We’ve heard that Microsoft is planning to release an Android version of its Windows Office bundle before the end of the year.
Now we see an Android version of the Outlook Web App, Microsoft’s email and calendar software popular with business users, is up on Google Play.
Microsoft says this version:
“…lets you interact with your email, calendar, and contacts from virtually anywhere using your Android phone. You can triage email, manage your schedule, and sync contacts on the go, while protecting your business data.”
But, hold on. Before you get too excited, this is a pre-release. (One might call it a beta.)
First, it will apparently only work if your mailbox is on the latest version of Office 365, so obviously you must be a subscriber to Office 365 even to use it. (No, an Outlook.com mailbox apparently won’t work for this app.)
Second, the Android Outlook Web App will only work on devices running at least the 4.4KitKat version of the Android operating system. Third, we hear from Android Central that this version is for devices with small to average sized screens, so this isn’t an app for tablets.
There have been earlier Android Apps for managing your Outlook.com mailbox, but this is an Android version of the Outlook Web App Microsoft created to be accessed through browsers instead of installed on your computer.
The company is supposed to include some features likely to be very helpful for business owners and entrepreneurs who are traveling, including:
- The ability to organize email more effectively by category while also being able to flag some messages and mark others as junk.
- To easily search and browse email in various folders.
- To browse Bing maps for addresses and more.
The calendar function will also let you:
- Schedule meetings.
- Share your calendar with other members of your team.
- Look up you schedule or retrieve your schedule using voice commands.
Still, be prepared for this pre-release version not to be perfect. There will certainly be some bugs to work out along the way.
Aira Bongco
Are people still using Outlook? I am using it mostly for calendar but not so much for e-mail. There are so many alternative apps nowadays.
Mike
Are non-people still using the Internet now-a-days?
Big big wheels go round and round..
I want to try this since my University’s email is now through Office 365 and the email app on my phone does not work properly sometimes.
Steve
OWA for Android is a really nice app. I am not fond of the Android Mail and Calendar apps. i have a Samsung Galazy S4, and they put a Samsung calendar app on the phone as well (same as standard Android) and it gets confusing. Just this week, the Android & Samsung calendar apps stopped synching with 365, so the timing of the OWA release was fortuitous.
Touchdown is feature rich & generally very nice, but doesn’t allow the user to look at other exchange users’ calendars.
I find the MS OWA a very good start, and stable for essentially a beta release. I can add other exchange users’ calendars and combine them with mine in a single view. The UI looks just like Windows phone and Windows 8 with the “tiles”