By Alfred Siew

WHAT gives a mobile warrior the best way to get his personal e-mail on the road? That was what I set out to find out when I tried out the most popular e-mail offerings on today's smartphones.

I tested how well they worked out of the box by checking how easy it was to set up a common e-mail account, say, on Yahoo or Gmail, and how the software allowed users to scroll through a day's worth of e-mail messages.

I also noted how the e-mail software handled complex HTML messages and how easy it was to open an attachment - say, a PDF file or Word document.

What I did not test: the features on individual devices. This was because, with the exception of the iPhone, these e-mail experiences are available on a myriad of devices - say, with a Qwerty keyboard or touchscreen.

Here they are, in alphabetical order:

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

For more The Straits Times stories, click here.