Esteem surfer V2 First impressions and review.

Few days or a week ago, I published an article about the new esteemapp mobile. Esteemapp v2 precisely. The content of that article was majorly about my first impressions of the software. I shared how mesmerized I was by the app's UI. I also went further and did a little review of the features that were available on the app as at that time. The recent update packs some new features but I will discuss that in a separate article.

Aside from the esteem mobile, the esteem surfer received a major update too. Before the update, I wasn't really a fan of the old esteem surfer. The app just sat on my desktop, but I did nothing with it. The reason for this wasn't borne out of any hatred for the app. I rarely create normal blogs. Most of my publications on the blockchain have been Utopian contributions. Although I could still do same with the esteem surfer, I am already well adjusted to the ease of steemplus and steemit combination. I don't intend to start writing conventional blogs anytime soon, so this means that my utilization of esteem surfer would be very limited. However, I can start submitting utopian contributions with the app, starting with this contribution. Maybe with time, I will get adjusted to using the app. But I'm not certain for now.

The esteem surfer is packing a lot to be ignored. It is the reason why I can't let go of the app. In this article, I will be sharing my first impressions about the esteem surfer. I will be reviewing a reasonable amount of its features and sharing my own experience and opinions along the way. This article is under my series about esteemapp mobile. Although they are not the same thing per se, I thought it wise to create this article under the same series as esteemapp mobile. The series is naturally dedicated to esteemapp, so it is compatible with any discussion about esteemapp.

Without further ado, let's discuss my first impressions about the esteem surfer.

Esteem Surfer first impressions.

source

I was particularly moved to check out the new esteem surfer after I read the announcemt by @good-karma that the app was packing some impressive features. The particular feature that caught my attention in that announcement was the emojis. For a long time, I have been hoping emojis would be available on steemit or any any other steem front-end. Well, my hopes are not totally dashed, as esteem surfer now supports emojis in its post editor. You will think I'm weird because I like emojis. Well, constant interactions on several instant messengers have heightened my love for emojis. Most times, emojis say more than actual texts. While I won't be actually texting on esteem surfer, I can also express myself with emojis on my blog posts.

The emoji feature was the factor that attracted me to the new esteem surfer app. But after I downloaded, and installed the app, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of it. How can an app look so beautiful and detailed? Few minutes into the app and I was already impressed. The app looks divinely crafted. The feeling I had after launching the app is the same feeling I had when I first launched the new mobile version.

The first thing I will be talking about it the User Interface. If you keep up with my publications, you will know it is the first thing I always talk about in all my app reviews.

Esteem surfer User Interface (UI)

The user interface of this app is mind-blowing. Like I earlier stated, the app was divinely crafted. The design was built to perfection. I'm not sure, but I think the developer put a lot of emphasis on designing the interface of this app, even the mobile version. Honestly, I have never seen an app look this great.

My usage of the old esteem surfer was very limited. In fact, it was almost never used. So I can't quite recall how the old UI looked. But I know it certainly wasn't as beautiful as this one is looking right now. I noticed toast animations when some actions were performed, which is cool. I love the sidebar that pops up when my avatar is clicked. Then there is night mode. The app on night mode is an entirely different thing. It's so cute(permit me to use the word cute).

I didn't like the night mode on the mobile version so much though. But for the esteem surfer, night mode is my preferred display. The night mode toggle can be accessed quickly on the main page, which is something I like. However, I wish the text color on night mode wasn't grey-ish though. When the brightness of my screen device is dim, it's kind of hard to read articles.

The UI on the user profile page is worth commending too.

In fact, everything that's related to UI on this app is just perfect.

Overall, I was 101 percent impressed with the user interface.

---

In the announcement post, by the project owner, some features that were newly added and improved were listed. I took the time to check out those features. Here's the list of the features;

• New Quick emojis
• New 1, 2, 3 rows table variations quick shortcut
• New Power Up from Wallet
• New Scheduling UI (Calendar + Clock)
• Improved Removed auto self-upvote from the editor
• Improved Login
• Improved Permalink creation
• Improved Code refactoring
• Fixed Navbar unclaimed reward indicator

Emojis

Emojis are small digital images used to express someone's emotions in place of texts. Some people call it emoticons. Emojis are very common in social interactions today and is being infused on almost all social media apps.
Esteem surfer blesses us with the option to add emojis to our content. I'm really glad this is implemented on the app. I checked out the emojis on the app and was again impressed. The app is packing quite a lot of this emojis. I also like the fact the fact that the emojis are categorized and not sorted randomly. I had some issues though. I was hoping the emojis would be presented in colors. But, they were just plain. Furthermore, I noticed that some emojis were on the list but couldn't be displayed. I don't know if my system font is the cause of this issue, but I don't think it is because the app doesn't use my system fonts. I don't have too many complaints though. The feature is just newly implemented and is bound to have some mistakes. These mistakes will be corrected soon.

Power Up from wallet.

This feature was listed as new, so I'm guessing before this update, users couldn't power up with esteem surfer. I'm not so much of a power-up guy. But this doesn't take away the importance of the feature. I think with features like this being implemented on all esteemapps, the plan is to make esteemapp independent. By independent I mean, users wouldn't have to seek other steem front-end's to carry out some actions. Since everything can be done within the app. I'm a power down guy, so I'm expecting a power down button soon, and a delegation button too.

New Scheduling UI.

Post scheduling is another great feature. I used it on the old esteemapp mobile a few times before. I'm glad the project owner thought it wise to revamp the UI of this feature. I like the new display. Schedule is yet to be implemented on the new esteemapp mobile, but I'm sure it will be similar to the one on esteem surfer.

Improved login.

The mode of logging in to esteemapp was revamped on all platforms with the inclusion of steem connect. I already talked about this in my previous article about the mobile version. Using steemconnect is a plus. Especially for people who were skeptical about esteemapp's regular method of logging in.

Unclaimed reward indicator

This is a small addon but, it still has its importance. The feature is basically its name. "Unclaimed reward indicator". In your wallet page, you get notified by the indicator about unclaimed rewards. It is as simple as that. It's a cool feature too.

---

The above points are the major talking points for me from the update that was done on the app.

The app is still under development, but the features it's currently packing are standard for any steem based app.

The leaderboard is also available on the esteem surfer which is a new feature that basically shows a list of people and how many times they have used the esteemapp. Maybe these people will be rewarded after a period of time, but I'm not sure. The project owner didn't make any statement that suggests that. I was expecting to see the messages feature on the esteem surfer too. I literally dismantled the whole app searching for where the messages feature is located but didn't find it. I guess this feature is restricted to mobile users only.

Summary.

The esteem surfer is an amazing app. It really gave me a wonderful first impression. I think the level esteemapp is setting with their releases both on mobile and PC is really high. It will take a long time before this level of standard is beaten.
I enjoyed browsing through the app. So far I haven't experienced major issues while using the app. It's a great app. I think with this update, I might find myself using it more often than steemit as a preferred steem client.

Thanks for reading.

Links

Project repository: https://github.com/eSteemApp/esteem-surfer

App download link: https://github.com/eSteemApp/esteem-surfer/releases/tag/2.0.4

Resources:

• Desktop eSteem Surfer 2.0.4 brings 😎 emojis, Power Up & more

The images used in this article are screenshots from my and mobile phone. Other images used, are properly sourced.

Series backlinks:

• Is esteemapp the best steem android client? or there are others better than it.
• Is esteemapp the best steem android client? or there are others better than it? (Part 2)
• Is esteemapp the best steem android client? or there are others better than it? (Part 3)
• Unveiling the newest steem android client, Esteem mobile v2 (First impressions and review.)

Github profile:

https://github.com/HarryHeights