Round Table: Will you switch to Yahoo! Mail?

Yahoo! has given its email service a facelift for the second time in less than a year. This time around, one won’t miss the striking similarities to Gmail. Yahoo! has added Gmail-like grouped messages, themes and offers improved mail filters, a massive 1 TB of storage. But it is compelling enough for you to switch? We weigh in. 

Threaded messages come to Yahoo!

Anujeet Majumdar
Yahoo!’s move to modernise its email service is definitely a welcome one. The newly revamped Yahoo! Mail comes with a new compose screen, new themes and a bunch of other things. But that is not enough to make me shift from Gmail. The first, most important reason is the comfort factor. I have been using Gmail for quite a few years and the thought of seeing another interface is uncomfortable.

Secondly, the new revamps bear quite a few similarities with Gmail. Yahoo is now offering users an email thread that groups emails in the same subject so that they pop up in succession. I already have that option. Yahoo is also allowing users to decorate their inboxes with pictures coming from the company’s Flickr service. Gmail has allowed me to do that for years.

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The last reason, in my books, is the service. While Yahoo’s revamp may help to bridge the gap, I have found, over the years, that Gmail does a much better job and is a bit faster than the rest of its peers. Overall, while the changes are definitely good, I still plan to stick to my current email service.

Naina Khedekar
Yahoo! was one of my first email accounts, but it has been over 5 years since I’ve switched to Gmail. In fact, I have multiple Gmail accounts. I would like to try the new Yahoo! email service just out of curiosity to view the changes, but switching back to it is quite unlikely. Having said that, the things that sound tempting are 1 TB of storage which is miles ahead of the 15GB offered by Gmail (including Drive) and the nifty shortcuts in the inbox. 

Talking about the “new” threaded-feature, Gmail has been offering it since 2004. Gmail has also let me decorate my inboxes for years now. So, definitely Yahoo! is late for the party. If it has to offer Gmail-like experience, I might as well use Gmail, and take advantage of the additional benefits too. For instance, the plethora of features that have been introduced via Gmail Labs. Gmail has been evolving quickly, and one can be rest assured about frequent tweaks and improvements.

Nishtha Kanal

Like many others, my first email ID was made on Yahoo! It still serves as my primary email account but only to dump all the newsletters and mailers. If I forget a password, I turn to Yahoo! to help me recover it but that’s about it. Gmail was fascinating even around a decade ago when Yahoo! was only battling the likes of Hotmail. Like most other people, I was hooked to the no-nonsense attitude of Gmail when it was in the invite-only mode too.

I do not think the redesign or even the impressive new features are enough for me to let go of my Gmail account and get back to using Yahoo! Mail again. Heck, I wouldn’t use it as a secondary email account either. Now, I’ve got the new Outlook.com for it. The attempt is nice, Yahoo, but we both know that you’re a few years too late on this one. I certainly do not wish to have a recycled email ID and I don’t think we can be friends anymore. Trust me, it’s not you, it’s me.

Have your say? Will you switch to the redesigned Yahoo! Mail? Let us know in the comments.