Majority of email users have set up their account using any of today’s three most popular web-based email services – Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Microsoft Outlook. Each company boasts its own unique features, but our search for the best provider leads us back to the first-ever launch of the all-familiar Hotmail.
The Contenders:
Gmail
Google released the Gmail beta on April Fool’s day back in 2004, which was taken as a really good hoax with an alleged storage capacity that’s more than 100 times that of other webmail services.
Currently, Gmail users benefit from 15GB free storage shared across the Google ecosystem- Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos with an attachment limit of 25 MB or 10 GB via Google Drive.
Yahoo Mail
Launched in 1997 in different interfaces, in both free and paid versions, retaining the Classic until the Yahoo! Mail was introduced in 2010. The email service currently provides 1TB of storage with a 25-MB attachment limit, backed by a 2-step authentication for enhanced security.
Hotmail
Acquired by Microsoft in 1997 and later re-branded as MSN Hotmail, then Windows Live Hotmail.
By 2013, it became the Outlook.com we now know which offers 15 GB of email storage space (50 GB total storage space with OneDrive for Office 365 subscribers), with an attachment limit of 25 MB or 10 GB via SkyDrive. We take it from here and explore features unlocked upon creating a Hotmail Login.
Why Outlook.com Is The Best Choice
The new Hotmail presents a clean and intuitive interface packed with functionality:
- Subtle Advertising – Served by Microsoft advertising, users have control of what topics and brands you want to see, and whether you opt for tailored advertising or not. The immersive reader feature clears out the clutter for focused, undistracted reading.
- Email Filtering – Filter emails by size, open messages in tabs, tag them using multiple categories, and save in different folders. Outlook drastically reduces spam levels using SmartScreen filtering technology, including Graymail coming from legitimate newsletters, offers, and notifications.
- Sweep – Selecting a single message will automatically file away or delete related messages with the sweep and scheduled cleanup.
- Aliases – Compared to Gmail which lets you append a +sign to create alternate email addresses, you can create multiple and independent e-mail address with different nicknames under your primary Outlook.com account.
- Social Media Connector– Link your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook account to chat, view and update your own status from your Hotmail inbox.
- Integration – Utilize virtual Microsoft tools like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNoteDocs.com, Sway across desktop, web, and mobile, without leaving your inbox.
- Built-In Cloud – Attach files directly from Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive via the cloud storage browser.
Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Microsoft Outlook offer free versions that allow you to send and receive email, send from other addresses, store messages over the web, with support for POP and IMAP access. Similarities aside, Hotmail promotes the highest efficiency with minimal ads and more practical features that save users valuable time.