Apple iWork suite gets Retina and Mountain Lion refresh

Apple has given its iWork suite for OS X a Retina refresh, polishing Pages, Keynote and Numbers so that they look their best on the high-resolution MacBook Pro. The updated versions, which are also brought up to speed to support Mountain Lion and its integrated iCloud and Documents in the Cloud sync and share functionality, also add native compatibility with Mountain Lion's Dictation system as borrowed from the iPhone 4S and new iPad.

That allows users to dictate their documents, slides or spreadsheets via voice, with Nuance's Dragon voice-recognition technology whirring away on Apple's servers to translate it to text. In our experience with Mountain Lion, it works surprisingly well, though it benefits from a quiet environment and some clear enunciation.

Pages, Keynote and Numbers are all available to download now, priced at $19.99. If you've already purchased them then hit the Mac App Store to upgrade to the latest versions.

For more on OS X Mountain Lion, as well as Documents in the Cloud, check out our full review.