As I mentioned I have looked at BlueMail since you mentioned it.
I downloaded it and have been using it on my Mac for a few days. First impressions:
1) I like the look and yes the received sort by date works fine.
2) I find the distinction between read and un-read e-mails is not distinct enough. I've just used the standard installed theme so not sure if others would be better.
3) Search is completely useless. For example I have a mail from 2 weeks ago from The Theatre Royal in Norwich. A search for "theatre" or "tickets" or "Theatre Royal" returned zero results - each one of those should have included that e-mail.
4) BlueMail does not have the ability to us or connect to or access Apple contacts. Also, even more annoyingly Help states "BlueMail integrates with addresses you have sent your emails to". This implies if I've EVER sent an e-mail to a person it would find that address. This is categorically NOT the case. I tested on at least 5 e-mails I know I've sent to via Apple Mail and it didn't pick any up. What it does do is pick up any you've sent whilst using BlueMail. I haven't installed it on my iPhone or iPad so can't tell if it would sync that from desktop to mobile.
5) I would prefer more view options. EG I don't really like preview. I only want to see and read an e-mail if I double-click it. Often times I just want to delete. Compact view starts fine but again clicking onto a mail opens it and then deleting it opens the next e-mail. I'd want it a) Not to open e-mail if I select it and b) go back to compact view and not open the next message if I delete selected e-mail.
