So just half an hour ago I got an invite to RockMelt Beta – the browser that (they say) re-defines the imagination. I assume that you have already saw its demo video because it’s all over the interwebs. Frankly, the moment I came to know about RockMelt, I screamed, "OMG that’s just Flock implemented on Chrome instead of Firefox" and I had least expectations from it. However, the browser did impress me to a certain degree*.

It IS Flock. But better implemented. 

There is no denial that the concept of RockMelt is the same as that of Flock – a browser that gained no glory no love, partly because it had a cluttered interface and partly because the guys didn’t feel the need to promote it. [For those interested, I did a post on Flock 2 years ago.] Now there’s RockMelt. Even though its USP is the social networks integration within the browser, the implementation is seriously worth a praise. It is not outstanding but respects your appetite for larger screen real estate for ‘real’ work.

Finer details

RockMelt’s GUI is decent. Everything from menus to docks, from profile icons to buttons is well designed and pleasing to the eye. Usability has been given due importance and it shows. However, I got confused for about a minute over how to update my Twitter Status. The Twitter feed is to the right side (right dock) while a common status update module has been implemented in the top-left corner.

Common status update module

Facebook Chat

Full featured feeds

Performance

RockMelt is based on Chromium – the same open source project that powers Google Chrome. So it has the awesomeness of webkit and a robust HTML layout engine. I am currently using it and it’s as snappy as Chrome. Even though a lot of data is being synced continuously, it’s performing decently enough.

Security:

Now comes the most important part. To what extent your privacy is respected in this social-savvy browser? Beside the general terms of use and privacy policy, there isn’t an explicit mention about how exactly Rockmelt handles Facebook and Twitter account information. Your privacy may be at a greater risk, maybe not. May be you don’t even have to bother or maybe it’s just as much safe as with other browsers. And I have a reason for that.

At first glance, RockMelt seems like a big threat to privacy because of its social-savvy nature. No doubt that once you are connected to Facebook, you give the devil an invitation to peep into your browsing habits and patterns. But this happens even when you use other browsers. This is the reason why add-ons and extensions like NoScript and Facebook Disconnect are gaining popularity. In this case, the browser is the lesser culprit.

Besides, there’s absolutely no obligation to always remain connected to the social networks in RockMelt. You can click the ‘Logout’ button and it just transforms into a normal browser. Moreover there’s an ‘Incognito’ mode (just like in Chrome) where your browsing activity is untraceable and goes unrecorded.

RockMelt may still not entertain some due to security concerns but if you are ignoring it just because you had a bad experience with Flock, RockMelt might just appeal to you.