OS X Lion and iOS 5 intro videos

I watched this one first, and didn’t really see much that grabbed me. I’m sure there’s some great stuff here, but there’s nothing that jumped out and wowed me as something I’d use every day or that would make my life better.

I did have it in the back of my head that this release could alienate a few hardcore OSX users, whoever the hell they are, as it looks like a big change. Also if you don’t have a gesture compatible mouse you could be a bit screwed. I like gestures, but I hate the ergonomics of the mighty mouse – should I have a “proper” mouse for mousing, and a trackpad standing by for gestures? Seems like a bad idea to me.

Moving onto this one, and after not being excited about Lion I wasn’t expecting much here. But I was wrong. Wow. A lot of great features here, and things that are going to make everyday use a lot more efficient.

The new notifications system looks great, a huge improvement over what’s been there previously. Improved camera access is handy for those of us (me!) who like having a camera with them all the time, and use it a lot. The split keyboard is going to make iPad typing a lot better (my opinion here might change after using the thing, but it looks great from the video), and Wifi sync is going to be a huge improvement in terms of things feeling “cleaner” with the whole sync/charge/dock process. The new reminders app also looks pretty good – I wonder if there are any developers of todo applications out there who are feeling a little threatened right now?

Finally, not that this affects me, but iOS not needing a Mac/PC for the initial setup shows that either they are listening and paying attention to their customers, or that their simply being smart about recognising potential markets.

In summary, I’m excited about iOS 5, whereas Lion looks shiny but I can’t see anything that will improve my daily work experience – am I missing something? Let me know!

Tags: Apple, iPhone, iPad

 Print | Posted on Thursday, June 09, 2011 10:27 PM |