Mail / contacts / calendar / tasks: best all-in-one for picky users?

[exi]

Appreciate it! That's really tempting. I'm between doing that, moving everything over to hosted Exchange, moving everything to outlook.com, or splitting services which is what I'm trying to avoid.

I assume GApps handles tasks and lack of syncing of them in the same way that the free version does?

 

[DarkJaye]

Yeah, Tasks still don't sync with Reminders. So that's one downside. I'm not a huge user of the Tasks/Reminders feature to begin with so for me it doesn't have much impact.

 

[BrianBaughn]

DarkJaye...what are you using to read your mail on your computer?

I've got the "grandfathered" version of Google Apps (two domains) and use a mix "GoTasks" (syncing with Google Tasks) and Reminders on the iPhone.

 

[DarkJaye]

Primarily just a pinned Gmail tab in Google Chrome, however, I have Outlook installed for my work email and after installing the Google Apps Sync tool, I can use Outlook to read my Gmail as well.

I've never really been happy with any Windows mail client except for Outlook, especially when interacting with Gmail.

The problem with the grandfathered free version of Google Apps (I also had one from long ago but with a domain I don't really use anymore) is that Google Apps Sync is not offered (so that rules out the nice Outlook integration) and also if you want to use Exchange they are now limiting that to paid Google Apps only as well.

So either way if you want Outlook integration and Exchange ActiveSync, you're going to need to pay -- whether you pay for Google Apps or just a standard third-party hosted exchange solution.

edit: I should clarify that my primary computer is Windows, not OS X, so I'm unsure if Google Apps Sync works with Outlook for Mac. If I were on OS X I'd probably stick to the default Mail application for email which I like well enough.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Primarily just a pinned Gmail tab in Google Chrome, however, I have Outlook installed for my work email and after installing the Google Apps Sync tool, I can use Outlook to read my Gmail as well.

I've never really been happy with any Windows mail client except for Outlook, especially when interacting with Gmail.

The problem with the grandfathered free version of Google Apps (I also had one from long ago but with a domain I don't really use anymore) is that Google Apps Sync is not offered (so that rules out the nice Outlook integration) and also if you want to use Exchange they are now limiting that to paid Google Apps only as well.

So either way if you want Outlook integration and Exchange ActiveSync, you're going to need to pay -- whether you pay for Google Apps or just a standard third-party hosted exchange solution.

edit: I should clarify that my primary computer is Windows, not OS X, so I'm unsure if Google Apps Sync works with Outlook for Mac. If I were on OS X I'd probably stick to the default Mail application for email which I like well enough.

Yeah, I don't know what I'll do when I get my next iOS device. I use Google Voice quite a bit. May have to upgrade to a paid account...not that big a deal.

Perhaps someone will make a jailbreak tweak that opens Mail when you touch a Gmail app notification.

 

[exi]

So after getting sidetracked with much more important stuff, I'm back to this little thing.

I could stay with Gmail, keep the arguably best overall feature set of the free email providers, lose push, and not have integrated reminders/tasks in iOS.

I'm between iCloud and Outlook.com for switching.

iCloud is obviously the best integrated with iOS but does not offer push support for any folders besides the inbox, which isn't a huge problem. Able to use Mail on OSX with no big issues there. The web interface is nice, but I'm starting to find it a little cartoonish now that I've actually used it for a couple days. Webmail preferences/settings and rules are pretty paltry.

Outlook.com is fully push via EAS, and I much prefer the web interface over that of iCloud. Skydrive >> iCloud for file storage, imo, seeing as how iCloud requires iOS iWork apps to be installed for the web interface to have any use. Better feature set on web interface over iCloud, except for iCloud's way of using aliases -- much prefer that. Being EAS means that iOS contacts will not keep email labels, and over time, email labels in the web interface will get screwed up -- functionally it doesn't matter, but I'm picky.

Trying not to split providers. If I did, mail/contacts probably ought to be in the same place.

Opinions appreciated.

 

[exi]

Having free time before residency is great, but it gives me time to play with this stuff.

I've been using iCloud for everything for a little while now. More or less pleased with it, except:

- iCloud mail server-side rules and configurability: pretty awful.
- Had one instance of a sent message through Mail.app from an @icloud.com address, which was received by the sender, magically vanish from my sent items folder.
- Lack of background badge updating across devices is still annoying but not a dealbreaker.
- Inconsistent updating of events/reminders in the iOS notification center also still annoying, but also not a dealbreaker.

Barring a very impressive next-gen OS X whenever that's announced, I don't have any allegiance to Apple for my next laptop/desktop. I'm on a Core 2 Duo MBP which may not support the next version of the OS anyway.

Next phone, however, is likely to be the next iPhone.

That said, is there any big reason I'm unaware of for me to (a) return to Google for mail/contacts/calendars/tasks and forget about the advertising / privacy thing, knowing that I'll lose EAS come the next phone upgrade, or (b) go to Outlook.com for it all?

 

[BrianBaughn]

Having free time before residency is great, but it gives me time to play with this stuff.

I've been using iCloud for everything for a little while now. More or less pleased with it, except:

- iCloud mail server-side rules and configurability: pretty awful.
- Had one instance of a sent message through Mail.app from an @icloud.com address, which was received by the sender, magically vanish from my sent items folder.
- Lack of background badge updating across devices is still annoying but not a dealbreaker.
- Inconsistent updating of events/reminders in the iOS notification center also still annoying, but also not a dealbreaker.

Barring a very impressive next-gen OS X whenever that's announced, I don't have any allegiance to Apple for my next laptop/desktop. I'm on a Core 2 Duo MBP which may not support the next version of the OS anyway.

Next phone, however, is likely to be the next iPhone.

That said, is there any big reason I'm unaware of for me to (a) return to Google for mail/contacts/calendars/tasks and forget about the advertising / privacy thing, knowing that I'll lose EAS come the next phone upgrade, or (b) go to Outlook.com for it all?

I'd say buy a domain name for yourself so that you can keep the same email address for as long as email is relevant. You can pay to have it hosted at Google (with EAS), a hosted Exchange service (with EAS and full-on Exchange) or get free hosting for it at Outlook.com with the associated benefits and drawbacks.

 

[exi]

I'd say buy a domain name for yourself so that you can keep the same email address for as long as email is relevant. You can pay to have it hosted at Google (with EAS), a hosted Exchange service (with EAS and full-on Exchange) or get free hosting for it at Outlook.com with the associated benefits and drawbacks.

Appreciate the advice. Silly problem, but haven't actually come up with a halfway decent domain name at this point.

As a stopgap, I've gone back to Google for mail -- Apple's service is completely lackluster in comparison -- and may or may not switch back for contacts and calendars/tasks as well. Debating about that.

 

[ScottNWDW]

Back in the day when I used a windows based computer I lived through Outlook with Franklin Covey's Plan Plus add-in. Unfortunately the Mac version of Outlook is horrible at best.

Microsoft just doesn't seem interested in making Office:mac a premier product like it has become in the Windows environment. That's a shame because the 3 core Office apps, Ecel, Word, and PowerPoint, were originally written for the Mac before being ported over to Windows. Microsoft has also dropped the ball by still not supporting iOS, most notably iPad.

Outlook for Mac would be nice if it actually worked. Funny how the Windows version of Outlook can sync with iCal, yet the Mac version can't. If Outlook on the Mac was reliable I would be more than happy to use it, but it also won't sync with my iOS devices. So in my opinion, it's useless at this point.

I have since found a number of different programs that can handle everything I used to rely on Outlook/Plan Plus for, but it would be nice to be able to have a Mac version. I have yet to find a Mac App that can handle everything just yet.

On the iOS side is an excellent app called Pocket Informant. It can do everything the original poster wanted except the mail feature. Calendar, tasks, notes, contacts, but no mail yet. Unfortunately the Mac client hasn't been released yet. Hopefully someday it might be but at this point I won't hold my breath.