Microsoft announced its
Outlook webmail service
this week, and it's a suprisingly robust new webmail client. But can it
hold a torch to the current king of webmail, Gmail? To give you a
better idea of how they stack up, here's a feature-by-feature comparison
of Outlook vs. Gmail.
Feature-by-feature, the two services are remarkably similar. Here's a quick rundown:
Now for the more detailed breakdown.
Interface
Let's
start with the first thing you're going to notice when you log into
Outlook for the first time: the interface. Most of us are familiar with
how Gmail looks and feels. Outlook's not entirely different, but it is a
little simpler.
Outlook's Clean, Email-Centric Interface
Outlook is all about email. That's it. When you pop into Outlook,
you're shown your email account and nothing else. You still get ads on
the sidebar, but overall, it's a far less cluttered interface than Gmail
(and it's way less cluttered than Hotmail) because Outlook isn't
seeking to integrate with a bunch of other services. Ads are a little
less creepy because they're not based on keywords in your inbox.
Gmail's Google-centric Interface
We all know Gmail's interface pretty well at this point. You get
personalized ads on the main inbox page on the top, and a sidebar with
ads inside your messages. You also have the chat window on the side and
the Google bar on the top. It's not complicated by any means, but the
Google bar is certainly a bit of a distraction.
Storage Space and Attachments
Email storage space isn't as big of a deal as it once was, but if
you're sending a lot of large files back and forth, a hefty amount of
storage is helpful.
Outlook Has Nearly Unlimited Storage and a 100MB Limit on Attachments
You get a
"virtually unlimited"
amount of storage in Outlook. We're not entirely sure what that means,
but we do know that you can attach a file of up to 100MB to any email.
If you link your email to
Skydrive you can attach files up to 300MB.
For incoming attachments, Outlook retains the Hotmail-style Active
View. YouTube videos open inside the email, a group of photos becomes a
slideshow, and you can open any Office document directly in your
browser.
Gmail Comes with 10GB of Storage and a 25MB Limit on Attachments
Gmail's limits on storage and attachment size are a lot smaller than
Outlook's. Out of the gates, most Gmail users get 10GB of free storage,
and attachments are limited to just 25MB in size.
Like Outlook, Gmail opens up YouTube videos directly inline with the
email. Gmail also handles Office documents in a similar way, and opens
them in browser with the option to edit in Google Docs. Images in Gmail
are handled with a pretty typical list view and don't offer the slick
sideshow that Outlook has.
Email Organization
For
power-users, the most important part of a good webmail client is
automatic email filing and organization. Gmail locked this down a while
ago, but Outlook brings some new ideas to the table.
Outlook's Quick View Folders and Sweep Features
Outlook doesn't have the robust filtering and labeling system that
Gmail does, but it has a few tricks up its sleeve. One is the Quick View
folders. These folders are automatically filled with certain types of
emails (flagged, photos, office, shopping, etc). For instance, from the
sidebar you can instantly search through the last few messages with
photo attachments, or messages about Groupon deals. The Sweep feature
from Hotmail also carries over to Outlook. Sweeping works a lot like
Gmail's labels where emails from certain people or places automatically
get filed away in a folder of your choosing.
Gmail's Filters, Labels, and Priority Messages
Using Gmail's
labels is an easy way to keep track which emails are important and where they are. Better still, it's simple to set up an
automatic filter that combs your incoming mail and distributes messages directly into those labels. If you're still overwhelmed, the
priority inbox is a lifesaver for designating which emails really matter.
Junk Mail Control
Everyone
hates spam, and no webmail client is worth using if it doesn't have
extensive spam filtering. Of course, it's not just spam, it's also the
junk you've signed up for that matters (newsletters, mailing lists,
coupons, and whatever else).
Outlook's Spam Control and Clever Batch Filtering
Only time will tell how good Outlook's spam control is, but one of
Outlook's coolest features is how it handles newsletter-type messages.
Outlook automatically labels these messages and adds an unsubscribe
button to them—even if the email doesn't include one its own. It's super
handy for filtering out those emails you don't mind getting, but don't
want alerts constantly.
Gmail's Spam Control and Filter Settings
Gmail has a pretty great spam filter and chances are you won't have
too much trouble with spam. However, it doesn't have the same
out-of-the-box batch filtering system for that clutter email you get.
Still, it's super easy to set up your own filter
for things like newsletters. Just create a new filter with words like,
"opt-out, unsubscribe, privacy policy, or manage your account" and all
your newsletters and coupons will filter off into their own section.
POP/IMAP Support
If
you use a third-party email client on your desktop or mobile device,
POP or IMAP support is crucial for keeping everything in order. Support
for either also matters when you want to look at email without an active
internet connection.
Outlook Doesn't Support IMAP or POP, Instead uses ActiveSync
Here's one of Outlook's major bummers: it doesn't support IMAP or
POP. This means using certain third party email services (like Apple's
default desktop Mail app) won't work. You can still follow the
guide for using Hotmail with POP and that
should work with Outlook. Instead, Outlook uses
ActiveSync. Subsequently, you can only use email apps that support ActiveSync.
Gmail Has Full Support for Both IMAP and POP
Gmail
supports both IMAP and POP
and you can switch your settings on the fly very simply. This means you
can synchronize between multiple email clients very easily. It also
means you can access your archived email even when you're offline.
Search Capabilities
If
you receive hundreds of emails a day, then a solid search capability is
key with any webmail client. You don't want to spend more than a few
minutes hunting down a lost email.
Outlook Has Simple, but Effective Search
Outlook's search capability is pretty straight-forward. You can
search by a simple keyword, or pop into the advanced search and narrow
it down by email address, subject, folders, and dates. It's nothing too
complex, but it works well enough.
Gmail's Comprehensive Advanced Search Strings
Gmail's
search strings are pretty advanced.
The nice part about Gmail's search is that you don't have to worry
about a bunch of input boxes. Instead, you can just type commands like,
label, list, or filename, directly into the search box. It's fast and
effective for quickly searching through email.
Social Integration
Email
is already inherently social, but if you're looking to connect your
various social accounts into your email, it's increasingly easy to do.
Outlook's Social Integration with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
Outlook directly integrates with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
When you log in with any of those services, you'll see status updates,
link mailbox accounts, and more. From the sidebar you can retweet people
on Twitter, comment on Facebook status updates, and more. If you don't
like the feature, it's easy enough not to enable.
Gmail's Integrates with Google Plus
Since Gmail is owned by Google, its social integration starts and
stops with Google Plus. The two are tied together in a lot ways,
including contact listings, email filtering, and more. Provided your
friends are using Google Plus, you can even instantly create email
groups to send mass messages to.
Which One's Best for You?
Outlook is the newcomer, but it's a no-brainer for anyone currently
using Hotmail. It's also a good go-to for anyone who wants a webmail
client that only does email. Its simplicity is its greatest strength.
That said, Google's integration with all of Google's services is nice,
and it's advanced features and customization options are more appealing
to the power user.
