German ingenuity restores Leopard's retrograde step

Stephen Withers
Friday, 20 June 2008 12:43

Opinion and Analysis

The new features introduced by Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard generally went down well with the Mac users I know, but a significant minority were irritated when they discovered Apple had hobbled its ability to work with mobile phones. Fortunately a European developer has come to the rescue!

In Mac OS X 10.4, users could automatically dial numbers on their mobile phones or send SMSes from within the Address Book application. It sure beat fiddling with that tiny keypad on the phone!

The phone had to be paired with the Mac via Bluetooth for this to work, but they were doing that anyway to sync contacts and other information, and to transfer files such as photos between the phone and the computer.

But Leopard came, and that oh-so-simple convenience went. Perhaps it was yet another way to get people thinking about the easy-to-use iPhone, as if it hadn't already sunk deeply into everyone’s consciousness by that time.

But for those perfectly happy with their existing phones and wanting their previously paid-for and enjoyed auto-dialling convenience back, there is good news. Fortunately, someone has not just filled the gap... but has even gone one better!

Germany-based nova media has a history of providing mobile phone related software for Mac OS X, and the latest version of its Phone Plugins software restores the ability to right-click on a number in the Address Book to place a call or send an SMS.

And as they say in those commercials... “but wait, there's more!”

Continue to page 2 to find out what it is - and for a rather interesting iSurprise...