How to Upgrade Your Mac to OS X Yosemite and Get Acquainted with Apple’s Latest Operating System
- OS X Yosemite Has a New Look, Plus Hundreds of New Features
- OS X Yosemite Will Evolve Over Time
- OS X Yosemite is a Free Update
- Final Thoughts?
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One of the greatest things about using a Mac in conjunction with an iPhone and/or iPad is that app-specific content can be set up to automatically sync and become almost instantly accessible from all of your computers and mobile devices. This is something that Apple continues to expand upon with OS X Yosemite for the Mac, and iOS 8 for its mobile devices.
OS X Yosemite Has a New Look, Plus Hundreds of New Features
In addition to the aesthetic redesign of OS X Yosemite, and the hundreds of new features that are available to make your everyday computer-related activities more streamlined, features like Continuity, Handoff, AirDrop, and AirPlay have been introduced or enhanced to allow for the seamless sharing of app-specific data, as well as other documents, files, photos, and content, between Macs and iOS mobile devices linked to the same iCloud account.
Beyond just sharing content, the Handoff and Continuity features built into OS X Yosemite and iOS 8 allow for incoming calls to an iPhone to be answered on a Mac or iPad. Meanwhile, an iPhone’s Internet connectivity via a 3G/4G (LTE) cellular data connection can also now be utilized to create a Wi-Fi hotspot for a Mac that’s in close proximity using the new Instant Hotspot feature.
Plus, the iPhone can be used as a conduit to send and receive SMS and MMS text messages via your cellular service provider’s network (in addition to using iMessage to communicate with other Apple users via Apple’s Internet-based messaging service). It’s also possible to start working with an app on one computer or device, and then immediately pick up exactly where you left off on another.
Pre-existing features, like AirDrop, now work between Macs and iOS mobile devices, and the Spotlight Search feature built into OS X Yosemite is “smarter” than ever, allowing you to quickly find any data or content stored within your computer, or quickly acquire information from the Internet.
For example, in addition to quickly allowing you to find any information or content stored within your Mac, whether it’s someone’s entry from Contacts, an appointment stored within Calendar, a sentence incorporated into a Word document, or a filename, the enhanced Spotlight Search feature can be used to quickly find and launch apps or access information pertaining to iTunes content and Apps, movies, restaurants, and/or locations.
To access this enhanced Spotlight Search feature, simply press Command + Space Bar, regardless of what you’re currently doing on your Mac. When the pop-up window appears, enter a search word or phrase, for example, into the Search field. Search results will appear within a fraction of a second. When you click on a result, the appropriate app will launch (if applicable), and the requested content will be displayed on the Mac’s screen.
Whether you’re surfing the web using Safari, managing email accounts with Mail, organizing addresses and phone numbers with the Contacts app, or coordinating multiple schedules with Calendar, for example, each app that comes pre-installed with OS X Yosemite has been streamlined and redesigned on the Mac, and in many cases, also shares data with the iCloud service, iCloud.com, and iOS mobile devices.
As you’ll discover, OS X Yosemite comes bundled with almost 30 apps and more than 15 utilities, some of which are unique to the Mac, but many of which also have fully compatible iPhone and/or iPad counterparts (including Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Reminders, Safari, Mail, iBooks, FaceTime, Messages, and Maps).