Apps
st will also show any that have
oogle Now
menu includes bundle categories for
essages
Missing one or two
features, but on the
whole it works really well
Performance
Design
Value
»specification
Designed forPhone and tablet
Requires Android4.1
PriceFree
» verdict
W
e’ve lost count
of the number
of third-party
email apps we’ve tried,
many of which boldly claim to
revolutionise the way in which we use
email, and now Google itself is getting
in on the act. Its new Inbox app aims to
streamline your inbox. To this end, it
has a few tricks up its sleeve, including
the ability to bundle similar messages,
add reminders for tasks and snooze
emails until a later time.
The app does come with a few
restrictions, however, the most
obvious being that – unlike the latest
version of the Gmail app – it only
works with Gmail accounts. And,
while you can add multipl
there’s no combined inbox view. Also,
at the time of writing, Inbox is still in
public beta via an invite (although you
can email Google to get one).
Once you’ve got it working, the
fi rst thing you’ll notice is how the app
highlights photos, videos and other
attachments in your inbox – a really
nice touch that enables you to fi nd
them more easily while also making
it look less dull. As in many rival apps,
you can swipe an email to perform
certain actions, although here it’s
limited to two: marking it as Done or
opting to Snooze it. The former
archives it to the Done list, while the
latter enables you to set a date and
time for the email t r
Snoozing is a good way to declutter
your inbox, as is the clever bundling
feature. The app automatically
bundles similar messages together
into preset categories – Travel,
Purchases, Finance, Social, Updates,
Forums and Promos. This means, for
instance, that all those social network
notifi cations don’t clog up your inbox,
but are aggregated together into a
single message space. The automatic
sorting seems very accurate and we
didn’t notice any mistakes – but if you
do see any, you can move a particular
message in or out of the category to
improve its future accuracy. You can
also turn notifi cations on/off for each
category, or turn off bundling
altogether for it. In addition, you can
create your own custom bundle
categories for messages coming from
certain email addresses. So it’s all
very fl exible.
So far so good, but now let’s take
a look at what is probably Inbox’s
trump card: its reminders system.
For any email, you can add a
reminder note. While it’s not possible
to add a particular time for it, this will
place your reminder at the top of the
inbox and add a pin – simply toggle
the switch at the top of the inbox to
only see pinned messages. With the
Reminders list also accessible from
the left menu, this effectively turns
your inbox into a to-do list. Helpfully,
any Google Now reminders you’ve
set also appear in Inbox’s Reminders
list, although not vice versa.
While it lacks the sophisticated
feature set of the latest Gmail app
(including third-party account
support), Inbox is a joy to use and
works well at streamlining your inbox.
Inbox by Gmail
Google’s own alternative email app
BOXER – FREE EMAIL INBOX APP » This third-party client offers
lots of gesture-based actions, plus support for most email accounts
e
e
Photos and other
attachments are
highlighted in the inbox
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You’ve got 2 hours to decide!
keep refund
2 hour wonder
»0-40 minutesWe love
howithighlightsallthe
email attachments
40
12080
!
»40-80 minutesThe
snooze and reminder
facilities are handy
40
12080
!
»80-120 minutes^ No way
to add a signature to
outgoing emails
40
12080
!