14 DAY TRIAL // Email clients. Definitely part of our Internet life. Though the younger generation uses instant messaging instead of emailing, you can't neglect the fact it is still the most elegant form of communication on the Internet.
Developers strive to provide the best of the best in terms of functionality, filtering, spam control or ease of use. Every line of the interface is neatly drawn and notifications are under the form of non-intrusive pop-up windows or pleasant sounds. But what if you add a bit of fun in the process, not much, just a tad.
IncrediMail's ability to turn email reading into fun is well known. The notifications are the most non-conventional, adding the twist the kid in us craves for. The latest version comes with more fun both for email sending and receiving as well as for the desktop screen. You have access to beautiful screensavers and wallpapers to adorn the desktop with. And plenty of animations.
The interface is not very much changed from prior versions as it seems that the emphasis is on adding new cool effects for you to choose from. To tell you the truth, the looks are still in XP era not fitting at all Vista's faded lines and incredible looks. Support for Vista is not too good either and I suggest using IncrediMail on XP a while longer, until the developer decides to make it Vista-ready.
There is support for multiple accounts, but handling their folders is just impossible. Of course, there is the Identity feature, but that is actually multiple users feature and you will have to create an account for each identity. Switching identities takes way too long to be used in this way. So there are no chances to have separate folders for different email accounts of the same identity, despite the multiple account support offered by the application.
There isn't too much to be said about its functionality because there is little of it. But if you wish to handle only one email account, IncrediMail is perfectly suitable for that. It allows searching through emails for a certain word, as well as in a specific folder or part of the email title. The results are returned quite fast (it mostly depends on the amount of emails it has to check). As most of the email clients out there, IncrediMail also lets you read your messages directly from the preview but offers the option of reading them in a separate window.
The address book (which should be included in every email client) is very easy to use and comes with three tabs for contact properties: General (name, email and some notes), Home (home related information) and Business (business related details). For a better management, the user can create different groups to include the contacts in. Sending group messages is also supported, so you don't have to type in each address; just select the group and type in the message.
The features that made IncrediMail really incredible and set it apart from all the conventional email clients are the notifiers, as well as all the elements you can send to your friends. Incoming notifiers are split into six categories covering animals, characters, chubbycons, dogs, fun chibbycons and text effects. All these funny looking, incredibly drawn characters will pop up on your desktop the moment you receive an email. My favorite is Butler Bob who brings the email on a platter (hope its silver) and says in a grave, British accent: "You have mail, Sir".
I do not know if you noticed in the movies how special their email clients are. The moment a message is sent it is folded first or a bird brings it to them. Well, IncrediMail will make you feel like a super agent with its 3D effects section. There are myriads of actions available for use when sending or receiving an email, browsing or deleting them. Sending a message can be done by loading it into a cannon and firing it away, folding it into a paper plane, putting it into a bottle, or making a whipping top out of it.
Similar 3D effects are available for other activities. For deleting messages all sorts of shredding, cutting or tearing methods are available. As you dive deeper into the application, you'll notice that the visual impact is very strong and almost every activity has an optical correspondent.
Writing messages is not detoured by the abundance of visual elements and you can make your email prettier by appending different backgrounds suitable for business correspondence, just saying hello, or simply for dissipating the monotony of reading emails. There are 15 different letter types available, each with various layouts. Besides the regular emoticons, IncrediMail makes use of animations as well in order to make you better express your feelings.
And for the message to be complete, add some music. Quotes, Classic Songs or event specific sounds can make your messages more lively. If the presets are not satisfying or not suitable for the type of message, add your own songs and sounds. As long as they are WAV or MIDI format there is absolutely no problem, a new category with the name of the account will be created, containing all your additions.
For a more personalized sound, you can use the embedded voice recorder. It is easy to use and the quality can be of either 1.63KB/sec or 3.25KB/sec (not exactly top notch, but it'll do the trick). The output format is either compressed WAVE or WAVE.
During our testing, IncrediMail used an incredible amount of computer resources. It is only normal considering all the agitation when an email arrives. However, adding a bit more functionality is an absolute must. IncrediMail is very suitable for initiating kids in email client handling, but for power users, it is a big system hog locking a lot of RAM.
The downloaded application is just part of the full option package. The program is domineering as there is more than an email client. Magentic gives free access to thousands of wallpapers and animated screensavers.
The Good
IncrediMail gets you out of the ordinary, that's for sure. When was the last time your butler announced you of a new email or seen a racing snail?
On the functional part there is the multi-user support, email bouncing, message rules, signature and address book. The fun part covers everything from emoticons, animations and fun email notifiers to chubbycons (forefather of emoticon) and email backgrounds.
The Bad
Besides being a system hog, IncrediMail also lacks functionality. Multiple accounts are not handled in separate folders, it is not perfectly integrated in Vista environment, there are no skins available for the free version, JunkFilter cannot be turned on (not even to see how well it works).
The Truth
IncrediMail is definitely for a certain age. Indeed, it is something else. All the beautifully drawn animations and their integration is simply amazing. However, there is little functionality and an email client is more than cool notifications, sounds and email writing.
A previous review for IncrediMail can be read HERE.
Here are some IncrediMailshots of the application in action:
