About a year ago, we reported that VMware had acquired the developer team behind the email app, Boxer. And now, the app has officially been renamed to VMware Boxer.
The name is not the only new thing though, there are a couple of new features in the app as well. The appp now lets you open attachments, in third party apps, which you have installed on your device. For e.g: PDFs, Docs, etc in Drive or whatever app you have.
Firstly, VMware Boxer has combined its calendar and email client into one app, to go head on with Microsoft’s Outlook app. In fact, you can even dial into conference calls with a tap. In addition to that you can also manage your contacts from VMware Boxer. The app now supports Android 7.0 Nougat.
There are a few changes to the UI, especially on the main screen. It now has a persistent bar on the bottom, with 5 icons. The first 4 are tabs, for switching to Mail, Calendar, Files, and Contacts. The last icon, which is a cog, is for accessing the app’s settings. There still is a three dot menu in the top right corner, which can also be used for accessing the Settings, Support, selecting all mail, and for refeshing your inbox or other folders. The icon has now been renamed from “Email” to Boxer.
We are not sure why Boxer has two buttons to access the same Settings and Support options. It is likely there, so the new UI does not confuse existing users, but we think the three dot menu might be phased out from the main screen. The persistent bar on the main screen is a bit distracting, and does not auto hide itself while scrolling through the content. There is no setting to disable it, and personally we feel that the sidebar would have been a much better option for navigating through the different sections, or maybe the three dot button could house the options, to keep things cleaner.
Download VMware Boxer for free from Google Play