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November 02, 2006
New Gmail mobile - the best mobile app yet
Google have released a new java client for mobile access to Gmail and I have to say it's the most polished mobile app I've yet put on my smartphone.
Pointing my WAP browser to the install link led the server to recognise my phone as a Nokia 6630. A few moments later and the 112kb app was ready to use. The login session didn't bode well for the impending experience when I was greeted with a catchpa after an erroneous attempt at password entry. If you think catchpas on the desktop are a pain you ain't seen nothin' yet!
After finally logging in though the software was so polished in performance that I soon forgot about the initial inconvenience. Everything about the experience was smooth and intuitive. From the same familiar colour schemes - blue for inbox, green for search - to the expandable/collapsible conversation view, shortcuts for starring, archiving, reporting spam, etc, and the overall speed and efficiency of operation. One of the nicest touches of all though is that you can even customize the menus to add your own label views.
You can also search your contacts list when composing email but one fly in the ointment here is the non-standard method for deleting erroneous text entry - the 'C' button doesn't work so you have to scroll left.
All in all this I have to give Gmail mobile a massive thumbs up!
Technorati Tags: gmail, mobile
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Comments
Is this an entirely online app? Do you need a flat rate data plan for it to make sense?
Posted by: Conor O'Neill | Nov 2, 2006 10:36:38 PM
No, it's a downloadable Java client Conor (J2ME, or Java Mobile or whatever they're calling it now I guess). There was already a completely online WAP (or XHTML) version but this is client software.
I read somewhere that it's actually quite 'heavy' on data alright though due to the email prefetching that makes it such a smooth and quick experience to use. I already had a fairly large data plan with Vodafone so it's not an issue for me but might be for many obviously. I'll give it a good test run tomorrow to see how much data I can eat up on some typical usage.
Posted by: James Corbett | Nov 2, 2006 10:46:43 PM
Ah that's what I meant really. Online in the sense of having a pretty continuous connection to the server rather than polled by the user. Any way of retrieving mail and then telling it to go to offline mode?
At 3c/kb, I think I'll leave it for the minute!
Posted by: Conor O'Neill | Nov 3, 2006 7:52:45 AM
Link?
Posted by: Tom Raftery | Nov 4, 2006 10:20:24 AM
The instructions on the Gmail login page say to point your phone to - gmail.com/app
What phone are you using Tom? Let us know how it works out for you.
Posted by: James Corbett | Nov 4, 2006 10:32:02 AM
I'm using a Nokia N70 James but I'm reluctant to try it based on the discussion above about the data charges!
Posted by: Tom Raftery | Nov 4, 2006 10:32:09 PM
Well if you don't have a data bundle or flat rate plan then I wouldn't advise it Tom.
Posted by: James Corbett | Nov 4, 2006 10:43:38 PM
I can tell you two things about gmail mobile.
1. Gmail mobile is fast, cool looking, small in size…..
2. If you have more then one mail account besides gmail (hotmail, yahoo…) you will have to install another app for those accounts.
That’s why I prefer using Movamail http://movamail.com/ and with it I can watch over all of my accounts from one place. It’s much more cheaper then using two programs that will suck all your $$
Posted by: Nelly | Nov 18, 2006 6:29:15 PM
James,
I'm failing miserably to find this app. When I go to gmail on my phone they point me to gmail.com/app but there is nothing there except search related items. Do you have a URL for it?
thanks
Posted by: Conor O'Neill | Mar 5, 2007 12:21:45 PM
Hmmm, strange. I've lost my Nokia 6630 since writing this review Conor so I can't check it now myself but just to be clear, when you say you're accessing it on your phone is it through a WAP browser? Or Opera mobile? I think it has to be through the WAP browser. What phone have you got?
Posted by: James Corbett | Mar 5, 2007 12:29:08 PM
