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View Full Version : Want a Better Email Client? Tell Me...


Jason Dunn
02-05-2004, 05:00 PM
In a few months, I'll be heading down to Redmond for a Microsoft MVP Summit. I'll have the opportunity there to chat with the people who create the software for the Smartphone, and give them some feedback. As I get closer to the event, I'll do this in a more structured manner, so for now let's just focus on Pocket Inbox. What sorts of features would you like to see added to Pocket Inbox in order to make it a more useful tool for you? What are the scenarios where these features would come in handy?

My biggest personal gripe with 2002 was the lack of multiple account support, but this was fixed in 2003. I'd personally like to see full HTML email support, but beyond that I'm having a hard time coming up with feature requests. What would YOU like to see?

bibap
02-05-2004, 05:30 PM
For POP3 accounts I would like to see an option to leave mail on the server unless otherwise instructed. I would also like to see an option to delete all mail in the inbox, instead of having to delete items one by one.

ARW
02-05-2004, 05:52 PM
It's a royal pain in the ass to read a long message due to there not being the ability to advance one page at a time through a message. If Msft were to add a "Next" function like Tine eBook Reader has it would be a big step forward.

Arne Hess
02-05-2004, 05:56 PM
For POP3 accounts I would like to see an option to leave mail on the server unless otherwise instructed.
As long as you don't delete them from your SMP Inbox they will stay on the server.
I would also like to see an option to delete all mail in the inbox, instead of having to delete items one by one.
I second that, especially because it's part of Inbox for SMS (with 2003).
What I miss in addition is a Send/Receive all functionality for my 5 accounts like I have with Outlook on PC.

Jason Dunn
02-05-2004, 06:13 PM
Great feedback guys - I'm recording all of it - so keep it coming!

possmann
02-05-2004, 07:24 PM
Scrolling by "pages" is a great idea as well as leaving the message on the server or the ability to go through and select multiple messages to delete rather than one at a time.

Anyone have any issues with attachements?

gpspassion
02-05-2004, 07:42 PM
What would be great would be to have the simple features of npop:
1. See the exact size of a message to see if it makes sense to download it
2. Have the option to delete a message from the inbox only but not from the server

Macguy59
02-05-2004, 08:24 PM
Having service through cable internet it's not possible to fetch my mail unless I setup forwarding. Would be nice to be able to specify that the smtp server needs authorization and requires special ports to access from outside the network.

Jerry Raia
02-05-2004, 11:47 PM
It would be nice to able to move messages on the phone from one folder to another. Say for example the inbox to a category folder you make.

JonnoB
02-06-2004, 03:33 AM
I know many will disagree, but I like email that is rich... so an option to receive HTML email would be nice. I want that on the PPC too.

Jerry Raia
02-06-2004, 04:08 AM
I know many will disagree, but I like email that is rich... so an option to receive HTML email would be nice. I want that on the PPC too.

I agree with that too. For some reason, it seems elusive.

David McNamee
02-06-2004, 05:59 AM
I know many will disagree, but I like email that is rich... so an option to receive HTML email would be nice. I want that on the PPC too.

I don't disagree, but I'd push harder for the feature if US data rates weren't so ridiculous.

blowdart
02-06-2004, 07:03 AM
Ok lets see.

Way better IMAP support. Microsoft have always viewed IMAP as the redheaded step child of email protocols, they've never gotten it right with Outlook so ...



Allow subscriptions to multiple IMAP folders.
Do not enumerate folders on mail pickup, this takes too long and as you can't get to mail in sub folders it's useless.
Fix the damned encoding bug. I know it's supposed to view text only, and frankly I don't care about HTML, but not switching =20 to be a space is not acceptable.
Allow editing of phone links on a click before dialing, so you can correct dial codes for example
Fix the broken secure SMTP support. It breaks the S/SMTP RFC and doesn't work with a few MTAs.
Allow changing of the outgoing SMTP port. Orange are retarded and force you to use their mail server (hence me discovering S/SMTP is broken). Because of havign to use smtp.orange.net I run into problems when trying to mail myself (as my MTA expects me to be in an AUTH session on itself - something I can't do unless I can switch the phone to use the ODMR ports when sending)
A more selective IMAP purge (although this is an IMAP limitation). Or even better simply hide the messages that are marked for deletion - cleanup can be done at the desktop). Why is this a problem? IMAP deletions aren't immediate. So you can press delete on a desktop and the mail is still there until a purge is ran. The phone purges immediatly. Oops.
If we're going to have to have HTML email I want the option to read everything as text, and not download the HTML MIME. *spit*
(Not really pocket inbox but ....) If pocket inbox already has support for VCards, then extend it out to the SMS inbox so we can finally swap contacts over SMS with nokia users.
ATTACHMENTS damnit. Although smart attach does this pretty well.

Jason Dunn
02-09-2004, 05:37 AM
I know many will disagree, but I like email that is rich... so an option to receive HTML email would be nice. I want that on the PPC too.

Here here! Rich HTML email rocks - I'd love to see support for it on the Smartphone and Pocket PC.

ladak
02-09-2004, 03:25 PM
Does Windows Mobile 2003 For Smartphone include an Inbox which support multiple email accounts?

manywhere
02-09-2004, 04:25 PM
FYI: I'm referring to Pocket PC in this post as I haven't got a smartphone yet.
Ok lets see.

Way better IMAP support. Microsoft have always viewed IMAP as the redheaded step child of email protocols, they've never gotten it right with Outlook so ...
OK, maybe. IMAP is their dark spot and that missing know-how can be essentially a security risk. Needs fixing over here! :wink:


Allow subscriptions to multiple IMAP folders.
Do not enumerate folders on mail pickup, this takes too long and as you can't get to mail in sub folders it's useless.
I believe that this is due to Pocket Inbox downloading all folders in the home directory. In my case, Pocket Inbox downloads not only the correct /mail folders but also the /public_html and /.KDE folders. A waste of time, in my opinion. :(
:arrow: What we need is a way of telling Pocket Inbox where the mail folder(s) is located.


Fix the broken secure SMTP support. It breaks the S/SMTP RFC and doesn't work with a few MTAs.
I'm curious, are you specifying SSL (aka. TLS) SMTP or some other technique?


A more selective IMAP purge (although this is an IMAP limitation). Or even better simply hide the messages that are marked for deletion - cleanup can be done at the desktop). Why is this a problem? IMAP deletions aren't immediate. So you can press delete on a desktop and the mail is still there until a purge is ran. The phone purges immediatly. Oops.

Yep, this is a common newsgroup and forums question that I've seen lots of. Although Chris De Herrera has a workaround, it doesn't always work and furthermore, a workaround isn't a working solution. :?
:arrow: What we need is to get the delete function functioning also in IMAP.

JoshB
02-09-2004, 06:22 PM
I really would like to see the following changes for the Inbox application (in order of preference/importance):

1. Hotmail integration (like being able to access your Hotmail in desktop Outlook) so I can stop paying $10/year to Izymail.com
2. HTML email support
3. A way to scroll a page at a time (I want this more for IE than for Inbox)
4. A way to go to the Next/Previous message while reading a message
5. Easier way to navigate between folders.

JoshB

gpspassion
02-09-2004, 07:26 PM
3. A way to scroll a page at a time (I want this more for IE than for Inbox)

JoshB

The fabulous xBar task switcher already lets you do that: http://xetranet.free.fr/spv/xbar2/fr/ at the price of key combnation. This is a must have for Smarpthones IMHO.

bibap
02-09-2004, 07:52 PM
I gave up on xbar because I couldn't figure out how to configure it. The manual, unfortunately, is in French, http://xetranet.free.fr/spv/xbar2/fr/doc/

Anyone up for an English translation?

gpspassion
02-09-2004, 09:54 PM
Do I know you from somewhere ;-)
If you start a new thread I can help. I'm not sure what I would do without xBar, honest!

colinkhalid
02-18-2004, 10:11 AM
The icon for recieved email in the inbox is the same as SMS message, it would be clearer email and sms used differant icons.