Article: Safari 4 Beta: Open Thread

Have you downloaded the new Safari 4 Beta from Apple yet? If not, you’re missing out. Besides some rather large interface tweaks, in the couple hours of use, we’ve noticed it’s really fast. That’s not all we’re noticing.

The biggest change for us are that the tabs have been moved to the title bar area (much like Google Chrome), and CoverFlow now rears its glossy, flashy head in the bookmarks section (and you can’t turn it off entirely). Instead, you can minimize it enough to where you only see a black bar with the search box. However, we’ve replaced that with the new “Top Sites” feature as our default page of choice. That works a lot like the various speed-dial extensions on Firefox.

Also, you can’t get rid of the button to add a bookmark, as it is now part of the address bar, along with the stop/reload button (which now matches the iPhone version). The address and search bars help you by suggesting items as you type, much like Inquisitor. Also the interface feels flatter, overall. For the Windows users (I loaded it on my PC at work), it now blends in seamlessly with the Windows interface, rather than looking like a Mac app lost on a PC.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the Safari 4 Beta on my MacBook Pro, but we’re curious what your thoughts are. Feel free to post below.