Rather than be a typical user and hate all change at first sight, I decided to try it out.
I have several major issues with it. The main issue is the lack of the account overview screen. I absolutely need this screen. The unified inbox is exactly what I specifically want to avoid. I came here to see if there were options I wasn’t seeing, but I found this thread and the thread regarding the account summary page. Then I saw that thread was closed. That thread closure, and the apparent response of the developer regarding feedback, is worse than any of the UI changes.
I’m a developer myself, and I hate when users revolt against change simply because it’s different. So I understand what the developer is going through, but the attitude when faced with valid, helpful feedback is disappointing.
Regardless, I’ll post my feedback here.
For the account summary page:
I need this for my use case because my accounts are very different in terms of priority, email frequency, and email volume. The unified inbox does not work for me, and will never work for me. I have one account that gets a handful of emails a month, and I need the latest emails to stay in the top of the inbox (or the default display folder in K-9). I have another account that gets a few dozen a day, and again, I need the latest emails to be in the top of the inbox. I have another account that gets hundreds or thousands of emails a day. I need the notifications and unread counts for that one.
The unified inbox will never work for me precisely because it mixes messages from my various accounts and keeps the latest messages, across all accounts, at the top. I would never see the latest messages from my slower / lower-frequency accounts in the unified inbox because the faster / higher-frequency accounts would push those messages off of the list.
I also depend on the unread counts. I don’t use the star feature, but I know many others that do use this (in various email clients).
I’m also strongly in the habit of using the back button to get to the account overview screen.
I know I’ll get used to the other UI changes over time, but the lack of the account overview screen is a real deal breaker. If it doesn’t come back as an option in the near future, I may have to leave. I will stick around and hope that it gets added back. It’s still sort of there if you use the hamburger menu thing, but that’s not the same and it’s definitely not user-friendly to get to., especially if I plan on getting there hundreds of times a day.