Microsoft releases 5MB Outlook Lite app for Android
The streamlined version of mobile Outlook also works well on both 2G and 3G networks
Microsoft is launching a smaller and faster version of its Outlook Lite app for Android devices.
The app is already available in Mexico, Turkey, South America and some countries in both Africa and Asia, with more regions set to be added to the list in the coming months.
Outlook Lite for Android is designed in a way that allows it to run on as many devices as possible. This is made possible by its smaller app size and low battery usage. The app will still offer fast performance and all the regular core features of the Microsoft Outlook mobile app, the tech giant said.
Outlook Lite is around 5MB in download size and has been optimised to run quickly on devices with as little as 1GB of RAM. And because it is so lightweight it should use very little of the phone's resources, ultimately saving battery life. What's more, it's built to work sufficiently across all mobile networks, including 3G and 2G, which are both still in wide use across many countries.
The reasoning behind Outlook Lite is to make the email app more accessible to users on lightweight mobile devices in more places around the world, according to Microsoft's senior product manager, Pradeep Elavarasan.
The company is also continuing to test the new Outlook app for Windows which is based on the web version of Outlook. This is expected to eventually replace the Outlook for Windows app in the future.
Streamlined versions of apps are quite common; Meta was one of the first to introduce a 'Lite' model of its original Facebook app which debuted in 2015 with just a 1MB storage requirement. Google has also launched "Go" versions of its apps for Android, such as Gmail Go which came out in 2018.
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