0 Priority Inbox in Gmail for mobile

By Unknown | At 10.53 | Label : Android , gmail for mobile , googlenew , iphone | 0 Comments

If you�ve ever cursed a phone�s tiny screen as utterly inadequate for sifting through an overflowing inbox you�ll be pleased to hear that the Gmail mobile web app now supports Priority Inbox. Priority Inbox helps combat information overload by automatically identifying your important messages so you can focus on those first. Until today it was only available on the desktop and on Android devices.

Now, once you set up Priority Inbox in the desktop version of Gmail, you�ll see Priority Inbox sections when you visit gmail.com from your phone�s browser and click on the �Menu� screen. You�ll also see importance markers in your inbox, so you can quickly identify which messages are important.



This feature is available for most mobile browsers that support HTML5, such as devices running Android 1.5+ and iOS 3+. Currently, you can�t set up Priority Inbox or mark messages as important or unimportant from here. If you have suggestions or want to learn more, visit our Help Center and forum.

Posted by Nathan Bullock, Software Engineer

0 Gmail for Android: better Priority Inbox support and improved compose

By Unknown | At 12.03 | Label : gmail for android , gmail for mobile | 0 Comments

(Cross-posted on the Gmail blog.)

When we first released Gmail in Android Market back in September, we said that you�d be getting new stuff faster, and we meant it. After getting thousands of comments on that release, we made a bunch of updates based on your feedback and today we�re launching Gmail for Android 2.3.2.

Priority Inbox

First of all, you told us that you love Priority Inbox and expect much better support for it on your phone. Now you can see important messages in a new Priority Inbox view.

This view includes all important messages in your inbox, regardless of whether you�ve read them or not. You can archive and delete conversations or mark them unimportant from there. You�ll notice the importance markers you�re used to seeing in the desktop version of Gmail, and you can also change a conversation�s importance using the menu. To switch between inboxes or labels, try tapping on the current label.

Ever wanted to know that you got an important message without taking your phone out of your pocket? Now you can set up your phone to notify, vibrate, or ring on just your new important mail (check out Menu > Settings > Priority Inbox).

While Priority Inbox on your Android phone doesn�t have all the features offered in the desktop version of Gmail, we think this is a good start and plan to add even more functionality moving forward.


Improved Compose

Since our last Market update, we adopted a few features related to composing messages from the desktop version of Gmail. Many of you asked for a better way to switch between replying to the sender to replying to all. Now, you can easily switch between reply, reply all, and forward while composing your response.

If you moved to Gmail from another webmail provider and want to continue to send email from that address, now you can send from any address you�ve configured in the desktop version of Gmail.

In addition, you can now respond to messages in-line.

You won�t need to wait for Gingerbread to get these updates. This version of the Gmail app works for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and newer releases in most countries. (Not sure if your device is running the right version? Check here.) Get the update from Android Market (just scan the QR code below, or click here if you're on a phone) and check out the new Gmail. And don�t forget to send us your feedback from within the new version of the app (from your Inbox: Menu > More > About > Feedback).

Posted by Paul Westbrook, Gmail for Android team

0 The Iterative Web App: New Stacked Cards Interface for Gmail on iPad.

By Unknown | At 15.30 | Label : gmail , gmail for mobile , iOS , iPad , iterative web app , Iterative Webapp | 0 Comments

In April 2009, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iOS and Android. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code, which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. Today�s topic for the The Iterative Web App, a series where we continue to release features for Gmail for mobile, is the Stacked Cards Interface on the iPad.

When we announced our new interface for Gmail on the iPad, we requested feedback on how we could improve this experience for tablet devices. In June, we responded with a new compose screen. Today, we�re addressing the top feedback by launching a new �stacked card� interface for selecting and managing multiple conversations.



In the past, performing actions on selected conversations was awkward. There were two similar toolbars on the screen: one on the bottom left and the other on the top right. The former affected the selected conversations, while the latter affected the currently open conversation. Since the toolbars� buttons looked similar, it was easy to mistakenly use the wrong toolbar. Sound confusing? It was.

In the new interface, selected conversations are displayed stacked on the right panel for easy organizing, archiving or deleting. The second toolbar is gone so it�s always clear which conversations you�re working with.

This new interface has also been an opportunity for our team to experiment with CSS3 transitions, which give mobile web applications a similar look and feel to native applications. More details on the implementation are posted on the code blog.

To try the Gmail webapp on the iPad, just go to gmail.com in Safari. For quick access, create a homescreen link. Please note that the new interface is only available in US English for now.

Posted by Liam Asher Segel-Brown, Software Engineering Intern, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App: New Compose Interface for Gmail on iPad

By Unknown | At 07.56 | Label : gmail for mobile , Interative web app , iPad | 0 Comments

In April 2009, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iOS and Android. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Web App, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: New Compose Interface on the iPad.

Today we�re happy to announce an improved experience for writing emails on Gmail web interface for iPad. When you write an email you�ll now get a big full screen compose window instead of splitting the screen between your inbox and the compose view. More text is visible at once and there are no more distractions with messages on the side. We�ve also fixed problems that prevented scrolling on long messages. Thanks to everyone who reported the issue via the �Send feedback� feature at the bottom of the screen.



We�re continuing to experiment with the large touchscreen and tablet form factor so send more feedback if you have suggestions. To try out Gmail on the iPad, just go to gmail.com in Safari. Please note that the new interface is only available in US English for now.



Posted by Craig Wilkinson, Software Engineer, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App: Feature-Rich and Fast

By Unknown | At 10.26 | Label : Android , gmail for mobile , iphone , iterative web app , Iterative Webapp | 0 Comments

Every mobile engineering team -- including Google's -- struggles to make its applications available to all users on all devices. Even if you scope your work to today's smartphones, you're left with no less than five major operating systems. But we pay this cost because native code is often the only way to build an app that's rich enough and fast enough to meet users' needs. Enter the mobile web.

A growing number of mobile devices ship with an all-important feature: a modern web browser. And this is significant for two reasons:

1. As an engineering team, we can build a single app with HTML and JavaScript, and have it "just work" across many mobile operating systems. The cost savings are substantial, not to mention the time you can re-invest in user-requested features.
2. Having a web application also means we can launch products and features as soon as they're ready. And for users, the latest version of the app is always just a URL and a refresh away.

Of course: what sounds good in theory doesn't always materialize in practice. So back in April 2009 our team began re-building Gmail for mobile for today's modern browsers. We wanted to know: Could the mobile web support Gmail's basic and advanced features? Could we stuff the app with functionality while still keeping it fast and responsive? Today, and for the first time, we have answers to both questions.

Over the past 8 months we've pushed the limits of HTML5 to launch a steady string of Gmail features, including:

• Full label support
• Swipe to Archive
• Smart Links
• Faster address auto-complete
• Move and Enhanced Refresh
• Outbox
• Auto-expanding compose boxes
• And many more...

So yes, HTML5 and the mobile web are clearly up to the task of building rich and powerful apps. But speed is arguably the most important feature of any application. And we've remained unsatisfied with Gmail's performance on the mobile web. Until now.

As of today, and thanks to numerous optimizations, I'm happy to report that Gmail for mobile loads 2-3x faster than it did in April (see Figure 1). In fact on newer iPhone and Android devices, the app now loads in under 3 seconds. So yes, the mobile web can deliver really responsive applications.


Figure 1: Best and Worst Case Gmail for mobile start-up times, April 2009 vs. December 2009. All figures recorded on an iPhone 3G with EDGE data access.

The Gmail for mobile team isn't done, of course. We've focused primarily on performance over the past few months, but many other features and optimizations are on the way. So keep visiting gmail.com for the latest and greatest version of the app.

Looking ahead, it's also worth noting that as a worldwide mobile team, we'll continue to build native apps where it makes sense. But we're incredibly optimistic about the future of the mobile web -- both for developers and for the users we serve.

Posted by Alex Nicolaou, Engineering Manager

0 The Iterative Web App: A new look for Gmail and Google mobile web apps

By Unknown | At 13.11 | Label : Calendar , gmail for mobile , google , google latitude , Iterative Webapp , tasks | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: A new look for our buttons and toolbars.

Some of you noticed and asked us about recent changes we made to Gmail for mobile and a few of our other mobile web apps. If you use the web browser to access Gmail, Latitude, Calendar, or Tasks on your Android-powered device or iPhone, you'll see that we freshened up the look of the buttons and toolbars.

We never want the buttons and toolbars of Google apps to compete with your content; rather, they should complement them. So the headers and buttons are now darker, to better show the content of your emails and calendar entries.

We also made the all the buttons a bit larger, for easier button-tapping.

To try these apps yourself, point your mobile browser to Gmail (gmail.com), Calendar (google.com/calendar), Latitude (google.com/latitude), Tasks (gmail.com/tasks), or just go to google.com from you phone and find all these web apps under the 'more' link.

Is this an improvement? Let us know what you think.

by Charles Warren, User Experience Designer, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App: Auto-expanding Compose Boxes

By Unknown | At 08.45 | Label : gmail , gmail for mobile , iphone , Iterative Webapp | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Auto-expanding compose boxes

When composing a message on my phone, I really want to see as much of my draft as possible and make use of all the available screen space. One of my biggest gripes is a fixed-size compose box that restricts me to only a couple lines of visible text when my screen still has room to display more lines.

Today we launched auto-expanding compose boxes in Gmail for iPhone. This makes composing longer messages much easier since you're able to see more of the text you've typed. Just keep typing until you get near the bottom and then the compose box will magically expand by a few lines! As an added bonus, for all those iPhone users out there, auto-expanding compose boxes take away the need to press and hold to scroll with the magnifying glass! Instead, you can flick to scroll, much like you would normally do to scroll up and down a webpage. (On Android-powered devices, this hasn't been much of a problem, thanks to the trackball.)



















While we're on the subject of making it easier to view content in Gmail, one more bit of news. We've been working on ways to make inline images show up in your messages, and you can now get some of those images to display by following these steps.

To try out, visit gmail.com on your iPhone/iPod touch (OS 2.2.1 or above, US English only) and create a home screen link for easy access.

by Casey Ho, Software Engineer, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App: 'Move' and 'Enhanced Refresh'

By Unknown | At 09.42 | Label : Android , gmail , gmail for mobile , Interative web app , iphone | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: 'Move' and 'Enhanced Refresh.'

Last week we released two new features which can save you clicks when using web-based Gmail on an iPhone or Android-powered device.

The first one is 'Move', which you can find under 'More' in the Floaty Bar. The 'Move' function lets you label and archive a message in a single step. So as soon as you 'move' a conversation to a certain label, that email will disappear from your Inbox and show up under that label. We introduced this feature to Gmail for your PC earlier this year, and now we're making it available for your mobile phone as well.

Another improvement we made is 'Enhanced Refresh.' With this feature, your Gmail inbox auto-refreshes when you switch back to Gmail from another tab or application. And if your phone goes to sleep while Gmail is open, it will refresh when you wake it up.

To try out Gmail for mobile, visit gmail.com in your mobile browser. This version of Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod touch OS 2.2.1 or above, as well as all Android-powered devices, and is available in US English only. To make it easy to access your Gmail account, try creating a home screen link.


by Heaven Kim, Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App: Outbox for Emails in Limbo

By Unknown | At 09.50 | Label : Android , gmail for mobile , iphone , Iterative Webapp , outbox | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Outbox.

With the web-browser-based Gmail for mobile we launched in April for iPhone and Android-powered devices, you can compose mail even when you're offline. That means you can write an email when there's no wireless connection, like in a subway or an airplane. And when you hit send, the message will be sent when the phone's network connectivity gets re-established. But what if you'd like to view the message that you just "sent" while still offline? Where can you find those 'sent but not actually sent' emails? Before today, the answer was "nowhere."

To solve this problem, we're now introducing a new feature, called Outbox. Outbox is a new label that appears in the menu when you have queued messages stuck on your phone and presents a read-only view of the subject of those messages. So if you want to make sure the previous message was sent before writing a follow-up mail, you can go ahead and find it in Outbox. Please note that you can read only the subject, not the body, of messages in Outbox.

To try out Gmail for mobile, visit gmail.com in your mobile browser. This version of Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod touch OS 2.2.1 or above, as well as all Android-powered devices, and is available for US English only. To make it easy to access your Gmail account, try creating a home screen link.

Posted by Heaven Kim, Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App: Links Got Shorter and Smarter

By Unknown | At 10.03 | Label : Android , gmail for mobile , iphone , Iterative Webapp , web app | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Smart Links.

We all know that on a mobile device, screen space is scarce, so it's not very helpful when I get an email with a long link such as this Google Maps link:



Not only is the link taking up an unnecessarily large amount of space, but it's not easy to find the address that's hidden in the middle of the link. To solve this problem, we now shorten the link and automatically convert raw links into named links, which we call "Smart Links". So instead of seeing that long link to Google Maps, you're going to see the link renamed to the actual address:

Clicking on it still takes you to the same Google Maps page, but now the link is much shorter and the important information is more visible!

Here's a list of links we currently support:

• Google Maps address queries
• Google Maps directional queries (with one destination)
• Google Sites webpages
• YouTube videos
  

We're planning to roll out support for more link types, such as Google Docs, so watch for those in your emails. Please note that Smart Links work only in plaintext emails right now.

To try out Gmail for mobile, visit gmail.com in your mobile browser. This version of Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod touch OS 2.2.1 or above, as well as all Android-powered devices, and is available for US English only. To make it easy to access your Gmail account, try creating a home screen link.

One more tip: Label management got easier for Android-powered devices with a physical keyboard. In the "Label as..." menu on the floaty bar, there is now a text box above the list of labels. You can type the name of a label you wish to select into the box rather than clicking on it. As you type, the list filters to show only labels that match what you've typed. We also added more keyboard shortcuts to bring it closer to the Gmail experience on your computer.


Posted by Casey Ho, Software Engineer, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App: Swipe-to-Archive and Expanded English Language Support

By Unknown | At 11.42 | Label : Android , gmail for mobile , html 5 , iphone | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Swipe-to-archive and expanded English language support. --Shyam Sheth, Product Manager, Google Mobile.

When we first released the new Gmail for mobile web app, we designed the floaty bar to make it easy to quickly manage your inbox and take action on multiple emails at once. However, we wanted to make it even easier to perform one of the most common actions: archiving.

After reading the subject of an email and the first line of the message, I often know if I don't need to open the email to read the rest. With swipe-to-archive, I can simply swipe my finger across the email in the inbox, either from left-to-right or right-to-left, and then tap on the red 'Archive' button when it appears. Please note, this feature is only available for the iPhone.


We've also expanded the availability of the new Gmail for mobile app to English users in the United Kingdom as well as India. To try out swipe-to-archive and Gmail for mobile, visit gmail.com in your device's browser. To easily access your Gmail account, try creating a home screen link.

Posted by Bikin Chiu, Software Engineer, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App - Faster Address Auto-complete and Keyboard Shortcuts

By Unknown | At 09.54 | Label : Android , gmail for mobile , html 5 , iphone | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Faster address auto-completion and keyboard shortcuts. --Shyam Sheth, Product Manager, Google Mobile.

At Google we're always looking for a way to do things faster. Today, we're announcing two improvements that will speed up your Gmail for mobile experience.

The first improvement is faster address auto-completion. This means that as you begin typing the first few letters of your friend or colleague's name or email address, Gmail for mobile will quickly display possible contacts. We sped up this process by reusing previously fetched matches in subsequent searches.

The second improvement is that we've enabled keyboard shortcuts for Android-powered devices with a physical keyboard. Now you can use all those familiar Gmail keyboard shortcuts to quickly move through your inbox. For example, if you're reading an email you can press 'u' to return to the inbox or 'n' to move to the next conversation.

To try out Gmail for mobile, visit gmail.com in your mobile browser. This version of Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod Touch OS 2.2.1 or above, as well as all Android-powered devices, and is available for US English only. To make it easy to access your Gmail account, try creating a home screen link.

Posted by Matthew Bolohan and Andrew Grieve, Software Engineers, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Web App - Gmail for Mobile Gets Labels

By Unknown | At 11.32 | Label : Android , gmail for mobile , html 5 , iphone | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Labels. --Shyam Sheth, Product Manager, Google Mobile.

You asked for it, and we listened. We've added labels to Gmail for mobile on Android-powered devices and the iPhone. Labels in Gmail allow you to use color-coded tags to manage your inbox.



To label an email, select a message then tap 'Label as..." from the drop-down menu on the Floaty Bar. In the pop-up menu, select the label(s) you would like to use and tap 'Apply'. Please note, you can add and remove existing labels to your emails in Gmail for mobile, but labels can only be created, renamed and deleted in the desktop version.

To label your emails on the go, point your mobile browser to gmail.com on your iPhone or Android-powered device. To make it easy to check your Gmail, try creating a home screen link. The new Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod Touch OS 2.2.1 or above, as well as Android-powered devices, and is available for US English only.

Posted by Heaven Kim, Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile

0 The Iterative Webapp - Gmail for mobile Gets Mute

By Unknown | At 13.46 | Label : Android , gmail for mobile , html 5 , iphone | 0 Comments

On April 7th, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iPhone and Android-powered devices. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application's underlying code which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. We'd like to introduce The Iterative Webapp, a series where we will continue to release features for Gmail for mobile. Today: Mute. --Shyam Sheth, Product Manager, Google Mobile.

One of my favorite inbox triage techniques is Gmail's 'mute' feature. Once I've muted a message, follow-up emails to the conversation bypass the inbox, keeping it clutter free. With mute now available in Gmail for mobile on the iPhone and Android-powered devices, you can quickly manage your inbox while you're on the go. To access mute - select a message and from the drop-down options on the Floaty Bar, tap 'Mute'.



To try mute in Gmail for mobile, just go to gmail.com in your iPhone or Android-powered device's browser. To make it easy to access your account, we recommend adding a home screen link. In the spirit of 'launch early and iterate', stay tuned for more announcements from the Gmail for mobile team.

Please note: The new Gmail for mobile supports iPhone/iPod Touch OS 2.2.1 or above as well as Android-powered devices. The new Gmail for mobile is available for English only.

Update 4/30/09, 11:19am - This feature is available for US English only.

Posted by Deng-Kai Chen, Associate Product Marketing Manager, Google Mobile