Email has evolved with our devices. At first, you had to create a local database for email. Then came Hotmail and we had webmail. Soon, with Gmail, we stopped worrying about storing, saving, and backing up emails. Google was doing it for us. All we had to do was remember the username and password.
Now we are spoiled because there are so many email apps built on top of Gmail. Unlike other communication platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, email is truly decentralized. It means options. Many of them.
Right now email is designed to be such a hassle that Google itself has two email apps on iOS. Gmail and Google Inbox. Both are very different apps and have their own strengths and weaknesses.
more, less and more
I still have Google Inbox installed. But my default app is Gmail. I like Gmail's email list, having access to all my filters, switching between accounts, etc. Inbox is great for organizing emails if you receive a lot of them.
Now Microsoft Outlook has released its own application. Well not really. It's just a rebranded and improved version of Acompli, which Alvaro talked about here.
Outlook, like Acompli, is more than an email application. It integrates with calendars, files and has a priority inbox with special notifications, just like Google Inbox. And it does all of this looking like a "normal" messaging app.
So let's see why Microsoft Outlook has the potential to be your main email application instead of using multiple email applications for different reasons.
Targeted email
While Gmail has Priority Inbox, Outlook has Focus Mail. This is where the items that Outlook deems important will reside. You can also receive push notifications only for Focus emails, making your life easier.
Integration with Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive
Outlook has a Folders menu that lets you access files stored on cloud accounts. You can also view attachments stored in your email.
Access to cloud accounts makes it easy to send attachments to documents. You don't have to open an app and hit a bunch of buttons first.
Calendars
Emails and calendars kind of go hand in hand. So now you can simply switch between them with the press of a button. They're also built-in, so if an email specifies a time and date, Outlook will let you add it directly to your calendar.
Program
It's something that was started by Mailbox and evolved into Google Inbox. Outlook will basically let you snooze a message until later. It will disappear from your queue and you will be notified at the time you specified. Tonight, tomorrow, etc.
Why go with Outlook?
I know for some even the name Outlook is boring. But like I said, it's not the Windows Mobile 6-like part of a mobile desktop app. It is a proper messaging, calendar, and file sharing app. It's the best parts of the three that make it worth it.
It has an inbox-like scheduling feature, but lacks that space-wasting UI overhaul. It has Gmail's list view for email, but it's native, not increasingly web-based like Gmail. The web dependency of the Gmail app makes it a pain and sometimes impossible to use.
Yes, your emails go through Microsoft's servers for push notifications and to be scanned. But MS's privacy policy is much better than Google's.
So give it a try and let me know if it works for you. This is not the case ? Feel free to share anyway. You don't give a fuck? Say it. No better place for that than anonymous comments in the unconscious void that is the internet.