Sparrow Developer Working on iPhone Version

There's no way the iOS version will get approved

I must say that I love Sparrow. It's specifically has Gmail in mind and thats what a good portion of the modern computing masses are using.

Dom hinted to this quite a while ago:


https://twitter.com/#!/domleca/status/80628559856672769

I think they are in for a rude awakening, I will be shocked to see this approved.

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There are already some apps that can read mail, the problem is that they can't be integrated with the operating system.
All apps and links will always open Apple Mail even if another mail app is installed.

I am content with the Mail.app from Apple

Can you queue messages in Sparrow (sending a message on or after a certain date/time)? If so, I'm sold!

(Eudora used to have this ability, which I used a LOT.)

silly question, what does sparrow do? like whats the difference between the stock mail?

iDuel said:

I am content with the Mail.app from Apple

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So am I. Honestly, I can't really think of any way it could be improved for my usage when I'm mobile.

An alternative certainly could bring features that I never knew I needed though. Hopefully this will get approved (I don't see why not) and spur some competition.

Rudy69 said:

There's no way the iOS version will get approved

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flash84x said:

I think they are in for a rude awakening, I will be shocked to see this approved.

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People said the exact same thing about Opera Mini.

Sparrow rules for the Mac, especially in terms of UI. There's just no comparison, IMHO. Using multiple accounts (especially Gmail) is a seamless experience with Sparrow.

However, the iPad and iPhone Mail apps are superb. I don't see Sparrow as a replacement in these two instances.

*LTD* said:

Sparrow rules for the Mac, especially in terms of UI. There's just no comparison, IMHO. Using multiple accounts (especially Gmail) is a seamless experience with Sparrow.

However, the iPad and iPhone Mail apps are superb. I don't see Sparrow as a replacement in these two instances.

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They could get rid of the horrible pop over interface when in portrait mode. Apple needs to learn that pop overs like that are the new drawers from OS X (Apple, just copy the Twitter app interface already).

As far as Sparrow for mac, I'm messing around with the demo of 1.3.2 with a temporary gmail account (craigslist stuff) and I don't really see the appeal over OS X Mail. Admittedly, I don't really use gmail beyond the occasional throw away account so maybe I'm missing something. So the better gmail support doesn't make up for the lack of multiple signatures. And I oddly like OS X Mail's way of conversation handling better (although it would be nice if there was an easy way to include your replies in the threads).

Sparrow easily beats 10.6 Mail, but 10.7...not so much for me.

Sneakz said:

I must say that I love Sparrow. It's specifically has Gmail in mind and thats what a good portion of the modern computing masses are using.

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I agree completely.

NAG said:

They could get rid of the horrible pop over interface when in portrait mode.

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I actually like that. I think it works well enough.

*LTD* said:

However, the iPad and iPhone Mail apps are superb.

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I wouldn't go that far. I find it really frustrating that I can't send email to groups that I've created. I can only add contacts one by one. That's a huge and unnecessary pain. If I need to do a lot of e-mail, I avoid my iOS devices unless I have no other choice.

*LTD* said:

Sparrow rules for the Mac, especially in terms of UI. There's just no comparison, IMHO. Using multiple accounts (especially Gmail) is a seamless experience with Sparrow.

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If Sparrow makes iOS users more likely to use Sparrow instead of Safari to read their Gmail mailboxes, then Google would get fewer ad displays. That would be good for Apple, right?

Am I thinking too hard?

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I highly doubt it gets any traction on iOS devices. Why spend $'s when the stock app is already an excellent one?

Bernard SG said:

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I highly doubt it gets any traction on iOS devices. Why spend $'s when the stock app is already an excellent one?

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For most users, you are correct. However, there are people who will purchase a different browser and a different calendar client for iOS. Those people are power users who need more features. Apple's Mail app is very basic and not useful for folks who get a volume of e.mail. Unfortunately, e.mail apps are still banned from the App Store [many developers, including myself, have tried to submit better e.mail apps and we've all been rejected].

A few features that power users would pay for:

* sending to groups
* optional inline/bottom quoting replies
* flag a message [iOS 5 Mail has this]
* custom signatures based on account used
* filter support
* bounce/redirect support
* multiple attachment support
* auto-prune support
* custom X- header support
* alternate compose editor support
* sigdash support
* FCC support
* signature at bottom option
* custom sorting
* nested folder creation support
...

I have a list of over 100 features that I'd like a mail client to support. Many of them are simply preferences and wouldn't clutter up the UI of the mail client. All the features in my personal list are features I use all the time, that's why I built an alternative e.mail app for iOS - it filled a need I had, but until Apple decides to allow alternate mail apps like they do for browsers and calendars, the app will only live on my iOS devices.

There are some amazing browsers and calendar apps on the App Store that really show how creative developers are in being able to pack so many additional features into an app that has a simple looking UI. I think the same can be said for developers of iOS mail apps as well.

/vjl/

Too bad that I never got around to test the lite version. The limitation to a Gmail account is absolutely disappointing. I won't create an account just to make a test run. I am a bit reluctant with regard to e-mail clients, so a quick buy is out of the question for me.

At least give us a spamfilter

I gladly paid for a bayesian spam filter for Mail and it is surprising that Apple still doesn't even allow such a plugin for iOS Mail.

Apple already allow Good for Enterprise in the app store and it's basically a mail replacement.


Of course, with most app rejections, it's mostly based on how anal retentive or how much of a control freak the app reviewer at Apple is.

Sneakz said:

I must say that I love Sparrow. It's specifically has Gmail in mind and thats what a good portion of the modern computing masses are using.

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Please don't speak for the majority. I have a Gmail account that I check once a month. I run Thunderbird on non-OS X boxes. My mail server is IMAP'd. I use Yahoo Mail for other less important stuff, but check it several times a week.

Thunderbird [Icedove for us Debian Linux users] is version 5 and with all the Calendar, Group addons it's doing just fine. It's a orders faster and more feature rich than GMail.

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snipper said:

I gladly paid for a bayesian spam filter for Mail and it is surprising that Apple still doesn't even allow such a plugin for iOS Mail.

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What's stopping you from setting up the Mail Host server included in OS X? Turn on IMAP, register your own domain and run all the spam filters you want?

mdriftmeyer said:

Please don't speak for the majority. I have a Gmail account that I check once a month. I run Thunderbird on non-OS X boxes. My mail server is IMAP'd. I use Yahoo Mail for other less important stuff, but check it several times a week.

Thunderbird [Icedove for us Debian Linux users] is version 5 and with all the Calendar, Group addons it's doing just fine. It's a orders faster and more feature rich than GMail.

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I fail to see how all your "I" statements would have anything to do with "the majority". As important you may consider yourself to be, you are probably not the majority all by yourself. Additionally, "a good portion of the modern computing masses" does not even imply anything about a majority. Even without numbers at hand, I'd be prepared to wager that you are not even covered by that statement to begin with...

mdriftmeyer said:

What's stopping you from setting up the Mail Host server included in OS X? Turn on IMAP, register your own domain and run all the spam filters you want?

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You mean other than the nightmare of running and maintaining a server?

NAG said:

As far as Sparrow for mac, I'm messing around with the demo of 1.3.2 with a temporary gmail account (craigslist stuff) and I don't really see the appeal over OS X Mail. Admittedly, I don't really use gmail beyond the occasional throw away account so maybe I'm missing something. So the better gmail support doesn't make up for the lack of multiple signatures. And I oddly like OS X Mail's way of conversation handling better (although it would be nice if there was an easy way to include your replies in the threads).

Sparrow easily beats 10.6 Mail, but 10.7...not so much for me.

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I feel the same way. Mail 10.7 handily beats Sparrows limited UI. When using Sparrow I feel like I'm using the official Twitter app.