Is email better with a live account versus gmail?

[Bleser]

Hi all,

Currently I have a Gmail email address as my primary address for my contacts / email / etc. I was curious if I went through the pain of making my new @live.com address my primary address if there would be any "user experience" benefit on my WP8. Are the mail notifications more 'instant' as gmail was on my Android phone (as opposed to the 15-minute-check with Gmail)? Are attachments downloaded any faster (been having a problem where even small attachments take minutes to download on my WP8)? Anything else I'm not thinking about?

Thanks!

 

[alv3st3r]

I was curious if I went through the pain of making my new @live.com address my primary address if there would be any "user experience" benefit on my WP8.

Its Outlook now. See these comparison links below and decide for yourself which one you find better:

Best Email Service: Gmail vs.Outlook.com | Maximum PC
Outlook.com vs. Gmail: What Microsoft is still missing | PCWorld
Outlook vs. Gmail: A Feature-by-Feature Comparison
10 ways Outlook.com beats Gmail | News | TechRadar

 

[neo158]

I would say yes, Microsoft don't scan your emails to deliver targeted ads to your inbox

 

[Bleser]

Thanks for the links. Good articles, but didn't see anything that addressed my main question about PUSH support for an @live.com account vs. @gmail.com on WP8. Can anyone speak to that or is it simply not supported with either?

 

[yeewiz]

but didn't see anything that addressed my main question about PUSH support for an @live.com account vs. @gmail.com on WP8. Can anyone speak to that or is it simply not supported with either?

I had a myname@mydomain.com as my MS account and set up the email account on my WP8 and had the similar 15 min check. I added a myname@outlook.com alias to my MS account and added this alias email account to my WP8. I configured myname@outlook.com on WP8 to get mail as it arrives. I then forwarded all email from myname@mydomain.com to myname@outlook.com. Now I get all email on my phone and laptop as they arrive. I didn't change anything to my laptop outlook.com app and it is still configured for myname@mydomain.com. I don't notice that attachment speeds are abnormal in my use.

HTH

 

[alv3st3r]

Thanks for the links. Good articles, but didn't see anything that addressed my main question about PUSH support for an @live.com account vs. @gmail.com on WP8. Can anyone speak to that or is it simply not supported with either?

Yes it does.
Outlook Blog - Outlook.com now has IMAP

 

[anony_mouse]

I would say yes, Microsoft don't scan your emails to deliver targeted ads to your inbox

So the question is - how do they pay for it?

 

[alv3st3r]

So the question is - how do they pay for it?

He said "targeted ads" not "no ads" at all.

 

[Bleser]

Great info. Thanks all.

 

[anony_mouse]

He said "targeted ads" not "no ads" at all.

I just logged into outlook.com. In the bottom right corner, there is a button marked "Ad Choices". This takes you to a page explaining that Microsoft show you personalised ads - Your privacy and Microsoft personalised ads.
So in fact, Microsoft DO show users personalised advertisements in outlook.com.
It does seem to be possible to switch off personalised ads, but of course very few users will do so. It's an opt-out, not an opt-in.

 

[alv3st3r]

Those "personalized ads" are based on your cookies not your mail content. The point is Outlook doesn't scan you mail.

 

[tcedwards]

Outlook hands down, doesn't scan your mail, has the same functionality, and isnt made by google

 

[shmsnh]

If you have a WP device, I say you're better off with Outlook (hotmail/live). On my phone, gmail took a long time to start working properly for me, whereas my hotmail account has never had any issues. Then there's the added bonus of not having Google read your emails. And since it's Google, you never know if and when they might want to screw Microsoft again by messing up email for WP8 users.

 

[anony_mouse]

Those "personalized ads" are based on your cookies not your mail content. The point is Outlook doesn't scan you mail.

I think it's debateable which is worse. Microsoft ads will presumably be based on browsing history, amongst other things.
And I assume Microsoft do 'scan' your mail for viruses, etc.

 

[alv3st3r]

Microsoft ads will presumably be based on browsing history, amongst other things.

This is how most of the ads work on internet i.e. based on your cookies.

And I assume Microsoft do 'scan' your mail for viruses, etc.

Yes (the things that are scanned are sender's email ID for spam, hyperlinks in the email, attachments, etc) and so other every email service does this but people find it creepy when you're being served with the ads based on their email content.

 

[anony_mouse]

Yes (the things that are scanned are sender's email ID for spam, hyperlinks in the email, attachments, etc) and so other every email service does this but people find it creepy when you're being served with the ads based on their email content.

I think it's creepier when you do something on one site (e.g. get a price for a flight) and the next site you look at has adverts with prices for that flight. That's tracking you around the internet, taking information from one context and using it in another (*). Ads next to an e-mail based on the content of that e-mail don't bother me so much. After all, the scanning is done by a computer, not a person, and the information is only used in the context is was provided in.

(*) Yes, I know Google do this.

 

[alv3st3r]

I think it's creepier when you do something on one site (e.g. get a price for a flight) and the next site you look at has adverts with prices for that flight. That's tracking you around the internet, taking information from one context and using it in another.

Use disconnect extension.

 

[MyNL822]

Lol, to ACTUALLY ANSWER your question... i have both a gmail email and a live email. I made a live email after getting this device and they are both set to push email to me. The live email account has more set options than gmail account. Live can download new content: as items arrive(instantly), every 15 mins, every 30 mins, hourly, and manually. Gmail can download new content:Every 15 mins, every 30 mins, hourly, every 2 hours, and manually. So, gmail has no instant email pushing option. I don't know if this is a result of Google or Microsoft, but live emails for me are rare and i would rather have my gmail account download new content instantly. This is the difference of pushing options, i honestly think they want you to switch to live instead of google, but i like all the features of google and I'm not giving it up because of my Microsoft phone. Live doesn't even have the option to login with out the domain name( @live.com). That is just annoying.

 

[neo158]

Lol, to ACTUALLY ANSWER your question... i have both a gmail email and a live email. I made a live email after getting this device and they are both set to push email to me. The live email account has more set options than gmail account. Live can download new content: as items arrive(instantly), every 15 mins, every 30 mins, hourly, and manually. Gmail can download new content:Every 15 mins, every 30 mins, hourly, every 2 hours, and manually. So, gmail has no instant email pushing option. I don't know if this is a result of Google or Microsoft, but live emails for me are rare and i would rather have my gmail account download new content instantly. This is the difference of pushing options, i honestly think they want you to switch to live instead of google, but i like all the features of google and I'm not giving it up because of my Microsoft phone. Live doesn't even have the option to login with out the domain name( @live.com). That is just annoying.

I guess you haven't been in the Microsoft ecosystem for very long so I'll let you in on why we all hate Google:

1. They removed API support for Google Voice citing security concerns, meaning no Google Voice support for Windows Phone users.

2. They don't allow Windows Phone users to have a decent YouTube experience through an official app.

3. Google Maps in IE on Windows Phone was temporarily screwed up on purpose by Google, and was only fixed when people complained about it.

4. They removed EAS support from Gmail, meaning NO PUSH EMAIL SUPPORT, in order to give WP users a ****ty experience when accessing it, forcing Microsoft to add support for CalDAV and CardDAV.

These four things are why the majority of WP users hate Google and refuse to use their services, I terminated my Google Account as have many others who use WP.

If you're happy with Google keyword scanning your private email then that's fine but I, like a lot of others, believe it to be a massive invasion of privacy.

 

[evilrob]

I switched from Gmail to Outlook.com as part of my "switching to Microsoft" experiment.

I like it. It works.