MailDroid vs K-9

[Nebilim]

Good info to have. I agree about the ads, but I also understand the dev needs to make money, too, until he's (or she) is satisfied enough with the app to offer a paid version. I for one think that a paid and an ad supported version should be available.

yea for sure, he did inform me that that a liable ad free version will be available in august.

 

[maildroiddev]

ok Mr. Dev as you know i emailed you earlier that i was running some tests for maildroid vs k9.

my experiments solely tested the IMAP idle push capability of both clients for yahoo and gmail. i ran a total of 10 emails to see response rate, frequency, consistency, CPU usage, memory usage, and of course battery usage (I have the EVO what do you want)

Maildroid vs k9
1. i hate the ads, they need to go. i understand an ad free version is coming but the fact that they are integrated within personal information is not really my style.
2. it responds to IMAP idle push for yahoo AND gmail consistently between 10 sec to 1 min.
3. using Systemlite panel, MD uses more memory than k9 (43 vs 36 M) this is resulting for them being active for 50 minutes.
4. MD cpu usage is 1 min 51 sec in 54 mins (3.2%) vs k9 1 min 25 sec in 51 min (2.9%)
5. MD is BETTER at getting yahoo mail than k9, which takes a little longer and sometimes doesnt even put it in the right folder.
6. MD interface is good. i like the simplistic view although some options for manipulation would be nice.
7. it would be nice to be able to cut and paste from the email itself as well as a good handling for attachments.
8. overall, getting more frequent emails results in MD using less CPU compared to k9 (although still using more mem, but becomes irrelevant )
9. it would be useful to have "folders" so that you can clean your trash/spam etc...i dont know what "flagged for deletion" means.

so yea thats it. please comment i want to hear your feedback (and the Dev's) so my final conclusion is
I am sold MD > k9 in the above conditions. i want to make this thing better so it will be even more useful in the final version. oh wait let me rephrase that....Maildroid BETA is BETTER than k9 thank you!!


-Ty

1. Understood, but I need to pay for my coffee somehow When the pro version comes out, I hope you will consider it
2. yay for me
3. This is likely because of the ads
4. Interesting, thanks for this info
5. yay for me
6. yea, I like it as well as an ex-crackberry user. However, I probably will spice it up when the beta is finished
7. You are able to cut and paste from any textbox or input field. I did notice last night that long-clicking on an email address or web address did not allow cut/paste so I plan on adding that. Regarding the download, I am integrated with both OI File Manager and Astra added support for MailDroid as well. I may add my own eventually though.
8. yay for me
9. I guess you are using POP3 for this comment? IMAP has all the folders you want and I added the ability in the last version to add/edit/delete IMAP folders. You can't access POP3 folders you created on a server because POP3 does not allow that. However, I plan on giving local folder capability in a future version. Also, delete from phone as I made well aware is very high on my list.

Thanks for this hard work and effort on the testing. I do hope my above comments make sense

 

[maildroiddev]

Good info to have. I agree about the ads, but I also understand the dev needs to make money, too, until he's (or she) is satisfied enough with the app to offer a paid version. I for one think that a paid and an ad supported version should be available.

Exactly ;-) I am using ads to cover the basics for now, but in the end I will offer two versions and 'possibly' a third (if I get that far)

1. Ad Version: Always free
2. Pro Version: Ad-free and a few minor UI enhancements, but basically the same features as the ad version
3. Business Version: ...some new features on this one, but let's see if I ever get this far

 

[maildroiddev]

yea for sure, he did inform me that that a liable ad free version will be available in august.

I am shooting for end of August right now (Version 2.0).

 

[Nebilim]

good stuff keep up the good work. would it be possible to implement a batch mode and a REAL deletion mode. thanks

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Since you're taking suggestions straight from the forums (yay for us ) here's a situation for you. There is no archive button for gmail (yet) so I'm still using the gmail app for my gmail. I also have it linked in maildroid. When I get an email in my gmail I get a notification from the gmail app and maildroid. If I use the gmail app to check the message the notification in maildroid stays. Is there a way to make it "know" that I've already checked the message and for the little star to go away in the app? I can deal with clearing the notification but when I open maildroid and see the little star I go into the account and the message isn't there. Obviously it knows the message is gone, but the star stays.

 

[maildroiddev]

good stuff keep up the good work. would it be possible to implement a batch mode and a REAL deletion mode. thanks

Thanks. Batch mode is coming in a future version and I am debating if it should be:

1. checkbox select all to delete
or
2. date range...delete all from X to X

Personally, I like the second option better, what do you guys think?

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Thanks. Batch mode is coming in a future version and I am debating if it should be:

1. checkbox select all to delete
or
2. date range...delete all from X to X

Personally, I like the second option better, what do you guys think?

An option in settings for us to choose. Is that possible?

 

[maildroiddev]

Since you're taking suggestions straight from the forums (yay for us ) here's a situation for you. There is no archive button for gmail (yet) so I'm still using the gmail app for my gmail. I also have it linked in maildroid. When I get an email in my gmail I get a notification from the gmail app and maildroid. If I use the gmail app to check the message the notification in maildroid stays. Is there a way to make it "know" that I've already checked the message and for the little star to go away in the app? I can deal with clearing the notification but when I open maildroid and see the little star I go into the account and the message isn't there. Obviously it knows the message is gone, but the star stays.

Let's start backwards to answer you:

2. I know about this issue and it happens with all accounts. Basically, the idea is a one way pull/push where I always do that, but never do the reverse where if you check on a web-browser or on some other device I let MailDroid know (I don't think k-9 does this either, but not sure). I have a solution for this, but I have not implemented it yet.

1. OK the thing with Gmail is that it is very different than most normal IMAP servers (having said that, I love Gmail and use it for everything). They have no idea of 'folders' and they define everything as labels. So, what really is archive? Well, all that really means is move email(s) from your inbox label to your all mail label. Another way of looking at this is to say: "Move from the Inbox Folder to the Archive Folder". However, there is no real archive folder, it is in Gmail the "All Mail" label. (sorry if you already knew this, seems though many do not know how Gmail works with this idea)

MailDroid has a way to move an email to folders or mass move many emails to a folder using the checkboxes. So, you can for example long-press an email --> click move --> click the | > next to [Gmail] (basically this is a sublabel of gmail) --> Select All Mail --> click done.

This will essentially archive.

Now, to answer your shaking of the head right now, yes this is more painful (2 extra steps). When I first started MailDroid I knew about archive and questioned if I should add it. I decided against it since that is coding for a specific MailServer and I wanted to make MailDroid be a neutral mail client and not tied to anything specific (like Thunderbird). So I debated and said that there is a way to do Archive, but it is not the "Gmail" way exactly.

Not sure this really answers your question, but maybe it makes some sense?

 

[maildroiddev]

An option in settings for us to choose. Is that possible?

Trying to avoid the clutter, too many options makes it difficult to follow I think?

 

[Groucho]

Thanks. Batch mode is coming in a future version and I am debating if it should be:

1. checkbox select all to delete
or
2. date range...delete all from X to X

Personally, I like the second option better, what do you guys think?

I'm greedy and I want both. There are certainly times when a date range delete would be useful, however most of the time I would not want to delete everything in the range. I know I could move the messages I still needed to a folder but once they are there it is a pretty good chance I will forget about it unless I am specifically looking for something. In other words sometimes I use emails as a reminder because I am looking at my inbox a minimum of several times an hour.

 

[maildroiddev]

I'm greedy and I want both. There are certainly times when a date range delete would be useful, however most of the time I would not want to delete everything in the range. I know I could move the messages I still needed to a folder but once they are there it is a pretty good chance I will forget about it unless I am specifically looking for something. In other words sometimes I use emails as a reminder because I am looking at my inbox a minimum of several times an hour.

Good to hear. Anyone else have any thoughts?

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

I see your point about Gmail and archive. Maybe put it on your list of features to add, but don't make it a top priority? If I had any programming experience at all I would offer to help but unfortunately all I'm good for is feedback.

Date specific deletion would be good for certain accounts, but for other accounts I would want the option to delete all (especially if it's folder specific). I have a feeling it would be this way for quite a few people.

I also understand that you have to appeal to the masses (mostly), but unfortunately you aren't getting the masses' opinion on the forums. You are getting more advanced users opinions. For example, I just recently moved to Android with the EVO and I never used K-9 so I don't have that for a comparison like others do. I use Maildroid and Gmail for email and that's it. And for what I do it works well and I really have no complaints. Just the little niggles like others have is all.

 

[maildroiddev]

I see your point about Gmail and archive. Maybe put it on your list of features to add, but don't make it a top priority? If I had any programming experience at all I would offer to help but unfortunately all I'm good for is feedback.

Date specific deletion would be good for certain accounts, but for other accounts I would want the option to delete all (especially if it's folder specific). I have a feeling it would be this way for quite a few people.

I also understand that you have to appeal to the masses (mostly), but unfortunately you aren't getting the masses' opinion on the forums. You are getting more advanced users opinions. For example, I just recently moved to Android with the EVO and I never used K-9 so I don't have that for a comparison like others do. I use Maildroid and Gmail for email and that's it. And for what I do it works well and I really have no complaints. Just the little niggles like others have is all.

Thanks, agree with everything you said and I'll add it as 'one of the things to do if I get everything else done' . You are right about the masses and the way I did this last time was to throw out a survey as an ad...clicking the ad brought you to a survey page asking for feedback on MailDroid. I might have to do that again...

 

[Nebilim]

i think Maildroid and k9 are way better than stock gmail app in sync because they are good to the battery in the long run even with a 1 min push idle refresh. 2 minute CPU time for the whole day is nice

i like my evo to last all day. my record with it running background data is 20 hours with some fraction of battery left

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Thanks, agree with everything you said and I'll add it as 'one of the things to do if I get everything else done' . You are right about the masses and the way I did this last time was to throw out a survey as an ad...clicking the ad brought you to a survey page asking for feedback on MailDroid. I might have to do that again...

Not a bad idea. Like a "help me improve this app" banner.

 

[maildroiddev]

i think Maildroid and k9 are way better than stock gmail app in sync because they are good to the battery in the long run even with a 1 min push idle refresh. 2 minute CPU time for the whole day is nice

i like my evo to last all day. my record with it running background data is 20 hours with some fraction of battery left

...and with the Evo as well!

 

[duke duke]

Is it possible to set up different identities? Specifically, I am interested in setting up various "reply to" addresses that I can choose before sending a message?

Thanks,

Derrick

 

[maildroiddev]

Is it possible to set up different identities? Specifically, I am interested in setting up various "reply to" addresses that I can choose before sending a message?

Thanks,

Derrick

I am trying to sneak this into version 1.30 (next version).

 

[duke duke]

Nice!!