Microsoft has just released a new update for its Outlook email client on Android and iOS and just like in the past, the company left behind Windows Phone users by making new features exclusively available on these two rival platforms.
Since Windows 10 Mobile is already available in “stable” form, there’s no excuse for Microsoft to ignore its own platforms and release exclusive features on iOS and Android, but somehow, this is still happening.
New features for Android and iOS
Leaving aside the frustration that many Windows Phone users might feel already, the new Android and iOS versions of Outlook benefit from Calendar Apps integration, which means that you can connect some of your favorite calendars to the email client and get appointment information easier.
For the moment, only three apps are supported, namely Wunderlist, Facebook, and Evernote, but more of them will be added in future updates. Also on iOS and Android, that is.
“By connecting your calendar with a wide range of services, Outlook will be able to provide you with a far better view of your day, week and months ahead,” Microsoft explains.
What these features do
The whole purpose of these new features is to allow Outlook users to control their calendar appointments straight from the email client. So they all show your upcoming emails and let you control them with an email. Facebook, for instance, allows you to RSVP an event automatically while Wunderlist and Evernote allow you to see appointments and the notes added in the dedicated apps.
Microsoft says that the Sunrise team (the company that the software giant purchased last year and which is currently building one of the most popular calendar apps on Android and iOS) worked together with its own engineers to create these features.
“Those of you who use and love Sunrise will be familiar with this capability. Since the Sunrise team joined Outlook, we’ve been hard at work bringing all the goodness and extra features from their app directly into our calendar to give you a single, powerful app for managing your personal and professional life,” the company explained.
The updated Outlook client is available in both Android and iOS app stores while Windows users have no other option but to wait and hope that the same features would arrive on their devices at some point in the future.
UPDATE: As some of our readers pointed out, Microsoft has confirmed that calendar integration is also coming to Outlook on Windows 10 in a statement for ZDNet.
"The team is working to bring consistency across all Outlook endpoints so customers can expect to see more of the features of Outlook on iOS/Android make their way to Outlook on Windows 10 mobile or a Windows phone; however, nothing more to share today," a company spokesperson said, without providing any specifics on the release date.