Ace Email Viewer v1.3 Review

[Drootz]

Ace Email Viewer v1.3 Review

I was looking for an email viewer that would download emails with images or with html content in them and display them properly on my Blackberry Storm 9530. I was trying to decide between Ace Email Viewer v1.3 and the Empower HTML Email Viewer PRO v3.0. Both applications prices were comparable. Empower HTML Email Viewer Pro costs $29.95 and Ace Email Viewer costs $29.95. I chose to go with the Ace Email Viewer due to its sale price of $9.95 in the Crackberry app store.

The Setup and initial installation went smoothly and was very easy. I decided the only changes I needed to make were to the size of the cache and that I wanted the program to use my SD card for the temp image cache.

My initial impressions after installing and setting the program up were that the device seemed to be running noticeably slower. So, like any wise crackberry user I decided to do a couple of battery pulls. (3 to be exact) I really couldn’t believe how much my storm overall slowed down after this install. It also slows the process of opening an email. It does a loading thing whenever you open ANY email. All emails open slower regardless of whether you use the messages icon to access your mail or the mailbox icon. The Ace email program is really way too slow for my liking and if I hadn’t just paid $10 for it I probably would have just deleted it right then. I was really wishing I had given this a trial before purchase it may have changed my mind on purchasing. I guess you get what you pay for…..

My longer term observations after having this on my phone for over a month are as follows: for some reason whenever I download a Smartguard application update, I have to re-register the Ace email viewer. This also happens occasionally when I download new apps as well. Not sure if there is a fix for this or even if it’s a reported issue, but mildly bothersome at most. With a little cache tweaking ace email viewer seems to be downloading graphics a little better, but still doesn’t display them properly. I would include screenshots but it doesn’t allow me to access the quick launch app screenshot program while using the ace email viewer. As for the speed, still slow as a snail and can really be bothersome at times. I must use quickpull twice a day just to keep memory up it seems to be drain application memory slowly throughout the day since it runs in the background. (FYI: I don’t run very many apps on my phone and use the close button to exit)

Conclusions, for the full price of $29.95 this application is not worth the money in my opinion. However at $9.95 it may barely be worth it for some but for me I wish I had passed. I have since deleted the application and have just gone back to Native Blackberry Email Viewing.

Scale of 1-5 (1 being Worst - 5 being Best)
Speed rating 1/5
Ease of install 3/5
Ease of use 3/5
Value of app to Cost 2/5
Overall rating 2/5

Pros
Easy to use and install
Displays pictures in emails
Configuration options to adjust cache and storage of cache.

Cons
Slows your WHOLE blackberry down especially when viewing email
Doesn’t display HTML graphics properly
Slow flick scrolling (problem since app narrows the email and causes it to be longer)
Causes a slow application memory leak (my application memory has been dropping since I installed after deleting it has since stopped)

I would post a link to the app here as requested by the review - rules post. However I do not have 10 posts yet and am not allowed. If a moderator could add the link to this post it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Drootz

[Furballz]

the app is worthless, IMHO. I have no idea how it's received so many positive reviews. It slows my phone so much that it might as well be frozen. Even after reboot.

[701]

I also tried it for a day and after I noticed how slow the emails are opening, I deleted it. I never thought for a second to buy it. Always try a product before if this is possible. Saved a lot of headaches.
@furballz It received positive reviews because they are probably paid by the developer.

[papped]

Originally Posted by Furballz

the app is worthless, IMHO. I have no idea how it's received so many positive reviews. It slows my phone so much that it might as well be frozen. Even after reboot.

Pretty sure it's self inflated