Mail makeover
Yahoo! has rolled out Mail Beta which it claims will offer its 273 million Yahoo! Mail users a ‘more social communications experience'.
Current users can opt-in to Yahoo! Mail Beta which will let them organise their inbox, browse photos and videos plus search for emails more easily and faster.
However at the heart of the re-design is its integration with Facebook and Twitter that allows users to connect with friends. "Additional features include enhanced IM and SMS capabilities for seamless chatting and texting within Yahoo! Mail Beta," it said.
Users will be able to browse photos from their inbox with an automatic slideshow feature which links to Flickr, Picasa, and YouTube from within their email messages.
The update has also brought Yahoo! Mail's basic email features in line with its rivals.
Dave McDowell, a Yahoo Mail senior product director told the BBC: "People spend more than 30 billion minutes a month on Yahoo Mail. It is a critically important product to our users and this represents [the] most significant upgrade to Yahoo mail in five years."
Google rolled out a priority inbox feature this summer, while Microsoft has also already boosted Hotmail's organisational capabilities.
Yahoo! claims it has been named the world's best email provider in protecting users from spam in an independent survey and plans to build on its security credentials by using its cloud infrastructure to bolster Yahoo! Mail's anti-spam efforts.
The interface is available on all desktops, mobiles and tablets, according to Yahoo! which said it will be updating and adding new features to the beta.
