App of the Week: Microsoft Greymail Inboxer

Microsoft Hotmail's Greymail Inboxer is a fun app designed to highlight the problem of newsletters and other subscriptions clogging up your inbox.

In a Nutshell: Chase the mail as it falls from the sky all around you and click on it to collect it.

Why We Like It: As a panel of industry experts recently said, most games created to be educational are rubbish.

So when we heard that Microsoft was creating an app to highlight the issue of 'greymail' and publicise the fact that Hotmail can help you deal with it, our expectations could not have been lower.

What a surprise then to play Greymail Inboxer and find that it is actually quite good.

The game has email falling from the skies that has to be clicked on to be properly filed.

As this is an augmented reality app, that is happening all around and moving the phone shows mail falling to the right and left and even behind your original starting position.

An Aliens-style tracking monitor warns you where to look next.

If you miss one piece of mail, the level raises from the ground so that you have less time to click on icons before they touch down. When the level reaches the top, it's game over.

A few special icons can help ease the backlog, with the 'Sweep' bonus being our favourite as it brings the overall level down.

Top tips? Point the phone up to the sky to get a jump on the mail that is falling and play against a clear background if you are serious about cracking that high score.

Given the amount of spinning around you will do playing this game, it's also probably best not to play it on a crowded train as you kill time on the way to work.

Download Links:

Windows Phone

iPhone

Android