Exploring Yahoo! Go day 2... Mail

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Welcome to the second post in our 'Exploring Yahoo! Go' series!

You can check out the first post, covering Home / oneSearch, here!

Exploring Yahoo! Go day 2... Mail

The second carousel item we are going to cover in Yahoo! Go is 'mail'. Yes, we're working backwards... don't ask ;)

When you use the directional pad to move to the mail item, you'll see the message list from your inbox, and a 'Compose new email' link. You can either use these links, or click the mail icon on the carousel itself to enter the detailed mail view.

Firstly it's worth talking about the concept of Yahoo! mail in Go. Of course, as you use a Windows Mobile device, you can quite easily set up a POP or IMAP + SMTP account that will allow you to send / receive mail using the standard Windows Mobile interface. What Go allows you to do is to use mail segregated from your device, and also to use mail with your Yahoo! address book rather than your device address book.

When you click the carousel icon, you are taken into your inbox view. You can click a message to open, and then view it with attachments. By popping up the options menu you can do much of what you can in the web UI - 'delete', 'move', 'mark as spam', 'reply', 'reply all' and 'forward'. As you can see from the 'move' option, you can view your various folders in the Go mail client too. These are accessed by returning to the message list and selecting options, where you'll find the additional 'folders' option.

When you click the initial 'Compose new email' option from the carousel screen, or from the 'options' menu in the message list, you are presented with the compose form. You can add recipients (from your Yahoo! address book), add cc recipients and of course add a subject and message. Predictably, only plain text format is supported.

It all works pretty well, and is very simple to use. The price of simplicity is, of course, functionality. There is room for some additional functionality in future versions. When composing a mail, there is no ability to add attachments - a considerable omission. HTML mail isn't supported, and outgoing messages, as noted above, are also plain text.

Push email is available in Yahoo! Go, which is a welcome addition.

In summary, it's clear to see that Go has it's roots in the Java version designed for 'lesser devices' (i.e. featurephones). There is little that the mail client offers over and above the standard Windows Mobile offering, with the notable exception of push mail. For inexperienced users, the consistent Go UI offers an accessible mail experience, but i'd love to see Yahoo! adding more extensive functionality in future versions, for us more power hungry users! :wub:

Tomorrow's installment of the Go tour is going to cover Flickr, which is very cool... stay tuned :D

P

[Guest xorangefirex]

I've been using YahooGo for about a week now, and I am fairly impressed. This is a great addition to any mobile (although the kaiser does almost everything just from the HTC home) especially one without the HTC home. I would probably have it running 24/7 if it wasn't for the home screen. It has a fairly proficient GPS system (mind you its not even comparable to real GPS software, but for free no one will complain) which I (and I'm sure others) are waiting for a full review. The weather function works quickly and provides all the information you would find on the HTC home screen. It also carries information on stocks (which you can preset of course), and although this isn't a feature I use, I'm sure it would be a great help for all the businessmen out there. It has sports, entertainment and new information on its "carousel" as well. Over all it's a great program, and for free there isn't really much more a WM user could ask for.

[Guest nickcornaglia]

I give Yahoo! a few stars for looks and function. very nice indeed. But like you said above. This app is more made for lesser devices. (Not to mention for people who utilize Yahoo's services)

I just stopped using Flickr as my subscription has run out and I switched over to picasa or I'd enjoy that functionality.

Back to looks...MS should take a page out of Go's book and add similar xtra functionality to their Live app on mobiles. And in a more integrated way as well.

[Guest WoD]

I wonder labour the point as I'm sure you've already noticed. But the map section of Yahoo! Go sucks beyond belief. MSN and Google have it beat by a significant margin and considering that's about the only feature I'll use I don't see the point of Yahoo! Go.

Couple that with the fact that it insists on expanding the keyboard SIP when I have my hardware keyboard expanded, with no way of getting rid of it and the fact it seemed to ask my location on more than one occassion as if somehow it figured I might be teleporting around the world it just tips over to somewhat irritating.

Contacts backup is kind-of handy, I created a new Yahoo account to sync my contacts into and couldn't help but notice a couple of contacts come over from my new EMPTY Yahoo account...I can't seem to find them though.

Give me a combination of MSN/Google, Gmail, HTC home and an RSS reader over Yahoo! Go any day!

So, Paul, what are Yahoo! lining your pockets with in return for this shameless promotion, eh eh eh?

[Guest dearsina]

I've used Yahoo! GO on my Vox for quite some time now, since I have never gotten around to getting my emails straight into the OS (also, for some reason, it insists on synching all my 4k+ emails on the first go, which never is a good idea).

My experience has also been positive, but there are some annoyances that prevent me from using it more frequently:

1. If you install it when you're viewing the screen sideways (keep in mind I have a Vox), it won't allow you use the software when the screen is upright, which means that you have to flick open the keyboard every time you want to see if you've gotten any emails.

2. You can't get it to notify you via vibration or a sound if you've gotten an email. Kinda defeats the purpose of having push email, if you are never told about it.

3. It's slow. I hate Java on the desktop, and I hate Java on the phone for this one reason, it's bloody slow.

4. When writing an email, it doesn't "wrap" the text, it just continues down the same line (with a horizontal scroll bar) till you press the enter button. A little annoying.

Besides that, it's a cool app, although I very much share the notion that it's far more useful on 'lesser' phones.

[Guest mwright]

Give me a combination of MSN/Google, Gmail, HTC home and an RSS reader over Yahoo! Go any day!

I have to (sort of) agree!

I keep installing it, using it for a bit, and then deleting it every time someone says how great it is - just in case I have missed something!

I still find the builtin email, PIE and Newsbreak much more suitable for what I want.

PS Just found out I cannot delete more than about 5 or 6 emails from the mailbox in GO at once. They just come right back when it refreshes the mailbox. I had to delete them in batches of 5.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

So, Paul, what are Yahoo! lining your pockets with in return for this shameless promotion, eh eh eh?

Yahoo! are sponsoring the site. Go figure.

;)

P

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

2. You can't get it to notify you via vibration or a sound if you've gotten an email. Kinda defeats the purpose of having push email, if you are never told about it.

Really? If so, that IS dumb!

. It's slow. I hate Java on the desktop, and I hate Java on the phone for this one reason, it's bloody slow.

It's not a Java app!

P

[Guest rmg]

push email doesnt work for me. I do have connection update interval set to never but i thought that the whole point of push mail was so that you did not have to do regular connects?