In the time since the first iPhone was turn , I ’ve been one of Mobile Mail ’s adult fans and its biggest critics . I ’m a devotee because , for an tocopherol - mail client on a roving phone , Mail is amazingly usable . But I ’m a critic because , as good as Mail is , it ’s long had a number of glower feature omissions that hamper its usefulness , and some of my boastful indirect request for Io 4 included meet those hole .

So I was understandably excited that Mail improvement obtain spectacular acknowledgment during Apple’spreview of iOS 4this spring . Now that iOS 4 is here , it ’s time to take a smell at the major advance and new features in iPhone Mail .

Inbox options

Easily the most - requested feature for iPhone Mail ( or at least the one I ’ve see the most over the retiring few geezerhood ) has been a unified inbox — a single inbox that displays incoming subject matter from all your bill . Mail in iOS 4 provides just that : The top level of the ring mail - filmdom hierarchy continue to display a listing of your Mail explanation , but above that you ’ll now retrieve a unexampled Inboxes section .

beg the new All Inboxes item to see a inclination , sorted by escort and time , of all the eastward - post messages in the inboxes of all your ring mail account . Once you ’re in this list , you ferment with messages just as you would if you had navigated to a specific inbox . It ’s a welcome alteration , and one that will dramatically reduce the number of taps required by those anyone with multiple e - mail service accounts .

you’re able to now view the inboxes of all your Es - postal service accounts in a single , combined view ( All Inboxes ) , or quickly switch between those inboxes .

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You can now view the inboxes of all your e-mail accounts in a single, combined view (All Inboxes), or quickly switch between those inboxes.

On the other hand — that ’s a nice set of teeth you have there , Mr. Gift Horse — a day or so using this new characteristic disclose a few puzzling omissions . For model , when crop All Inboxes , there ’s no way to tellwhichaccount receive a particular message . And if , like me , you ’ve do up an e - mail account to handle content from mailing lists , places you ’ve shopped online , and other “ bulk ” mail , you ’ll rapidly wish there was a path to disable a special chronicle in the All Inboxes presentation .

Below All Inboxes , but still in the Inboxes department , you ’ll see your item-by-item e - chain armour report . These items provide flying access tojustthe inbox for each account , have you switch between single inboxes without take to pilot down and up each account statement ’s hierarchical blind . This is a significant advance that make it wanton to overlook the inability to disable business relationship in All Inboxes .

When youwantto navigate a exceptional account ’s list of mailbox , you’re able to use the Accounts division , now below the Inboxes part at the top level of Mail .

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The Mail app now groups related messages under a single message item (left); tapping that item displays the messages in the discussion (right).

Multiple Exchange accounts

Speaking of multiple score , for people who need to get at multiple Microsoft Exchange - host ( ActiveSync ) account — or who want to set up one or more Gmail accounts using ActiveSync , or even a combining of Exchange and other ActiveSync accounts — perhaps iOS 4 Mail ’s most - welcome young feature is support for multiple ActiveSync accounts .

In previous versions of iPhone Mail , undertake to set up a 2nd ActiveSync explanation result in an error . Under iOS 4 , it ’s as easy to set up multiple ActiveSync accounts as it is to set up any other character of e - mail report .

Threaded discussions

Like many other desktop and Web - free-base eastward - mail clients , Mail in Mac OS X offers a way to mechanically group messages that are part of the same commutation or discussion . chain armor on the iPhone profit such a feature in iOS 4 .

When you receive a message in answer to a previous substance that ’s still in your inbox , all the messages in the conversation are group into a single entry . This message displays a small numeric badge indicating how many messages are in the screw thread , as shown in the screenshot to the rightfulness . Tap this discourse item and , or else of viewing the contentedness of the preview message , you see a tilt of all the messages in that conversation ( or at least all that remain in your inbox — if you antecedently filed Old messages elsewhere , they wo n’t appear here ) .

The Mail app now groups connect messages under a single message item ( left ) ; tapping that token displays the messages in the give-and-take ( right wing ) .

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Mail in iOS 4 lets you choose how to view and open attachments.

When see a discussion , the top of the content listing shows the dependent product line of the first message in the conversation , along with the date of the most - late content . Tap any subject matter preview to view that message ; tap the left - facing arrow at the top of the filmdom to come back to your inbox . ( Behaviorly , this characteristic is as if you created a young folder containing just the messages in the discussion . )

The threaded - discussion feature also work with messages register into other mailboxes ; however , a grouped message thread includes only messages residing in the same postbox .

If , for some ground , you do n’t like this new feature , you could turn it off for all accounts — it ’s an all - or - nothing place setting — using the newfangled Organize By Thread set in the Mail , Contacts , Calendars filmdom of the preferences app .

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Notes can be synced to any IMAP e-mail account; you can choose to view all notes or just those for a particular account.

More options for viewing attachments

One of the most thwarting e - ring armour - related restrictions of the iPhone has been that while you’re able to preview many types of attachment , there ’s been no manner toopen and editthose attachments . With the iPad , Apple included a new feature article for opening attachments in other apps , let in third - company apps . That feature film is now available on the iPhone as well , and while it ’s not as utilitarian as being able-bodied to lay aside document to a common storage area for access by any app , it ’s a magnanimous step forward .

Mail in iOS 4 lease you choose how to view and open attachments .

When you find an e - mail substance with an attachment , tapping that attachment ’s picture will , as before , display a prevue of the document . But if you tap andhold , Mail presents additional options . The first is always Quick Look , which gives you the same preview as if you ’d simply bug the attachment ’s icon . Next is loose in[app name ] , which let you give the affixation in the put in iPhone app that ’s presented itself as the best-loved app for that type of file .

The third choice is undecided In , which lets you opt from among all the apps on your telephone that claim ( to the osmium ) that they ’re able to open that type of filing cabinet . Of naturally , which options you get — the preferable app and the apps that seem when you tap Open In — reckon on which apps you ’ve establish on your iPhone . In addition , each app may address such attachments differently : In some , the file may mechanically be save to that app ’s single file - storage arena ; others may require you to manually save attachment if you want to be capable to access them later .

While this characteristic broadly speaking works well , I often find that an app that should be able-bodied to spread a particular adherence — for example , GoodReader for a PDF — doesn’t appear in the leaning of Open In choice . Along with otherMacworldeditors , I also experienced an issue where the first Thomas Nelson Page of a PDF written document displays inline , in the body of a substance , with no way to view the rest of the document — the document never look as a tappable attachment image .

MobileMe alias support

One new feature film that ’s loose to neglect is support for MobileMe tocopherol - post aliases . If you ’ve capture a MobileMe account , you cancreate up to five e - mail service aliases — basically , extra e - mail addresses — that redirect to your main einsteinium - mail computer address . For model , if your official MobileMe tocopherol - chain armour address isjanesmith@me.com , you could set up an alias ofjanesmithlists@me.comto use for mailing lists and another ofjanesmithshopping@me.comthat you supply whenever you shop online .

If you ’ve set up one or more e - ring armor alias , Mac OS X Mail and the MobileMe Web interface let you take , for each outgoing subject matter , which address to use as the “ From ” address — your main account or one of your false name . But before iOS 4 , Mail on the iPhone could air only from your main address — the one listed in the setting for your MobileMe account . ( OK , so this is n’t completely true . There were kludgy workarounds that allow you use aliases , but there were just that — kludge . ) In iOS 4 , you could now choose from among your MobileMe addresses just as if you were choosing from among multiple , separate email history : Before charge an e - mail substance , just beg the From field — your MobileMe aliases will seem alongside your various e - mail accounts . take one and that alias is used as the From address for the message .

Note that if you were a Mac.com member who configured your aliases before Mac.com change to MobileMe , the list shew both the old and fresh options for each alias:[alias]@mac.comand[alias]@me.com .

Notes syncing… wirelessly

The other big chain mail - related improver in iOS 4 is wireless notes syncing . Apple added iTunes - based Notes syncing in iPhone OS 3 , but you could now sync notes wirelessly between iOS 4 devices and your computer .

Unlike some wireless - sync feature on the iPhone , note synchronise is n’t limited to MobileMe accounts — it should solve with any IMAP eastward - ring mail news report . To become on annotation syncing for an account , go to the Mail , Contacts , Calendars screen of the preferences app , solicit the desired IMAP account , and work on Notes in the resulting scope screen . If you deform on bill syncing for multiple accounts , you may also choose ( on the master Mail , Contacts , Calendars covert ) which account is the nonremittal for syncing new bank note .

How this new feature works can be a bit confusing . When you sync notes wirelessly with an e - mail account , Mail creates a new brochure calledNoteson the IMAP host and automatically synchronise any changes to that folder whenever Mail checks for new ring armour ( or , in the vitrine ofpush accounts , whenever the server push an update to your phone ) . So if you create a new note or make a change to an be note on your iPhone , those changes are synchronise to any other equipment — iPhone , iPod mite , iPad , Mac , Windows PC — configured to access that IMAP explanation .

This means that any IMAP account — for example , MobileMe , Gmail , or Yahoo , or one provided by your employer or ISP — can serve as a note - syncing host . It also means that you canviewyour notes inanye - mail customer typeset to approach that IMAP score : You just see the account ’s Notes folder to see your synced notes .

However , what you’re able to actuallydowith those note varies depending on the e - postal service client . evidently , iOS 4 ’s Notes app can view and edit notes ( although you ca n’t exchange the account to which a note is synced once the note has been created ) . If you ’re using Mac OS X Mail , notes appear in a special Notes section and can be blue-pencil and moved between account . However , if you ’re using an atomic number 99 - chain armour client other than OS X Mail , or if you ’re using a Webmail guest , you’re able to onlyviewsynced notes — you ca n’t edit out them .

Notes can be synchronize to any IMAP e - chain mail report ; you’re able to choose to view all line or just those for a picky account .

How do you adjudicate the account with which a raw note is synced ? When you first launch the Notes app on your iPhone , you ’ll see a list of all your notes across all account . However , you ’ll also see a new Accounts clit in the top - left recess of the CRT screen . Tap this and you ’ll see a Notes interpretation of the Mail app ’s chronicle list : All short letter at the top , with each of your IMAP accounts ( if you have more than one , of course of action ) listed below . If you make a unexampled note while in the All Notes perspective , the note is created in the default account , mentioned above . To create a short letter within a different account , you must first watch the promissory note covert for just that account andthencreate the Modern note of hand ; any note produce while reckon a specific IMAP explanation is synced to that account .

What’s still missing

These improvements are all welcome , and they make iPhone Mail a much more capable mobile vitamin E - mail client . But , as with Mail on the iPad , there are still quite a few other features I use regularly on my Mac that would be utile on the go . Here ’s my current list , which has a lot in common with my wishlist for the iPad ’s Mail app :

Despite these omissions , Mail on the iPhone is significantly improve in iOS 4 . In fact , as I explored the app , I kept cogitate of what I said when covering Mail for the iPad a couple months back :

Mail remains a whole mobile e - mail curriculum . While it has its limitations , particularly for power users , it gets most of the staple correct , and it excels at the most authoritative tasks : consider and composition content , displaying fond regard , and connect dependably to nearly any tocopherol - postal service server .

Thanks to the iPad ’s large screen , iPad Mail offers huge — no pun stand for — advantages over Mail on the iPhone . But when it comes to features , Mail on the iPhone has jumped forward . Which forecast well both for iPhone usersandiPad drug user , give that the latter should gain these same characteristic when iOS 4 comes to the iPad later this year .

[ Dan Frakes is a senior editor in chief for Macworld . ]

iOS 4