Apple updates MobileMe
MobileMe emerged from its downtime this morning with a new app, improved navigation and significant changes to Mail. The app is MobileMe for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Now customers can locate, lock or even wipe their lost device from another iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. Of course, that means you'll need access to two devices, but that's a minor technicality, right?
The new version of Mail is out of beta and available to everyone. There are a lot of changes here, including some that have been added since the beta program started. New widescreen and compact views allow for more of your messages to be seen without scrolling. The older classic view is still available, but seems cluttered when compared to the other two. I'm using the compact view, which displays messages like the iPad does in landscape orientation.
Rules are now in place for everyone (they need a few minutes to get working), and apply to messages received on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad as well.
One-click archiving will send your messages to the archive folder for future reference. It is possible to select multiple messages at once, making archiving easier. Also new is faster performance (there's no need to click and load every message), SSL security and a formatting toolbar. You can even reformat long URLs into something more manageable.
Changes that are new since the beta release include support for external addresses. Now you can read all of your mail in one place. Plus, if you reply to a message received from an external address, you can send it from that message, not your MobileMe account.
Junk mail filtering has also been improved since the beta. Now, flagged messages go directly to the junk mail folder. You can always go in and rescue false positives, however.
Aside from Mail and the new Find My iPhone app, MobileMe navigation has been changed. All of the services now feature a unified toolbar. The cloud icon remains constant, and clicking on it brings up an app switcher for moving between services.
Have fun exploring the new MobileMe. Congratulations to Apple and the MobileMe team on a solid update.
