Original post from Dec 2012.Ok … yes … most of the functionality is the same as Address Book in Lion. This app is just a little more polished looking.But … there is one feature that makes it worth it for me. The ability to access various group lists via a drop down menu!This is the only thing I hated about Address Book in Lion; having to click on the "bookmark ribbon" in order to access my list of groups. Only then could I select another group from the list. Two steps ? … Come on Apple … your better than that.UPDATE - May 25,2013 …. I discovered a flaw that caused me to go back to OS X's Contact app. Apparently in its current version Contact Book does not seem to recognize "Corporate names". When I enter these they wind up listed under "N' in the alphabet with the header "No Name". Also … yes it is slower ro launch than it should be. If they could fix these two things I woul;d give them 4 stars.I do also REALLY LIKE having my contact's photo, not just on the V-card, but also a small one in the "Scrolling List" … Now if you REALLY want to make a 5 Star Contact app …. make it so you can list Corp Accounts that crossreferences all the individuals that work for that company. In other words I can go to a CORP listing, see a list of everyone who works there and click on a name and it would take me to their specific individual contact info. Now that would be worth 5 STAR!!!

I wanted to purchase an address book that I could use offline, but if you don't sync it to your contact list it wont work at all. If I am going to purchase something, I want it to work the way I want it to work. Since I didn't sync the app to my contact list, it just shows up as an error report. The app is useless.

Would like Apple to bring back ths "real life" look to its apps again. It's time.

This should be part of the MacOS System Apps for sure!!!!