Microsoft brings Hotmail to Android, comes with push email

Hotmail on Android, I'm sure Google doesn't like it. But if you mail with the other Evil Empire your number of options has +1'ed. After all the unofficial Hotmail clients, Microsoft released their own Android app.

Hotmail by Microsoft + SEVEN (you may remember them from their horrible Symbian mail app) supports multiple Hotmail accounts (good). Deleting mail requires a tap on the menu button (bad). Tapping a link in Hotmail fires up your browser (good), but when you return to Hotmail you end up in your inbox instead of the mail from which you launched the link (sloppy programming). The app won't sync your custom folders unless you go to the settings menu to enable them (counterintuitive). You can't set it to load messages older than a month, so forget about digging up that old mail with the details of the flight you booked six weeks ago.

You can protect the Hotmail app with a password (which the app calls "pin code" even though it doesn't need to have a single number), you can choose your own attachment folder, but you can't set your own email notification sound. In addition to the non-customisable sound you can be notified of new messages in the notification bar, and by vibration.

The official Hotmail app supports push notifications, so all your spam can get to you without delay. It can load your Hotmail Calendar too, but does anybody really use that?

Hotmail by M$ & 7 is not a very good email client, but at least you don't have to trust 3rd parties with your Hotmail password if you really want to use an app instead of the Hotmail website. You better have a launcher that lets you change app icons, because Hotmail designed the ugliest icon they could think of. It's even uglier than the icon of K-9 Mail! Speaking of K-9, they know how to design a good email app. SEVEN has a lot to learn.

• Hotmail by Microsoft and SEVEN (Android Market)