Microsoft has changed the Hotmail email service to a new Outlook.com email to stand in competition with it’s counterparts like Gmail and Yahoo. After a long wait, Microsoft has taken this arena seriously and this might prove as cog in the wheels of others. Outlook.com is loaded with many functionality that others have missed or ignored.
Unlike Gmail, Outlook.com will not scan your content to make it available for advertisers, which is a clear indication that Microsoft want to compete with Gmail. It has also integrated cloud syncing in SkyDrive and social media services like Facebook, Google,Twitter and LinkedIn. User would also get privilege to use office web applications like Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote right from their inbox. Let’s dig deeper to find out why Outlook is better than Gmail ?
1# Clean layout and better user interface
This year, we have seen many companies are putting their hard effort to bring more eye catching layout and better user interface to their customers. Earlier, Facebook and Google changed their layout and now Microsoft has stepped into their shoes, understanding the need of hour. Outlook.com offers a cleaner layout, better interface and easier navigation than Gmail, which gives it’s users a true reason to fall in love at first sight.
2# More Storage Space
In both Gmail and Outlook.com, you can send an email of maximum size 25 MB but Gmail restricts you to 10 GB of total free storage space. Unlike Gmail, Outlook offers almost unlimited storage space as you go.
3# Recover deleted mails
In Gmail, you can undo your accidentally deleted emails but once you removed them from “trash” you can never retrieve them. On the other hand in Outlook.com, once you deleted a mail it is sent to “deleted” folder given at the left side panel. If in case you deleted any of them here, you can still retrieve them by just one click. This gives the user more confidence and freedom in case of reading their critical emails.
4# Email formatting in HTML and CSS
When you compose or edit a mail in Gmail, you can either use plain text or rich formatting for adding images and videos. Unlike Gmail, in Outlook.com you get an extra HTML and CSS formatting in mail composer along with regular rich media and plain text formatting. That means, those knowing HTML and CSS can give their emails an extra edge by embedding codes in them. I’m sure web developers would love this feature.
5# Email alias to create multiple accounts to handle different things
Under one email account in Outlook.com, you can create multiple alias emails. Which is meant for handling emails from different sources to keep them separated. For example, If you are applying for a jobs then you can create a separate alias account for them. This automatically creates a separate folder to get emails directly inside them from these sources. Gmail does not provide such facility for their users.
6# Filtering and Sorting emails
Outlook.com offers better way to filter and sort your emails from the list. You can filter emails with either photos or documents by selecting “quick view” from the left side panel. Further, you can arrange emails list in the inbox according to date, sender, size, subject and conversation. For sorting the emails, you can even set your own rules.
So far, Outlook.com appears convincing but will it fulfill the expectations of it’s users? the answer lies in future. On the other hand, undoubtedly, Google will definitely come out with few major changes in Gmail to lure it’s users.
September 10, 2012 at 6:02 am
Gmail loading is fast but when comes to work inside it s very slow while in outlook/Hotmail loading is quite slow compare to Gmail but its working is very fast.