

Sparrow, new Mac mail client out of beta and #1 on Mac App Store - indiekid
http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/09/sparrow-mac-mail-app/
Sparrow, a beautiful new Mac mail client has just launched in the Mac App Store and it has immediately shot to the number one paid app in many countries around the world, including the U.S.
======
makeramen
For those who tried the beta and didn't like the lack of features (like me),
it's now WAY better. I thought the beta was just a pretty face to gmail with
limited features: only single account, can't access labels, etc, etc.

But now I took the leap and spent the $10 and I'm loving every second of it,
especially the amazing integration with gmail shortcuts. Pretty much every
shortcut works instantly and reliability, without the lag and wonkiness of the
web interface.

After turning on gmail shortcuts, I've found it to be one of the most keyboard
friendly apps I've ever used. And the beautiful UI is still there animating
all your actions. Makes me feel like an email ninja.

~~~
pinko
How well does its offline support work?

~~~
makeramen
seems fine so far. appears to do full downloads of messages. attachments
aren't all downloaded, but previously downloaded attachments stay accessible
unless you delete them.

sending while disconnected results in message being saved as a draft locally.

and there's this really cool activity window that shows exactly what it's
doing: <http://d.pr/CSVm>

------
hkuo
Why no love for Apple Mail? The only thing Apple Mail needed was the ability
to have the preview pane on the right, which was made possible by this
developer who created WideMail: <http://widemailplugin.com/>. No affiliation,
and his site design is terrible, but the plugin works to a tee. I would share
a screenshot, but it's a bit too much work to blur out and black out any
sensitive information, which would pretty much result in the entire image
being blurred out. But here's a basic screenshot I grabbed from the web:
<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1517499/widemail-thumb.jpg>

~~~
netnichols
For me it's Apple Mail's lack of gmail-style "conversations". I just can't go
back to conventional threading behavior.

~~~
martin_k
What exactly is it in Gmail's Conversations that you prefer over Apple Mail's
Organize by Thread feature?

~~~
YooLi
Both sides of the conversation. Mail.app's thread feature only shows emails
you have received, without weaving in the emails you have sent.

------
imajes
I have to say, i've tried Postbox and Sparrow (and all the rest) and none
really seem to fit my use -- power user plus, wants labels, clean views but
also keyboard magic and speed.

i would love to know what does that.

~~~
indiekid
Sparrow does labels, clean views and has Gmail keyboard shortcuts (if you
enable them) and is super fast. Been a beta user for months now...

~~~
imajes
Yeah, I tested Sparrow a while back - shame it's no longer possible to try it
out. :(

~~~
Insanity5902
Give it a couple of days. The Free, but ad-supported, version is still under
Review

------
netnichols
I went ahead and bought it as I think it has a future and $10 is a good price
point. But...

I just can't use it yet because in the list view the sender is emphasized more
than the subject. That's completely backwards for me as I rarely get emails
with the same subject but I get a lot of mail from the same small group of
people. This causes me to just stare at the inbox without having a good
overview of what I'm looking at. Here's my feedback idea if anyone wants to
help push this forward:

[http://getsatisfaction.com/sparrow/topics/emphasize_subject_...](http://getsatisfaction.com/sparrow/topics/emphasize_subject_instead_of_sender)

------
acangiano
I personally prefer Postbox: <http://www.postbox-inc.com/>

But I tried Sparrow when it was in beta a while ago. Perhaps I should give it
a shot agian.

~~~
nirvdrum
Agreed. I saw Sparrow highly touted by friends on Twitter, but I couldn't wrap
my head around it. But maybe because it reminded me of Twitter for Mac, which
I can't wrap my head around either.

The new Postbox release is pretty solid and does almost everything I want.

It just saddens me that it's basically the future now and we still can't seem
to get email clients that don't suck. Some are better than others, sure, but
they all seem to suck in some fundamental way. FWIW, in Postbox it seems to be
speed.

~~~
phil
>they all seem to suck in some fundamental way. FWIW, in Postbox it seems to
be speed.

That's because Postbox is based on Thunderbird, which is not a path to
creating a fast, lightweight mail app.

I can only think of a handful of desktop mail engines for the Mac (Mail.app,
Thunderbird + children, Entourage, Sparrow). If mail clients suck, it's
because more people need to write one.

~~~
msg
Outlook for Mac 2011 came out. It has some major missing features (won't run
rules on the Exchange server, no auto-archive), but the calendar works and
it's a serviceable mail reader. Better than Entourage by far, I would say.

------
sfphotoarts
who'd have thought that by now, email clients are not a done-deal. It's
awesome to see people still bringing out thick mail clients and people liking
them. A few years back everyone rushed to move apps to the web for no-install
and no-version problems, now we seem to be swinging back to thick-clients,
until people once again realize the challenges of such. As the landscape
changes and software distribution improves (for example the app store) it once
again opens up the door to new clients.

~~~
_neil
I was never a fan of using webmail full time, GMail included. IMAP is as
'cloud' as I'll ever need for email.

~~~
alexqgb
Ditto.

If you've ever lost access to Google, you'll never rely only on webmail again.
There is absolutely no way to get in touch with a responsive human there. You
may mysteriously get access back after a few weeks. Or maybe not. In the
meantime, their online "help forms" will direct you to other forms, none of
which provide any indication about what to do in cases when Google has erred.

There is literally _no_ recourse.

------
nhangen
I'm amazed we're still paying for email clients - I have no issues with Gmail,
so I don't plan on buying this, but I am intrigued by so many people being in
love with it.

~~~
Groxx
You're surprised people are paying for high-use-volume tools that improve X,
Y, or Z over the free stuff?

~~~
nhangen
Yes, when there are several free options that work wonderfully.

Maybe it's because I don't have an email problem - I don't know, but it seems
like more buzz than substance, at least to me.

Edit: I have no qualms with this product, and I'll probably buy it just to see
what the hype is about. I'm mostly just surprised that it reached #1.

~~~
Groxx
I'm unaware of free options that work wonderfully. Or paid, but I haven't
tried as many of those.

Gmail is online only, though yes, it's very good. I _need_ offline, and I have
7 active accounts; Gmail online isn't a complete solution by any means.

Apple Mail has poor / nonexisting IMAP subscription, and few power-user tools,
though it's my favorite desktop client so far. Fast with thousands of emails
and 7 accounts, accurate searches across tons of data, integration with OSX's
Address Book, and the worst plugin API in existence: existing, but entirely
undocumented.

Thunderbird is a load of crap. I really, _truly_ want to like it, but it
always leaves a bitter taste, despite being one of the better clients overall.
It continually chews on nothing until I kill it, preventing _any_ updates to
the account it's spinning on. It slows to a crawl on a mere few-thousand
emails. Is _far_ slower to retrieve and display data than Mail (easily 5x
slower in the best case). Hinges privacy / security decisions on the wrong
data (I had spam recently with a _display_ "from" of "Apple.com" - Thunderbird
decided it was _actually_ from Apple, and displayed all the images, despite
coming from another source _and_ being in my spam box). Doesn't integrate with
OSX's address book, and its existing address book is simply a joke, an
_insult_ to their users.

Mutt / Sup I intend to look into more fully, but have a high learning curve
(the Vims of email clients), and I want / need HTML email and don't recall if
they handle such things well.

What other free ones would you suggest I try? I need OSX and Windows software,
I'd love efficient tagging support, and intend to move to certificates for
signatures / encryption (and every system I've encountered is _beyond_ an
inflexible-PITA for certificates, almost all the way to totally ineffective).

------
wgrover
This looks great, but apparently no Priority Inbox integration yet:

[http://getsatisfaction.com/sparrow/topics/gmail_priority_inb...](http://getsatisfaction.com/sparrow/topics/gmail_priority_inbox_support)

I love the increased signal-to-noise that Priority Inbox provides, and I'd
miss it in a client that just shows my regular inbox.

~~~
_neil
There is a 'Priority' label in the labels tab. I haven't personally used it so
I can't confirm that it works as expected (my new email count is at 0), but
it's there.

EDIT: Got a priority email after posting this. It didn't appear in the
'Priority' label window. womp womp.

~~~
tmarkiewicz
That label must be a custom one, since I don't see one in my copy of Sparrow.
I'd love to hear if I'm the only one or how I can access this...

Having an easy way to get to the Priority Inbox is the only thing holding me
back from using it regularly. Right now I'm sticking with Mailplane.

------
_neil
Been using it for a couple months. Love it. I was using Postbox before, which
was really nice but a little slow on my laptop.

I did switch back to Postbox after my first try with Sparrow, but I was sold
when they added command-enter to send and the ability to remove the app icon
from the dock. I wish Tweetie allowed menubar-only mode like that.

------
ditojim
it is seriously _not bad_. the web gmail interface has a lot more to offer
though: integrated voice & video chat, google voice integration, calendar
gadget/integration, and any 1 of the 30 or so labs i have enabled, to name a
few.

still, it is very solid as _just_ an email client for gmail, and only $10.

~~~
WesleyJohnson
Can you explain what you mean by Google Voice integration? I'm a user of both
GV and Gmail and I'm wondering if there is something I'm missing, like being
able to see my GV texts/voicemails right inside Gmail or something?

~~~
WikiChen
I think what he meant was the ability to place calls through GV from GTalk
(chat window). On a side note, Google's released a great Chrome extension for
GV.

~~~
ditojim
yes, i was referring to the ability to manage all communications from within
gmail. i rely on email, gchat, and google voice to communicate with the world,
all from 1 browser tab.

------
aliukani
I've been using Sparrow for at least a couple of months now ("new"? Really?),
and I'm very glad I switched from Mailplane. The minimally-obtrusive Tweetie 2
style interface really sold me on it.

I didn't know there was a paid version -- I'm using the free version with ads
disabled. I'll glady pay up.

------
jtagen
Their website is very slow responding, so maybe something isn't loaded, but I
can't seem to find a trial download. The movie is nice, however for
productivity software, unless I can try it for a day or two I'll never
purchase.

~~~
lylejohnson
Apparently a free ad-supported version ("Sparrow Lite") is hung up in the App
Store review process but will be available soon.

~~~
jtagen
Why not keep a non-mac-store copy on their website until it goes through?

~~~
metafour
Because they will still get revenue from impatient people like me who impulse
buy it due to the fact that there isn't a non-mac-store copy available. ;)

~~~
jtagen
Point taken. I found myself purchasing a few hours later. Nuts.

------
bradendouglass
I have been using the app since it was in early beta and it was and definitely
is: flat-out awesome. I was a little surprised by their original price point
(25), but at 10 dollars? No brainer.

~~~
mortenjorck
I have to think that ultimately going with this price point will end up
boosting their sales tenfold.

In a way, though, they just hacked the "debut at one price, then cut for a
spike" model: They simply _floated the idea_ of debuting at price A, and
launched at price B. Which is pretty ingenious, as it essentially has the same
Groupon-esque value psychology of the original model, but doesn't have the
inverse effect on early adopters. Everyone's happy.

------
Dobbs
I've yet to see a mainstream mail program except for Thunderbird that has real
threading.

The number one thing I look for in a mail program is threading. Then good
filtering and usability.

------
shuttlebrad
The only two major issues for me are

* search: the built-in one takes ages compared to remote search. I understand that it makes the search behaviour the same both locally and remotely, but its still a hassle to have _really_ slow search locally. * labels with archived items aren't shown in the sidebar. I'd like a reminder that there's unread mail in the mailinglists.

Other than that, it looks great!

------
navs
Something about Sparrow just doesn't feel right. I can't quite put my finger
on it but...well I think that's just it. Last I tried Sparrow it felt like I
was using an iOS app within the iOS Simulator.

I did like the simple feel of it though and would be willing to buy it for
anything less than $14 NZD.

~~~
Terretta
> _Something about Sparrow just doesn't feel right._

No search box?

It's buried in the menus though.

~~~
JCB_K
Buried in the menus? Not in my copy, just in the right top corner. It doesn't
work flawless, but it's definitely not hard to find.

~~~
Terretta
Right, if you have Show Preview panel open.

Some elements depend on the size of your window, which, frankly, I like. I
remarked on this because others have found the search not to be where they
expect.

------
effkay
I have been using Sparrow since christmas and I really like it. On a large
screen, Mail.app just does not look right. Loving the gmail keyboard
shortcuts. Seems like every app I like must be keyboard friendly now: From
Things to The Hit List, from Mail.app to Sparrow, from Textmate to vim. I
blame vim.

~~~
larrywright
Keyboard navigation is too often overlooked in desktop apps. It should be in
the very first release. A high percentage of early adopter-types are power
users who want that kind of functionality. I can't tell you how many OS X
Twitter clients I installed, only to promptly uninstall them (and never try
them again) because I couldn't navigate them with the keyboard. The well
thought out keyboard navigation was what sold me on Sparrow the moment I
installed it.

------
thushan
I recently started using Sparrow as a secondary app for other email accounts
(like my company's support email address) so that it doesn't clog my normal
inbox, but gives me the power of a native app running all the time. Actually
its a perfect secondary mail client.

------
jlinspire
I was actually just trying the ad-supported Sparrow yesterday and earlier
before this was posted. Great looking client imo but one thing I would have
loved is a button to label and archive at the same time. Right now they only
have a labeling button.

~~~
Terretta
The app store version, right click a message, choose either Label or Archive
and Label.

------
lylejohnson
I went ahead and purchased it on impulse (a $9.99 price point makes that easy
to do), but I probably won't be able to use it regularly until they add some
sort of OmniFocus integration.

------
puls
It's hard to say exactly why, but Sparrow seems to make it way easier for me
to get to and stay at Inbox Zero. That's worth like a million dollars right
there.

------
ffffruit
How does this compare with Postbox? Has anybody used both?

------
askar
Haven't upgraded yet to Snow Leopard and missing out on some of these nice Mac
Store apps :( Damn...why don't they also support Leopard?

------
d5tryr
I use labels a lot, Sparrow's solution for labels is inadequate.

~~~
allwein
Can you explain a little more in what ways you find it inadequate? It's hard
to fix or enhance a feature without a little more feedback.

~~~
d5tryr
Sorry I let this go a little too long without checking it, but just in case...

The sparrow UI only shows one label in it's main list view, and then only the
colour of said label. If you use labels to assist in scanning your inbox, then
multiple labels on messages in your inbox increases their usefulness
considerably.

In it's current state Sparrow obfuscates what i consider to be gmail's most
valuable feature.

------
Dramatize
Just bought it. Looks good and was very easy to setup.

------
anoncwd45
How does it compare to Windows Live Mail 2011?

------
mike-cardwell
No mention of PGP support :(

