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> that was otherwise abandoned

What are you talking about? It was never abandoned. That UI redesign took them multiple years and they released several betas over that time period. Just almost nobody bothered to chime in during any of the betas and then everyone started to complain when it got to stable.

https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/graphs/contributors

> Basically it seems like the new developer just wanted to pad his resume, so he picked up a project that was otherwise abandoned and started re-designing and re-implementing things so he could brag about it. The changes don't really fix any problem that anyone had, and improvements are none since the new releases are mostly about removing features and re-writing code.

I rather be more generous and apply Hanlon’s Razor. The new dev probably does see it as an improvement because it follows some more popular UI trends.

> I really need to start looking for a new mail app

Years ago I did this process by installing ~5 mail apps on my phone and using them all together and after a while deleting ones liked less til I was left with one. Ended up with 'Nine' and been using it ever since. Seemed to work well as a decision making method and have used for other app categories.

https://f-droid.org/de/packages/de.monocles.mail/

Common problem with open source UI/UX design. Either there is one guy with their own ideas or it's design by committee. Neither gives good results.

Even the best UI design without measurement is just 10% of job. Really good UI/UX goes trough UX laboratory testing with human subjects where they measure everything. How user feels about the UI is usually less important than how they use it and how quickly they get things done. Users get used to a good UI and they like what is familiar.

Fairemail is hands down the best email app I've ever used