HTML email demoed on Windows Phone 7

August 26, 2010 | By Surur

Today Pocketnow published a video which did a very good job of demoing the email client in Windows Phone 7, but unfortunately made the grave mistake of saying the software did not support HTML email.

A developer concerned that this misconception will spread across the internet has sent us this video (which we uploaded, apologies for the rotation) showing how HTML e-mail is handled in Windows Phone 7, and also showing the simple process of searching e-mail.

Both are handled in exactly the same way as on Windows Mobile, in particular the user still has to request to download pictures – an annoying but security conscious feature in Windows Phone 7 which we have covered here previously.

Do our readers think Microsoft should allow pictures to be downloaded by default, to prevent this misconception from occurring? Let us know below.

Edit: Brandon from Pocketnow clarifies:

The particular build we are running does NOT have the option to “show pictures” and thus download HTML content.

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged email, video, windows phone 7

Melika

Since the iphone is geared towards retarded users I would say WP7 should just copy whatever behavior the iPhone has implemented for images in emails. Apple caters to idiots has done a lot of usage and behavioral research on their consumers so they must have come up with a solution that caters to the least common denominator in our society.
https://www.thecabal.org/ Devin Ganger

I like the default to not download, but I think Microsoft should pop up a dialog to ask the user if they want to change that default the first time they open an HTML message with images on foreign systems.

This policy should also be configurable under EAS and reachable under general email options.
arrow22

The options should be exactly like those from gmail: "Show Images" and "Always Show Images From This Sender". Many are used to this, and it allows users to identify safe sources.

Lennard

what they need to do is have the user create a "white list" of "safe senders"…..a dialog pops up or a setting when viewing an email: "add this sender to the whitelist"

WP7Follower

That's to techy for an average consumer. Copying GMail as Arrow22 suggested is better (while it basically does the same)

l3v5y

The "Always show images from…" is effectively a whitelist, just slightly different in user interaction.

EminiSP

The "snappiness" is incredible. The OS is ready to go. This will be the first time ill buy any phone with WP7 to boot.
http://www.winetag.com.br bnlf

i dont know whats wrong with all this ppl talking about blocked images…gmail does it since launch and nobody seems to care…now when microsoft does it its the end of the world.
Durishin

Um…if I choose to open the damn message, you better believe that I want to see the damn pictures!

Crikey, why should I have to tell the device twice that I want to see the email. That's idiotic! What are they protecting me from? A picture I won't know about until I open it anyway. I don't see how asking me to download a picture protects me until I know what the picture is. It's not as if the message automatically opens. So why not download the picture if I decide to open the message it comes in.

glenbier

Right on!

You know, I appreciate the concern MS has for my spam filled email safety, but I think I can handle it myself. Thank you very much! Microsoft, don't be like the nanny-state government that were are currently enduring till the world ends and thinks it knows better than me whats best for my own good. I want the CHOICE. Yes this is just one stupid item, but it points to the larger picture. I'm a grown adult and I know what precautions to take. I know MS still has the corporate mentality about this and to keep everything secure which is noble, but this is a no-brainer. So it may take a version or two to get it right. Yes there are the dweebs out there who need to be guided by the hand to use the toilet, but let's not make this so accessible to the lowest common denominator that we just go along like everyone else.
I'm all for "White Lists" and blocked senders and all sorts of filters or what not to put in place, if that's what I have to do, but I don't want to keep hitting the show blocked pictures link in the email anymore.
I want HTML like its meant to be.
Sorry, I'm rambling, time for bed.

T.L.

Ill second that….

kkk

Downloading all images by default means more data usage, more battery and more space used on device. With all MOs restricting data usage, I like this approach. Also I don't read all my mail on phone. I read mail on phone when I don't have access to PC. What is the point in downloading all that data unnecessarily? From this video, downloading images seems very fast. I thin I like this.
guest

Please, Please, Please give me the choice to download photos by default.

I like to go through my mail fast, I delete most of it, not a big deal regarding storage on my device, plus, I hope that I no longer have to worry about storage etc.. on my new windows phone 7 device….
l3v5y

For a phone, I personally think downloading images when requested is a better option than just downloading them, this is mostly because of unlimited/not unlimited data packages.

Some images appear to be loaded automatically, so maybe WP7 caches some images? Hard to tell from the video though.
l3v5y

Also, it looks like there are multiple exchange accounts supported! (Both the icons on the home page are Outlook tiles I think).

Axel

Yes, this is possible! You can add more than one Exchange account to your phone!

http://www.technokyle.com/pinay-scandal-collection Pinay

WOW! The UI is freakin Awesome it's so responsive and the rendering is just perfect. I just hope that the OS would not drain battery and the user friendliness would be easy enough that beginners would surely grasp the concept.