Sparrow has a really sweet Mac update available this afternoon from the Mac App Store, bringing lots of new features and tons of bug fixes to improve its game and interface on Lion. The last update brought full-screen support and a redesigned sidebar that’s significantly improved my workflow, and now that sidebar is getting some additional use thanks to drag & drop. Whether you’re on an IMAP account or using Gmail, you can drag and drop emails into a folder or label to quickly move and archive messages. That alone makes us really happy, but check out what else Sparrow has added past the break.
Gradients? Check! The once flat grey UI now has the Lion’s shine thanks to a nice gradient in the toolbar. The UI changes don’t stop there — even the reply and conversation views have been spruced up giving Sparrow a much more streamlined appearance. You can also look forward to new default avatars for your Gmail, Yahoo, and MobileMe accounts.
Users with Shortmail accounts will find a character counter in the compose window (your email is more like Twitter!) so you can keep your emails short and tidy. That compose window is available to full-screen Sparrow as well, floating above the main window instead of sending you off into a new space.
Among the changes in Sparrow come lots of bug fixes:
- Transparent text issue in message composer
- Window and sidebar size memory issue
- Alt-L Polish character issue
- Fixed Esc key behavior in fullscreen
- Deminimized animation fixed
- Shift-Cmd-2 in Extended sidebar Unified Inbox
- Copy and paste issue in compose window
- Inline attachments resize issue
- Improved memory usage
- Fixed various crashes
Sparrow keeps getting better and better with each update, but being able to work with the sidebar should settle it for most people. Combine that with all the bug fixes Sparrow has implemented to get their email client in tip-top shape, and you’ll wonder why you haven’t given Sparrow a try yet. Sparrow Lite is free in the Mac App Store, with the full client available for $9.99.
