Let’s face it, all of us use Gmail. Well, not exactly all of us, but certainly most of us. Although Hotmail was the first to introduce us to the concept of E-mail and it, along with veterans Yahoo! and AoL dominated the E-mail scene for quite some time. Then Google’s E-mail service debuted in 2004, and took the competition by storm. With innovative features like offering 1GB storage space (that has been expanding ever since, and has crossed 10GB), in built A/V chat, labels instead of filters and stuff like that, Gmail quickly started ascending to the top spot amongst free E-mail providers and a while back, took over the competition as the free E-mail service with the largest user base.
But that was in the past. It might sound blunt, but in its current form, I find Gmail to be utterly ugly and slow as a snail. And it’s not just the interface. The reasons are practically unlimited. Google’s blatant intrusion of users’ privacy by reading their e-mails to serve targeted ads in the Webmail UI, constant redesigning of the interface (with the most recent being that horrid compose box), upgrading a perfectly nice chat to those worthless hangouts, pestering users to make a Google+ profile, I could go on and on.
Now, I understand that there are alternatives you could use. At least I never use Gmail for serious correspondences. It’s rather an account that I maintain for just meaningless signups and newsletters. And even though for the majority of users, alternatives like Yahoo!, AoL and the recently redesigned Outlook are more than sufficient, who doesn’t like to try something new.
So beginning in this post, I’ll be introducing you to some of the lesser known but very good E-mail services that you might haven’t heard about. Some of them are non US based, and even have non US interfaces. But that can be easily got around with (ironically) Google Translate. So, ready to know about them and try something new instead of that ever boring G-mail? Read on!!
Note: While this article just introduces some of those E-mail services, I’ll be reviewing some more in later articles of this series, as it’s not possible to detail all of them in a single article. I’ll also be reviewing some of them in detail at ILFS, some time later.
1.) Zoho Mail
This is an amazing free webmail service that stands out with a distinct feature. It has absolutely no ads in the interface, not even in the FREE version. That’s right, no ads in the Free Version. Although there are three service levels with the free service offering 5 GB storage space, and the paid ones going from 10 GB to 15 GB, the free service level is going to serve majority of E-mail users just fine. What’s more, it features the highly acclaimed Zoho Docs online office suite, that beats Google Docs in every way fathomable. You can create Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations and collaborate on them with other users.
UNIQUE FEATURES:
- No ADS in the Webmail UI, not even in the free version
- Labels and Filters, just as in Gmail
- Full Zoho Docs Office Suite with Collaboration capabilities
- Tabbed view
2.) My Opera Mail
A free E-mail service provided by Opera Software of Norway, My Opera Mail offers you 3 GB of storage space that is bound to expand in future. The standout feature of My Opera Mail is that it is “LIGHTNING FAST” and loads almost instantly. And just like Zoho Mail, it has no ads in the interface either. Basically, this My opera Mail is part of a My opera account that you have to create, which is something like a blogging platform, but you don’t have to blog anything. Just create a My opera account and enjoy blazing fast E-mail
UNIQUE FEATURES:
- No ADS in the Webmail UI
- Ability to Pin Important Conversations at the top
- Supports Creation of Folders
- Multiple Account POP Fetcher
3.) Yandex Mail
Now this is something unique. Yandex is a free E-mail service provided by Yandex.Ru, the Russian company that operates the largest search engine in Russia (Take that Google!!). Now you might be thinking, this might be a Russian language service, but no, Yandex Mail offers features like unlimited storage, labels, Mail Fetcher, 3 GB Cloud Storage (stretching up to 10 GB) and more, in good ol’ English language. And did I mention, just like the previous services, it has absolutely no ADS in the interface.
UNIQUE FEATURES:
- No ADS in the Webmail UI
- Supports Labels & Filters
- Built in 3 GB Cloud storage (expandable up to 10 GB)
- Multiple Account POP Fetcher
- Audio Alerts for new E-mails
Conclusion
While it’s true that most E-mail users are content having one amongst the well known trio of Outlook, Yahoo and Gmail as their primary E-mailing service, there are very good alternatives that are existent now. And they offer truly amazing E-mail experience, you just need to be willing to give them a try. The above three E-mail services are just the beginning. In the subsequent parts of this article based series, I’ll be introducing to you a lot more great E-mail service providers.
What do you think about these free E-mail service providers? Do you use any of them already? And if you haven’t yet had a chance to use them, do take a look at them now. Do let me know what you think in the comments.
