When Apple properly unveiled Lion to us at WWDC, I have to admit I was impressed with what it had to offer. Then I read an entry on Gizmodo explaining why it wasn't as good as it sounds, prematurely hampering my excitement, despite the article going into such fine details about how many fingers swipe what that I wasn't even sure what it was talking about. But now that I've had a day to use it myself, I want to honestly describe its interface, whilst trying not to be biased by the negative review I had read first.
Except that's very difficult when everything said in that article I agree with.
I do not understand why iCal and Address Book have taken a cheap toy-like appearance, which by the way is unchangeable. It's so horrible, just doesn't fit with the rest of Apple's simple slick looks in silver. Gestures have been featured heavily as one of the main new functions but sadly finger swiping isn't at all consistent across applications. In fact, gestures aren't included at all in iPhoto to navigate between images or between events, nor does it do anything to see my next or previous message in Mail - both really annoying. Mission Control doesn't let you organise your spaces and windows to how you want. Little inabilities like these are so frustrating, making me pissed off with it all despite some great features.
Full screen apps are beautiful, exactly what we wanted. The animation when navigating between them is smart. The absence of the scroll bar makes a huge difference in terms of clutter. But for me, all these positives are completely overshadowed by the flaws I'm afraid. I'd think twice before getting Lion. Maybe three times.
