Microsoft has released a public preview version of Internet Explorer 7. I’ve got my hands on it, and it isn’t quite what it ought to be as claimed by Microsoft. It isn’t quite as polished as expected. A lot of work still needs to be done. Below are the Pros and Cons of the new browser.

The Good

Phishing filter. This feature trys to detect spoof websites which tend to target sites that requires sensitive information from the users.

Tabbed browsing. This feature has long been on other browsers like Firefox, Safari and Netscape. It’s time IE has such must-have feature.

Integrated search bar. Similar to the tabbed browsing. A must have feature nowdays.

Quick-Tabs: It sort of mimicks Apple OSX’s Expose. Displays all active tabs in a window with a click of a button.

Integrated RSS reader: An improved version of Apple’s Safari browser. Users can sort the feed entries according to Date, Author, Title and Categories. A search tool is also included.

The Bad

Despite Microsoft’s claim that the navigation interface is now more streamlined, I find it too bulky and messy. Buttons are every where, not organized the proper way. For example, the toolbar, I cannot understand why is the Forward and Backward buttons are separated from the Refresh and Stop buttons. The tabs look bloated.

In addition, the rendering engine of IE7 is flawed. Pages aren’t displayed the way it supposed to be. Lastly, it overwrites your IE6.

Conclusion

It’s a big improvement over IE6, especially the security department. However, the interface and rendering engine needs a few tweaks. Hopefully all these are fixed by the time it is shipped.

Download Internet Explorer 7 Beta Public Preview