OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 Pre-Release (with a sneak peek at Photos)

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On March 2 Apple has made available for download the pre-release of the upcoming Yosemite 10.10.3

As I had previously signed up for the beta release of the new Apple operating system back in October, I received from Apple an official email invitation to test the new version.

The email contained a link to the webpage of the OS X Beta Program. In order to download the beta you need to click Enroll your Mac to receive beta updates and download a package, called YosemiteBetaAccessUtility.dmg, that allows you to download beta updates through the App Store.

After installing the above utility, you'll see the Pre-Release listed among the available updates within the App Store.

Caution: This is a beta version and it's still unstable, so it shouldn't be installed on production systems. You should always backup your files prior to the installation.

   

Main features of the new public beta

I decided to install it regardless as I wanted to wipe up my hard drive clean.

I noticed a remarkable improvement in terms of performance confronted with the 10.10.2 version. OS X works more smoothly and it's definitely faster.

The most expected update is the new Photos app, destined to replace both iPhoto and Aperture, already announced several months ago. It was supposed to be part of Yosemite official release but afterward it had been taken out.

The new app makes it much easier to navigate through pictures and the influence of the iOS mobile environment in this case is a positive.

The new interface contains the same adjustment tools already featured by iPhoto in addition to new ones. The toolkit available is pretty exhaustive, even though probably can be considered inadequate for a professional use, compared with Aperture.

A handy feature in OS X 10.10.3 is the new iCloud Photo library that allows to store up to 5 GB of pictures. I personally ran out of space but you can purchase additional space up to 1 TB, for a fee.

Being a work in progress, some issues are present.

Apple reports that, when using iOS 8.1.3 or earlier with the Photos for OS X and iCloud Photo Library betas:

• Manually edited dates of photos and videos may revert to their original dates taken.

• Photos may crash when folders containing albums are removed from Recently Deleted. Delete albums individually to avoid crashes.

 I personally noticed that dragging and dropping an image from Photos to an email message doesn't work yet.

Wrap up

The Public Beta of Yosemite 10.10.3 improves the performance and reliability of OS X and introduces the new Photos application, long expected and destined to replace iPhoto and Aperture.

Though the new application is more user-friendly and intuitive than iPhoto, it seems inadequate for professional use but these considerations will need reviewing when the official version will be released.