Microsoft's venerable Hotmail service was recently upgraded to the delightful Outlook.com. Redmond's new service has proven quite popular, so two weeks ago, when Microsoft launched a free Outlook.com app for Android, we were intrigued. Unfortunately, the app falls flat. It's not much more than a rebadge of Redmond's Hotmail for Android app, which is mediocre at best. Seriously, it's nearly identical, save for a new blue color scheme.
We can report that app is functional. It syncs in a timely manner, offers push notifications and will link your Outlook contacts and calendar to Android. It has all the features one might expect of a mobile mail client -- in 2008. Flimsy functionality aside, Outlook.com for Android doesn't take on any particular aesthetic. Not only does it eschew the attractive Metro interface of its Web-app cousin, it forgoes Google's Holo theme for Android as well. It's frankly surprising for a company the likes of Microsoft to release such half-baked software. If you're looking for a full-featured mail client, for Outlook or otherwise, move along. Gmail this ain't.
PUBLISHED DEC. 7, 2012
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