ProfiMail hits v3 - Review

[slitchfield]

Ewan's back from his travels and takes the time to get set up with third party email app ProfiMail, now into a push-email-like IMAP-ready version 3. With the very nature of email changing and with Nokia's Ovi Message about to hit, is version 3 of ProfiMail still worth stumping up for?

Read on in the full article.

[tspierings]

Good review, Ewan. I would like to add two key things that make me use Profimail already for several years.

HIDE BUTTON
By pressing 8 you can hide a message. Especially during the holiday when you do not "unload" all messages to your PC, it keeps a good view on new messages, while still keeping the already read messages which will ultimately land on my pc.

3 STEP DOWNLOAD
Most email clients offer the option to only download headers and then, in a second step, download the body and attachements. However, in messages with big attachements I do not want to download the attached files (to save time and money) but do want to be able to read the first part of the body.

Profimail lets you first download the headers, then download the first x Kb of the body, and then the full message including attachements. The last step I generally never do, since large attachements can consume quite some time and money. Generally, the body text does not take more than approx 3 Kb.

£25? I got it just last week for £12.79 from Handango.

[dread1971]

A little trick if you don't like the fonts on Profimail. Go to the about page, type 800 and you get a different (and in my opinion) better font. It also gives you a much greater font size range as well.

[ares]

I love it...its so fast...

By the way, its also AVAILABLE for UIQ3 (not really dead yet, you know??)

[ltv]

Originally Posted by dread1971

A little trick if you don't like the fonts on Profimail. Go to the about page, type 800 and you get a different (and in my opinion) better font. It also gives you a much greater font size range as well.

Hey, that's excellent. Why have they hidden this little gem away?
It is so much easier to read emails now, even when I have set the font size to 0 (smallest).
Thanks

[jrmt]

I think "About -> 800" just turns off/on the anti-aliasing on the fonts. I actually prefer anti-aliasing on, but some people think it looks "fuzzy".

[ltv]

Yes, now that you have pointed it out, I think that is what it is doing.
But on my phone, it is only making the font look sharper and more readable(not fuzzy). Hence a welcome hack.

I also have a palm 3c that I use as an ebook reader . The eReader software in it has a similar option for "smoothing" fonts. But in that case, "smoothened" fonts look really fuzzy - almost like someone spilt water on ink writing.
Thankfully that is not the case with Profimail on my e90.

[neilhoskins]

Is there a limit to the number of mailboxes I can set to alert automatically? The native S60 client only allows two.

[abruenin]

ProfiMail is the only mail app I use on my E71. I like the enhanced features, but more than anything else I love it's speed. ProfiMail is extremely optimized for easy and fast email usage, you would never have to waste time in fiddling around in some multi layer menus. I makes use of the E71's qwerty keyboard (eg. for reply to a mail, just press 'R' etc). I often have only a few minutes between two dates to work through my email. I used Nokia's built in email client and ProfiMail in parallel for a few weeks, than decided to completely switch to ProfiMail, just because I get my work done faster with it.
The main drawback in the last version has been it's childish look, but this is fixed in V3 as it now supports the built in themes.

[neilhoskins]

Q2: is there any way I can buy it without going via the leeches at Handango?

[wampyre]

I really like the new functions such as setting the work days, time interval to check for new mails while using the imap idle.

The greatest thing is the skin support as you now can have a seamless colour on your phone.

Originally Posted by jrmt

I think "About -> 800" just turns off/on the anti-aliasing on the fonts. I actually prefer anti-aliasing on, but some people think it looks "fuzzy".

With FontRouter and using Chinese Fonts turning anti-aliasing on does make it "fuzzy" as you described.

I'll stick with it off.

[neilhoskins]

I got it from a German site in the end. A bit scary, but seems kosher.

I should have done this years ago:

1. I love the way you can scroll through the preview pane by using L-R.

2. If you start entering a gmail account, it figures out what you're doing and sets all the (somewhat obscure) ports and security for you. Bloody genius.

3. Doesn't seem to be any limit to the number of IMAP IDLE accounts I can have running simultaneously, unlike the native client, which allows only two.

4. It's even got access point handling, in that there's a global setting for two alternative APs. Three would be nice (work wifi, home wifi, mobile) but it's better than nothing.

I had thought that if I installed this then I could also install MailForExchange for my corporate email. I made a start, then realised that it wasn't the number of mailboxes that originally put me off doing that, but the fact that M4X takes over your contacts. Pity we can't have multiple contacts lists like we used to be able to do on our...

PSIONS!! </shout>

Ewan, I very much doubt that any client Nokia produce for Mail On Ovi will be this comprehensive, so I reckon people may as well fork out the £15 now.

The only drawback is the license agreement:

-> license is transferable to your new device, for time of three years after purchase
-> ProfiMail may perform online check to verify your license on LCG server

As there's currently no alternative I had to swallow the bitter pill...

Regards,

Adrian

[ashu]

i have been using profimail for quite sometime on my nokia n82 and it works like a charm. Had tried emoze, seven, native client but never got satisfied. Blackberry would be a different ball game but it would have made me compromise me on my choice of phone. Profimail is the best. Worth every penny! And this about800 is a fantastic piece of knowledge! Thanks.