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Phan Favs is a recurring feature that turns the tables and asks you, the readers, about the best apps and games. It’s your turn to drop some knowledge on us! Read more.
It’s been a while, but we’re back with another edition of Phan Favs. This time we’re asking you about the thing most people hate: email. When email was first invented it was supposed to be this amazing thing to make our lives easier. In many ways it has, but it also made our lives more cluttered.
This is why email apps are so important these days, and why there are so many to choose from. Picking a service, like Gmail or Outlook, is just the first step. Finding an app that handles all the mail for you is even more important. Some apps try to only show you the important messages, others urge you to get to “Inbox Zero.”
How to vote
We want to know what email app you use! Select the app you use in the poll below. If your app is not listed write the name in the “Other” box (as it appears on the Play Store).
[polldaddy poll=8948005]
Next week we will compile the results and release the top five apps according to your votes. In order to get a good sample size we need your help in sharing this poll. Click right here to tweet about it. Let the voting begin!
Gmail is the best if only used for Google accounts. If you’re using multiple email clients, yahoo, outlook, etc. I highly recommend Cloud Magic. I tried Aqua, K-9 and a few others but nothing beats Cloud Magic looks, syncing, and general overall ease of use.
I used to use Gmail for multiple accounts (when I had multiples). You can easily add them via the settings in the app or on the web. Since I no longer have multiples, Inbox is the way to go.
I did too, and perhaps it’s on a Nexus 5 issue, but I found adding non-Google accounts was tedious and they didn’t function as well. I also don’t like having multiple Google accounts sync to my phone just for email. It makes using Keep and other Google services more tedious than needed too.
Gmail is not the best, due to the “conversation view” which scrambles the inbox and loses email. The Android version last I knew doesn’t have a way to disable it and restore proper functionality.
That’s your opinion, I’ve never lost an email with conversation view.
I lose emails every time I’ve used conversation view. Many new ones buried in arbitrarily designated “conversations”, hidden and hard to find. A contrast to proper sequential organization, where every single new email shows up separately, and can be found.
Then there is the severe design flaw where I can’t easily change the subject when responding to emails. A necessity for good email etiquette of correct subjects. In K-9, changing subjects is very easy.
Regardless, “conversation view” should be an option only, and not forced. This would be proper “to each their own”. “My own” is that I can’t afford the email client losing the emails to the point where I have to constantly use “search” to find them, because the inbox organization is useless.
I agree. Options are always nice.
And yes, by its very nature, if conversation view is turned on, emails WILL be lost. randomly associated with other emails and buried under them.
Conversation view if great. I won’t use an email app without it and I’ve never lost an email. To each their own I guess.
You can disable “conversation view” in the general settings.
Rob: The only setting I’ve found disables it only for external POP/etc email accounts. I have it disabled, and my “native” Gmail account is still pretty well trashed.
The web, desktop Gmail lets me turn it off, and all emails show, in order.. No trashing.
And yes i checked it just now to see if there was a new, or corrected option. No luck.
Am I the only one around who hasn’t heard of two-thirds of these apps?
Probably not. Plenty of new users everyday and those of us who who only have a Google email account. Myself for example never needed anything outside of Gmail and the old stock email app, since joining Android until suddenly my college’s email server wouldn’t cooperate with Gmail or the stock app so I had to find a new app I liked.
The thing is, while I voted for Gmail. . .it probably isn’t the best. I don’t need my email application to have all the bells and whistle though. As long as it is easy to use and does what I need for basic usage, then I have no need to look for an alternative one
Try K-9. Simple and basic, but unlike Gmail, it won’t lose emails, and it will show them in order in the inbox.
I’ve heard a lot of positive reviews about that one
wow im the only one who uses MailDroid its the best one had multi email way before the others did.
It wasn’t my cup of tea, but I don’t really need anything fancy for email so cloudmagic does what I need it to.
The Cloudmagic dev scores tonnes of points for being receptive feedback though: http://androidforums.com/threads/maildroid-back-to-basics.918275/
Nine is the best app for exchange accounts
Touchdown is may favorite for exchange. You can change the font to match your company’s standard. People can’t tell you’re replying from a phone.
likewise with nine. i just dislike touchdown’s UI. nine is much more pleasing.
Cool, I’ll check it out.
How do you turn off text message sync? I selected during setup and can’t figure out how to turn it off. My personal texts are showing up on my work laptop inbox!!
Edit: Never mind, found the setting to turn it off. Nine is pretty sweet.
settings -> click on your account -> email -> uncheck sync text messages
Thanks.
K-9 is good, because you can disable conversation view and as a result see all your emails, in order.
I used K-9 for the past 3 years for all email except exchange, and I used Touchdown for Exchange the past 6 years. But recently, I found TypeMail. Gave it a try, and now I use it to manage ALL of my email accounts. Works very well with exchange, at least for me, which pretty much “sealed the deal.” I like that I have a unified inbox, but can easily switch between all of my email accounts, individually.
I’m giving TypeMail a try, but can’t find a way for it to show and sync with my Exchange calendar. Am I missing this somewhere?
Ryan, sorry, it does not sync with calendar, just emails servers. If you want to sync Exchange and it’s calendar, try OWA. Note, it is for Exchange only. If you want to pony up 20 clams or your company will pay, Touchdown is a great exchange only email client as well. These are only my opinions.
Thanks for the reply! I’m actually giving Nine a try, per the comments above. So far, I REALLY like it.
Funny, after reading all the replies about 9, I am trying it too since it seems to enforce IT security policies.
Touchdown is the best for exchange email accounts.
Have you looked at Nine before? It’s an odd name, but great Exchange app. It’s variable sync schedule is great. Not sure if Touchdown has that.
Also, it’s refreshed with some good Material Design, and does group messages in chat style if you want.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ninefolders.hd3
Started using it today while still using touchdown. So far I like it. I’ll downselect to one at the end of the Nine trial period.
Lemme know which you end up using!
TypeMail for me
Personal: Gmail
Work: Nine. It is seperate from Gmail (which I like) and has a variable sync feature so your battery isn’t draining all weekend when you don’t need your work email to push.
I like to keep my email accounts in different programs so that I don’t accidentally send from the wrong account. For my Hotmail/Outlook account, I use Nine. It’s feature packed, and well executed. It’s not cheap, but if you’re a power-user, it’s worth it.
I’m liking Gmail for 2 main reasons, I can put all my emails into the one email client, and I can delete emails from the notification bar… perfecto
Gmail for personal….Nine for exchange.
My brother!! Same here.
Going to be stupid….whats wrong with just using stock exchange and gmail? Saves battery
Aqua Mail. Used to use Kaiten.
Most people seem to hate it but I love Inbox. Does everything I need it to do.
I hated Inbox because I had meticulously set up these filters in Gmail and I was reluctant to get away from that system. Unfortunately the filters kept randomly stopping or requiring updates and I was getting frustrated with the amount of admin work it was requiring. I finally decided to just blow out all my filters and use Inbox and I have been completely satisfied with it and wish I had done it sooner.
The only thing I don’t like is that I can’t have the option to go to the next email like the beta option in Gmail.
Love TypeMail for personal and Nine for work Exchange