On the other hand, the update to the Mail app has both good and bad points. On the plus side, it still handles multiple email accounts (although not yet POP or IMAP ones) and has some great new features, such as the ability to customize how each account syncs email. For example, you can sync all messages or only those sent and received in a given time period. (This will be more useful on tablets than on traditional PCs, because tablets typically have far less local .) And you can also pin each account's Inbox to the Start screen, making it easier to keep track of the individual accounts.

But Mail still lacks some basic abilities that you expect from a modern mail client and works more like an underpowered mobile app than a fully featured one.

For example, you can't set rules for automatically handling incoming mail, as you can in Outlook, and it doesn't allow for threaded messaging. You can't mark messages for follow-up or set their level of importance. It simply doesn't measure up to an email client such as Outlook, or even a Web-based one such as Gmail. If you're a heavy email user, you'll simply find it unsuitable for your main email client.

Mail has been somewhat improved, but is still more like a simple tablet email client than a fully featured one for a traditional PC.

There's one thing that I find problematic with most of the Metro apps: Their horizontal orientation makes them better suited for tablet navigation, where you typically use swipe gestures, than for traditional PC navigation, where you typically scroll vertically with your mouse.