Microsoft's new outlook

Hotmail the mail service that ruled the mailing roost before the likes of Google came in and redefined email as we knew it is dead Well sort of Microsoft has rejigged Hotmail not only tweaking its look and feel but adding a stack of new features and rechristening it to boot Long live Outlook com The question is mdash will it We spent a week with the new mail service to find out You can log into Outlook by heading to you guessed it wwwoutlookcom and using your Hotmail ID if you have one we are wagering most people over 30 have mdash and have not used it for a while You can also register for a new account if you wish mdash a lot of people are advising us to to ldquosaverdquo our identities The registration process is surprisingly smooth mdash no extended formfilling When you log into Outlook com for the first time the first thing that strikes you is how clean the interface is Gone is one of the biggest complaints we had about Hotmail and MSNrsquos mail service mdash the cluttered interface If anything Outlook looks a lot like Gmail and even less cluttered There are no ads to be seen anywhere and there are no borders mdash the opening screen seems to stretch from end to end The list of folders is on the left with the contents of the highlighted folder on the right and on the top are a grand total of five icons for letting you write new mail enter messaging mode tweak mail settings change account settings and access other linked services The options on the top change when you open a mail letting you do messagespecific tasks like deleting mails and moving them to folders It is stark and looks cool as hell The look seems inspired by the tile interface we have seen in Microsoftrsquos Windows Phone and Windows 8 OS which until recently was called Metro with similar fonts and layout mdash although the default colour here is light blue which you can change if you wish The stark fact is mdash and this comes from a diehard Gmail fan mdash that reading is far easier here with a cleaner interface and more spaces between texts and a more rounded font serif fans will be outraged Whatrsquos more it looks quite good on a browser on a handset and tablet too mdash who needs apps if Web pages look like this The looks are impressive enough but they are backed up with some very solid features as well Sets of pictures can be seen as slideshows and you can open and edit MS Office files even if you do not have MS Office installed on your computer literally bringing document editing to your inbox Facebook and Twitter integration lets you post messages on walls and tweet to your contacts on those networks and also chat with your Facebook friends Finally therersquos the dropdown arrow next to the Outlook name in the left corner of the Window mdash clicking on it lets you access Mail Calendar People and Skydrive Microsoftrsquos online storage service And before you ask yes you can do all the basic tasks that you can on other email services including receiving mails from other accounts if that is what you prefer and configuring the service on your handset and tabletrsquos default mail client Incidentally as per Microsoft inbox storage is ldquovirtually unlimitedrdquo and the service comes with ldquoindustry leading spam protectionrdquo and ldquorock solid account protectionrdquo All of which makes Outlook appear like the email version of the catrsquos whiskers Unfortunately there are catches that could trip up your experience For one unlike Gmail where you never ever feel as if you are out of the Gmail experience in terms of look and feel in Outlook you often end up at pages that donrsquot even have a fleeting resemblance to the uber sleek landing screen For instance going to Skydrive or Calendar will land you on a page that is right out of MSN mdash Hotmail era Then there is the little matter of speed Yes Gmail does take time to load but once you are in it things work at the rate of knots with folders opening almost the moment you click them Not quite so in Outlook where there is a significant pause before you get to see what you have clicked on or move from item to item That said Outlook is still in Preview mode and will only improve as time passes We are not considering making it our primary mail account yet but it did make us start using our longabandoned Hotmail ID again Definitely worth a try Just donrsquot get too carried away by its looks Yet u00a0