by Mailtab is a nice small application for the Macintosh which is almost essential for any Gmail user who likes to check their email all the time.
Sitting nicely on your menu bar MailTab shows you when you have new e-mail in your account without having to rely on you checking your browser every time you want to see if you have mail. It also provides system notifications via growl and plays a nice little ditty when ever you do have new mail.
Installation could not be simpler. I downloaded this application from the Apple store put in my username and password and that was it. If you have ever used Gmail mail on your iPhone the interface is pretty mucht he same as their mobile client, in fact almost exclusively modelled on the iPhone experience.
Mail can be replying without the need for your broswer. Although it only shows a few messages at a time 8 to be exact, pressing the show more messages button does just that, letting you scroll down in the same way as the iPhone interface for Gmail.
Graphically intensive emails are rendered in a complete fashion with mini scrollbars allowing you to scroll through the message up and down, side to side. It really is like having the mobile Gmail client on your desktop.
There are two versions of this application one is paid for which has no adverts and the free application shows you a discreet message at the bottom mentioning the pro version. The pro versions also allows GChat as well (something that I’ve not been able to test).
It’s hard to find any fault with an application as small as this. Those seeking more power will probably already know of Sparrow which is more of a replacement for mail. This up is aimed squarely up those wishing to have a nice simple way of checking their Gmail accounts without the overhead of a browser,that being said If this is using web kit to render the e-mail messages does it really consume less resources than say a fully fledged browser?
All in all a very good application that sits neatly out of the way and does exactly what it says on the 10 highly recommended in fact it’s going to make our Essentialmac.co.uk applications list
MailTab Can Be Downloaded From The App Store
Updated 12th March 2012
Version 4 has been released today. Available from the App store for those who purchased it, the fixes include
- Many bug fixes and performance options
- App will no longer refresh when you are writing an email
- In-app purchases added
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