When I made the switch from PC to Mac, one of the big concessions that I made was with Apple Mail. I never really liked the interface, and it just seemed too clunky for me to use. Eventually – after trying out Thunderbird and Entourage with mixed results – I decided to go back to Apple Mail and give it a shot. It’s now my default e-mail client for every account except my personal Gmail account, because that thing is a monster.
The news around the intertube today has been about Sparrow, a Mac Gmail client that is currently in beta, and free. Instead of going the route of most e-mail programs, Sparrow decided instead to keep it minimal, like Tweetie the Twitter client. The result is what you see above, a small e-mail client that can stay tucked in the corner but remain functional at the same time.
I haven’t used it for a long period of time yet, but what I’ve seen I like. Being that I just want to use it for one account makes it very simple for me to use. No switching accounts or bouncing between mailboxes for me, this fills a niche. It also can expand for full views of each email, and the way it flows works very well. The Growl support is also handy, and lets you know when new emails pop up.
But I’m not sure if this is something I could use long term, and I certainly don’t think it’s going to replace a hardcore email client for handling multiple accounts. But since it is just a beta, I’ll see how it goes over time. So far, I like it. Now let’s see what happens long term.
