Gmail

As a Gmail user, I am somewhat familiar with the day to day functions of the email process.  However, reviewing the tutorials, I picked up a few features I had never used before.  I was also reminded of the importance of some of the unique feature Gmail offers.

1. Tasks - Being able to set up a task reminder is helpful when you get an email that requires an action.  Sometimes you have so many emails that require action that you get caught up in one and forget about another.  I found you can set up a task with a specific date and time to complete and actually link the related email to the task.  Saving time that would have been spent searching for the email.
2. Conversations - A feature I knew about but appreciate the time it saves by not having to go back through all the emails to find reply messages.  Other email accounts list each email separately with no easy way to organize a conversation.  Only sorting all emails by sender, date or subject, unless you are extremely organized and file all emails in a folder as soon as they are read.
3. Mail Fetcher - If you would like to centralize all your contacts and emails to one account, you can simply have Gmail fetch all your information from another account and it will be moved all at one time.  You can also select to only move contacts or to move only email.  It also has an option to continue moving email for the next 30 days.
4. Adding to Calendar - By clicking on "more details" inside a particular email, you can add an item from the email your calendar.  Saving the added step of getting out of email and into your calendar to add an appointment.
5. Filtering - I have not had to use the filtering function for day to day functioning, but I have only used this account for personal email.  As a professional account this feature would be extremely useful in allowing you to organize emails that come in as well as existing emails as they relate to a particular subject or person.

These, as well as many other features, make Gmail a superior choice for email.  And the fact that it is all free is a definite plus as well.