Microsoft’s Outlook email client reaches 25 million user milestone, launches new features and Android app

Microsoft is celebrating the 25 million active user landmark for its Outlook email client by launching additional features and an Android app.

Today Microsoft announced that Outlook reached its 25 million active user milestone, an achievement worth celebrating especially when Microsoft claims that four out of five Gmail users “would” switch to Outlook. And Microsoft isn’t slowing down: It will introduce a slew of new features for Outlook in the coming weeks.

If you’re familiar with the Bing It On Challenge – sponsored by Microsoft – then its recent findings about Outlook will feel familiar. Results based on a study from a Microsoft hired research firm that gauged the sentiments of Gmail users about Outlook found that users preferred Outlook’s design, filters, and document sharing features. Seeing as how there isn’t an independent study at hand aside from the one commissioned by Microsoft, we’re going to justify our opinion of Outlook based on our hands on with the email client - and ultimately, we were pretty impressed. 

While Outlook has a good thing going with its streamlined interface, unlike the increasingly cluttered and chaotic Gmail, Microsoft plans on adding additional features to Outlook. “We continue to listen to feedback on what enthusiasts want next – including making the switch from Gmail even easier – and build those features,” said David Law, Windows Live product marketing manager, in a blog post. 

Users can archive messages with the click of the “Archive” button and store the messages in any folder on Outlook.

People love keyboard shortcuts. By typing “?” when you’re in your inbox, a window with all (and new) keyboard shortcuts will open up.

More color themes have been added.

 iPhone and Windows Phone users already have their own apps but now Android users will be as lucky. Exchange ActiveSync wasn’t supported natively on the Android OS. But now Microsoft is offering an Outlook Android app, which you can download directly from the Google Play store. The app is free to download and supports the following Android versions: 2.1 – 2.3.3 and 4.0 – 4.1.

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Google Voice client MetroTalk on Windows Phone goes free for 48 hours

MetroTalk for Windows Phone v2.5

If you use Google Voice because like us, you have multiple phone numbers or you just like the free data-driven SMS feature, then you should check out MetroTalk for Windows Phone.

The app started off decent enough when it was first launched months ago but it has quickly ramped up to be one of the best, most fully featured Google Talk clients for Windows Phone—that’s specially good since Google doesn’t seem interested in supporting their own services.

Now, the developer has made the normally $1.49 app free for the next 48 hours. That’s a heck of a good deal especially since the app was just updated on October 13th to a version that will work with Windows Phone 8 and will be updated for WP8 features in the coming weeks.

We’ve used MetroTalk for quite some time and we think it’s a solid app with some great developer support behind it. While you could use the free, ad-supported version, why not head to the Store and grab yourself the full paid iteration for $0? The app does have push notifications done through a simple setup procedure on the device to ensure timely updates and the UI is quite sharp. 

Go grab MetroTalk here in the Windows Phone Store before the price goes back up. And if you like it, remember to leave a positive review for it in the Store.

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Twitter client Carbon for Windows Phone is leaving for Android and not looking back

Carbon, has left the building...

Say what you will about Twitter clients, but the developers behind them can be a finicky bunch from our experience. That notion is being reinforced again today with the announcement that Carbon has been pulled from the Windows Phone Store for good.

The man behind Carbon, M.Saleh Esmaeili, took to his Google+ page to discuss what had happened after his interview on our podcast, Iterate. In short, Carbon was never meant to be multi-platform.

Carbon for Android expected to launch in days

For those of you who remember, Carbon started off as a hit Twitter client on webOS but then drifted to Windows Phone during what seemed like an appropriate transition time for both mobile OS’s. And although Carbon did well, sitting near the top of the social category for nearly 60 days and even earning some heaps of praise form us, the Carbon team just never felt at home. Main complaint? Just not enough users.

Now, in an interesting twist, M.Saleh Esmaeili is getting ready to launch Carbon on Android and even though it remains to be seen if can actually succeed, he’s already declared Android as his new home.

Back at the end of August, the @CarbonWP Twtiter account noted they were looking to re-write the app and that in fact, it was not doomed. Responding to a question about updates for the Windows Phone clieint:

"we're rewriting the app as it was based on slow/unperformant base, it'll take a while, we're looking for WP devs/talent too..."

We’re not sure how well that will work out as Android is a mine field of Twitter clients, some popular hits and a ton of duds and it begs the question—can that ecosystem bare yet-another-Twitter client? We sure hope so as Carbon for Windows Phone is no longer available and it sounds like that team has burned their bridges with Microsoft’s OS, despite their affection for the OS.

Of course, with Twitter as a company locking down their APIs and exerting more control over the user experience, we know from some devs via personal contact that it’s having a chilling effect on their commitment to the making Twitter apps. 

Is that a bad thing? We’re not so sure as the myriad of Twitter apps on the Store, even for Windows Phone, has become a bit overwhelming.

Back to Carbon, we wish M.Saleh Esmaeili the best of luck with Android--we always enjoyed Carbon, even if development trickled off in the last few months. As for those of you who forked down $1.99 for Carbon and expected more than 7 months of service, we feel for ya...

What are your thoughts on Carbon leaving the Windows Phone platform? Vote below and sound off in comments.

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