Sparrow, developer of the popular Mac e-mail client of the same name, has released an advanced e-mail app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Sparrow provides a number of features beyond the built-in iOS Mail app including specific options for Gmail users such as Priority Inbox, labels and archiving as well as a unified inbox and photo attachment support. Intuitive swipe gestures can be used to navigate between accounts and mailboxes, folders and labels from a sliding panel view or quickly switch between inboxes or unread and favourite items from the top bar.
Sparrow also allows users to connect with Facebook to display contact profile pictures directly in the message list; options for quickly replying, starring, labelling, archiving and deleting individual messages can be quickly accessed simply by swiping in the message list or users can select multiple messages to apply common actions. Additional features include a smart contacts view that places the most frequently-used contacts at the top of the contact list, support for multiple e-mail accounts and aliases on a single account and advanced search features. The initial version is not without its limitations however; features such as push notifications and landscape support are currently planned for a future release. Sparrow requires iOS 5.0 or later and is available from the App Store for $3.
