concerned about privacy? Safari now lets you open a separate Private Browsing Window, and it supports DuckDuckGo searches, which does not track users or store your queries or info.
Have you ever wished you could sign a document using your touchpad? The improved Mail app enables that neat trick, along with other goodies, via a new Markup and Annotation feature. It took a few seconds to figure out the menus, but we liked how we could draw a circle around an image attachment --Yosemite smoothes out the shapes -- as well as add a text box. We could even zoom in on a part of the image we wanted to highlight via a virtual loop.
Not a fan of zipping large files before you send them as attachments? Yosemite's mail app handles that for you. You can send ginormous videos or other items of up to 5GB. iCloud takes care of the rest. A recipient will receive a link to download the item, keeping them from maxing out the allotted space in their email accounts. We successfully sent 188MB of files to our Gmail account.
Messages
Sometimes, words and pictures don't say enough. That's why Apple is offering a new Soundbites feature in the Messages application. Just tap the microphone button to capture your clip, and then send it off. A nearby friend played our message right through the Messages app on his iPhone.
Taking a page from WhatsApp and other messaging apps, Yosemite also improves the group messaging experience. You can name conversations to make them easier to follow, mute notifications from them or drop out at any time. (iOS 8 will get a similar functionality.)
Continuity: Handoff, Phone Calls and Instant Hotspot
This is the one area where OS X Yosemite truly stands out versus Windows 8: devising new ways for smartphones and PCs to interact.
Take Handoff, which lets you pick up where you left off on your Mac or iPhone using a combination of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. For example, you could start typing an email on your iPhone, walk up to your Mac and instantly start finishing up the message on your desktop. Conversely, you could create a presentation on your Mac and then access it on your iPad as you walk toward your meeting.
To signal that a Handoff is waiting for you, your Mac or iOS device will display an icon on the bottom-left corner of the display. Note that this service will only work with Apple's own apps (at least at launch). The list includes Mail, Safari, Maps, Messages, Reminders, Calendar, Contacts, Notes and the iWork suite.
OS X Yosemite integrates with iOS 8 devices in other clever ways. You can make and answer calls right from your Mac -- and not just with contacts, but also businesses you might search for online or in Spotlight. Our favorite feature: You can click to dial a conference-call number right from your calendar.
Messages will also benefit from iOS-Yosemite integration. You'll finally be able to send texts to friends and business contacts who don't use iOS. This includes MMS messages.
AirDrop, too, now works between iOS and OS X devices -- a long-overdue feature. Even better, you won't need iOS 8. We were able to send photos back and forth to an iPhone 5s running iOS 7 on the same network.
Last but not least, Instant Hotspot lets you use your iPhone as a hotspot without having to touch the phone itself. It will appear in the Wi-Fi network menu just like any other network.
Unfortunately, we'll have to wait until we can formally test iOS 8 devices to get a better feel for how well all of these continuity features work.
Performance
We wish we could say that our developer preview build of OS X Yosemite 10.10 just hummed along, but we noticed instability and buggy behavior on our MacBook Pro 15-inch during testing. For instance, the Mail app crashed several times (though we were trying to delete a lot of old messages), and one time, the search function froze within Preview.
We experienced a similar issue in the Finder: We had to exit and reopen the tool. On another occasion, the Finder results window became a weird blob of color and text.
We hit another wall at one point when we clicked the Displays option in System Preferences or, more accurately, a spinning beach ball. While we were writing this review in Pages, the app crashed. It's clear that Apple has lots of fine-tuning to do before the consumer beta version is released.
Safari proved a little buggy, too. We noticed that one of the thumbnails in the new thumbnail view was vibrating. The good news is that Apple should deliver a more stable beta version of Yosemite to consumers to test.
More good news: Apple promises up to 2 additional hours of battery life when streaming Netflix. We'll have to wait for the consumer beta version in order to test that claim.
iCloud Drive
Another feature we couldn't test for this preview is iCloud Drive, which finally brings a folder structure to iCloud. You'll be able to drag documents to it and organize them, just as you would with anything else in Finder. (iCloud Drive will be its own folder on the Finder sidebar.) The difference is that everything will stay in sync across your iDevices.
Bottom Line
OS X Yosemite represents a bold new look for the Mac, but what's more important is how Apple is approaching the post-PC world. Those who prefer a more familiar desktop environment are still going to have it, but Yosemite weaves in mobile experiences where it makes sense. Features such as Handoff and the ability to make calls from your Mac go well beyond the iCloud bridge Apple has used up until now. We just wish we didn't have to wait for iOS 8 to see how well it all works.
In the meantime, those who decide to take the plunge with Yosemite will enjoy a much cleaner and more modern interface, a beefed-up search in Spotlight and a Today view you'll use more often, especially once developers get their hands on it to deliver widgets. The ability to annotate images and send large files in Mail without zip headaches is another plus.
As much as we like Yosemite, though, we wouldn't make this our primary OS until Apple has worked out the performance bugs. (The consumer beta version should prove more stable.) There are also some things we wish Apple had tackled with this release. Mission Control is still not the best way to multitask, as you can't close apps from this view. And we wonder how much value Launchpad has now that Apple has modernized the dock; it feels almost vestigial.
Overall, though, OS X Yosemite proves that Apple's innovation juices are still very much flowing.
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