Almost since the day I got my first iPhone I have been looking for a better email client and preferably one that also worked on the iPad too. I think I have tried pretty much all of them and the only one that has stuck is Sparrow which is sadly no longer maintain since Google bought it, grr.
A few weeks ago I was introduced to Acompli which merges email with the calendar, something that is so blindingly obviously that it is a surprise it hasn’t been done before. While the jury is still out on whether it stays or Sparrow makes a return it has lasted longer than all the others I have tried.
The app has four main tabs: Mail, Calendar, Files and People which pretty much do what they say on the tin. Files is an interesting one as it allows you to access all attachments you have sent or received on your accounts and then forward them onto a new recipient, which is neat, although I find it more likely that you would just forward the original email.
The email client is nicely done with a pretty intuitive interface and a easy swipe to Archive and Delete option, very similar to Mailbox. It also has a unified inbox, an absolute must for me. As I work for several organisations I have multiple email accounts and so switching between them all would be a pain. Seeing them all in one list is essential and because I practice inbox zero I never get swamped.
Unfortunately the calendar is nowhere near as polished as the email and has numerous “issues”:
- doesn’t show events any further than about 10 weeks in advance
- every event has an alarm whether set or not, which is very irritating
- when scheduling events Acompli shows a conflict with all day events even if they are marked as not busy
- days that have no events aren’t shown at all in the list view which I find confusing.
The People tab is nicely done allowing you to see the people you contact the most at the top. Clicking their name takes you to a list of your recent interactions with them and also has the option to call or email them, not not text which would be nice.
However, in order to pull together all this functionality all your email goes via Acompli’s servers.While the developers are up front about this in their privacy policy this will scare off a few.
Conclusions
Acompli is an interesting idea and I like having the calendar and email in one app but the calendar needs some work. Of course this is a first release and it is free so it’s seems a little churlish to grip. It’s certainly worth a look and right now I am persisting with it but I’ve not yet deleted Sparrow and Sunrise.
Pros
- Slick email implementation
- Useful to have email, calendar and people all in the same app
- Unified inbox (a must for me which is why have rejected so many others)
- Free
Cons
- Calendar is nowhere near as polished as email
- Can be slow in retrieving emails and updating but then nothing seems as quick as Sparrow