|
I got a chance to try out Astra yesterday. It certainly looks alot different than the previous versions, and much more visually appealing. The navigation will take some getting used to, as menus and options are located in different places. I find that alot of contact options are missing from previous versions, like the ones that appear when you right-click on a contact. I managed to find some of them when I opened up a message window. So in terms of navigation, I find the previous versions a bit easier and convenient. I also wasn't able to find the button where I could set the same status or connect/disconnect to all my connections at the same time.
Secondly, they said it would be faster, but I don't see how this would be possible with all the colorful themes. It actually is slower when you're scrolling through the contact list, and sometimes got laggy on my computer, especially if you display your contacts with their buddy icons.
The Alpha version only came with one skin, that only allows you to change to different colors. Overall, I think Astra could be greatly improved if they offered different skins, especially something simple like Whistler, that would greatly improve the speed and ease of use. Because the default one offered now is not as good compared to previous versions.
|