Email, like snail mail, doesn’t change much. Sure, graphics make email cool, but email is just a way for two (or more) people to communicate with one another. Besides, with the advent of texting, email is slow by comparison.
The folks at
Insighde are attempting to breathe new life into email with the introduction of
Humail for the iPhone/iPod touch.
The app adds what Insighde calls “Humail Experience Elements” to the email reading and writing experience.
This includes:
- Smart Visual Design
- Message Flow
- Customizable Envelopes
- Auto classification
- Previews and Shortcuts
- Smart Filters
- All New Emails
- Photo Stamps
In creative terms, the app allows you to “touch, feel and personalize” the email process. As the creators like to say "Mail Is Emotional Again."
Upon downloading the app, your iPhone contacts are automatically synced. What isn’t synchronized are your existing email accounts. These need to be added manually. Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and AOL are the available services. You can also add IMAP or POP accounts. Exchange email accounts cannot be added at this time.
The process to add email accounts is easy and looks very similar to the setup process for the iPhone itself. Still, it would be nice for this to occur automatically in a future update.
Once you’ve setup an email account, the fun begins. Each email sits on top of others visually within “envelopes” which can be customized. To move from one email to another, swipe your finger downward. Reading email is a lot quicker using Humail than with any other iPhone app. Impressive.
You can assign different envelopes for known and unknown contacts. This helps in deciding which email is important and which could be junk.
Overall, I like using Humail and plan on keeping it on my iPhone. Its creators claim that the app will be updated quite often in the next few months. In fact, they have a page called "
Next Feature" on their website. The page asks users to rate, from a list of possible enhancements, what they would like to see in the future. You don't often get this type of developer to consumer interaction. Brilliant!
The
Humail app is available today in the App Store.
