Microsoft Launches Outlook for Both Android And iOS Mobile Devices

You can now have Outlook on your mobile device even if it runs on the Android or iOS platform. Microsoft has confirmed that it is launching its email app to Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, based on the application it got after its acquisition of Acompli last month. 

Previously, Microsoft offered different Outlook-branded products for different platforms. There's the Outlook.com app for the Android system, and then there's the OWA apps for both Android and iOs (but available only to those under paid Office 365 subscriptions).

But after Microsoft bought the email app Acompli for a sum of $200 million in December 2014, they also got to play with the technology used by Acompli. This means that for some users out there, especially those already familiar with Acompli, they may find the Outlook apps a bit similar to Acompli in terms of appearance and navigation. Since Acompli's user interface was quite impressive already, it is no surprise that the Outlook apps have also caught some of its easy-to-use elements.

And similar to Acompli, Outlook for Android and iOS will be able to support Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, Yahoo! Mail, and Gmail, and other email service providers. Moreover, the Outlook app also lets users send messages with attachments via several cloud services, including Microsoft's OneDrive and Dropbox, just to name a few.

One of the clever things about the new Outlook apps is the way they allow all kinds of swipe gestures. Depending on their preferences, users can customize the swipe capabilities of their Outlook as they please.

The iOS version of Outlook is officially launched already, but the Android version is technically still in preview status. This is hardly surprising, given the fact that the Android mobile operating system has such a broad hardware ecosystem. Microsoft should be able to work out the little kinks in two months time or less.

Now on to the features. Outlook comes with a clever snooze option that allows users to remove an email message temporarily from their inbox and have it appear again at a later time. Users can either set that "later time" into "in a few hours," "this evening," "tomorrow morning," or "choose a time."

Outlook also has an auto-sort feature that groups your email messages into two basic categories: Focused and Other. It is a quick and simple way to sort out your mail and separating the important ones from those you can save for later.

Then there's the Quick Filter option that shows your Unread, Flagged, or Files messages, and the Unsubscribe link which lets you discard unwanted newsletters and other less important automated notifications or messages.