ATT’s Browser: Pogo is a No Go
By: Luis Sandoval
Okay, laugh if you must, roll your eyes at worst, but it did not take me all night to think of that title. How could I refuse, it was too easy!
So ATT has jumped into the browser market with Pogo, and their first foray into the fight, let’s just say that this browser will leave a sour taste in your mouth, if not a hole in the wall where you put your fist through in frustration. Let me at least point out that this browser is still in beta, and while not available to the public I am skeptical that much will change from what I see.
Here we go!
Installation: This browser is not for the faint of heart. Jokingly amongst my friends we stated that if you did not pay 2k for your computer or more than bow out and save yourself this frustration. A bit of an exaggeration perhaps, but this monster requires a 1.6GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and a video card with at least 256MB of VRAM. Ladies and Gentleman, let me just say that even with the minimum you might be forced to destroy a small country in anger with how sluggish it can run. If you have more than the requirements good for you, enjoy the experience, but it seems a little steep just to run a browser don’t ya think?
Downloading is not as bad as the actual installation itself. The process is long and tedious and rather than just walking away, it will check your system, offer suggestions, and update if necessary. At some point it may say your system is not up to par, and if so you have the option to bow out, but why they would even allow you to click continue is beyond me. They have requirements for a reason, and if not taken seriously you will desperately wonder why you allowed that time in your life to be wasted…literally.
Interface: Now that you’ve had this monstrosity installed, let’s get to the meat and potatoes. For starters, Pogo thinks that it needs to be so different that icons and naming conventions should be entirely different to what users are expecting. Buttons are not easily recognizable in terms of functionality, and instead of tabs for the pages, they are called “cells.” Each of your “cells” is tabbed at the bottom instead of the top, and instead of a tab, you get a thumbnail version of the actual page you are on. WARNING: One or two “cells” might be okay, but anything over that really taxes your system’s resources.
You cannot import your bookmarks, from what I could tell. Perhaps it’s an option that I overlooked, but the bookmarks that I did make are instead viewed in a coverflow-like window that practically made my computer want to explode. The flow was sluggish and lagged at times that I almost wanted to just throw the computer out the window. Luckily, since there is a minor similarity to FireFox in terms of what’s behind the scenes, a quick button combination (Ctrl-I) puts the listing in textual format. While coverflow looked pretty it did nothing to enhance the experience for practical use.
Final Thoughts: I hope, I can only hope that ATT is still a long way off from finalizing this product. The size and it’s downfalls will sink this browser quickly. It’s a pretty web browser, that is a fact, but it’s not enough to save it. I personally would never use this browser for everyday use, especially in the state that it’s in. Again, this browser is in beta, but right now FireFox and all it’s plug-ins are find for me. With ease of use, easily recognizable features and buttons, and compatibility across the board for MAC and PC, I prefer to stick to what I know…for now.
Pogo was a no go for me. I uninstalled it and hope to never experience frustration like that again. Innovative yes, practical…nope!
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