Set up and manage email on Amazon's Fire Phone

Managing your email while on the go is a convenience we all take for granted. I'll spare you a digression down the path of, "When I started using email I had to use dial-up -- uphill -- both ways." Instead, I'll offer up some advice on using Amazon's Fire Phone to set up and manage your email.

The first time you launch the Email app on your Fire, you'll see a prompt asking you to enter your email address. Once you do, Amazon can determine the proper settings for your email provider. Providers such as iCloud, Gmail, Exchange, and Yahoo are supported with little extra effort required for setup. Next you'll enter your password, and after verifying your account info, the app will display a success message. For some services such as Google, the Fire will automatically sync your contacts and calendar on the device.

In some instances, the Fire won't be able to automatically set up your email account, meaning you'll need to know your service provider's email server settings. A quick Google search with your provider's name plus "email settings" should help you in figuring it out.

After signing into your account, you can send and receive messages from your device just as you would expect. As we discussed on this post on how to manage your Fire Phone's home screen, you can manage messages directly from the Carousel.

Not only can you scroll through your inbox from the Carousel, you can also delete messages without ever launching the app. Just swipe from right to left across a message and tap on the trash can to delete a message. Tap on a message to launch the Email app directly to it.

When viewing a list of messages, you can tilt out the side panel from the right side of the screen to reveal a shortcut to any attachments included in the list. Similarly, when viewing an email, you can slide out the same panel to reveal a list of past messages from the sender. Basically, for any screen you're on in the Email app, the side panels add some sort of additional functionality; something you will learn to appreciate over time. For example: Composing a new message? Slide out the right panel and add recent or favorite contacts with just a tap. The left panel primarily serves as a method for navigating between labels, folders, and various email accounts.

You can navigate through open messages by swiping across the screen in either direction. Be careful not to swipe too close to the edge of the screen, as you'll trigger a side panel. Instead, start somewhere in the middle of the screen and gesture toward an edge.

For those times when you want to delete or archive more than one message in your inbox, long-press on one of the messages until the phone vibrates, then tap on any additional messages you want to include.

I continue to find extra features and options in the Email app (mostly through the right side panel) the longer I use it. Any Fire users have a favorite feature in the Email app you can't find on another platform?