Thoughts on Gmail’s New Version
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Google recently rolled out a new version of Gmail, with some added features and enhancements. Ever since I saw screenshots of the new version, I’ve been waiting to try it out. Today, I was in for a surprise – my Gmail account was upgraded to the new version. May be Google realised it’s Diwali here in India, and gifted me!
Here’s all that I noticed:
Comparatively slower
True, this version of Gmail with ‘optimised’ Javascript takes more time to load than the previous version. May be it’s due to the prefetching of email messages. All emails are ‘downloaded’ when Gmail loads, and this is taking up time.
I was looking for an option under the ‘Settings’ page to turn off this prefetching feature, but I think it is not possible to disable it at the moment.
Though the Gmail interface takes time to load, the loading of messages after the interface has loaded is very very quick, since they’ve been prefetched.
New Contact Manager
I’ve no complaints on this one though.
This new version of Gmail has a new and improved contacts manager that has some good features. Inline searching is there for you to search and locate info on your contacts quickly
If you want to add a new contact, you can add a lot of details about that person now, thanks to the improvements. You can store his multiple IM IDs, and city, zip, etc. all in separate fields.
And another improvement is that when you place your pointer over a contact in your message, a hover Pop up all details related to him, not just his avatar (like it was in the older version).
Gmail Chat – Good Improvements
There are a little, welcome improvements in the inbuilt chat client though, like for example, you can adjust the size of the chat box in a few clicks. Earlier, Gmail chat had a fixed size and you could only enable/disable it.
Gmail Chat can list people with whom you chat frequently. Just click the ‘Most Popular’ Option.
Mystery Mute Option
Noticed this in the ‘More Actions’ list. Couldn’t get what that was for. Ionut explains here that you use the ‘mute’ option to archive incoming messages directly.
Final Thoughts
No new skins, no folders, nothing much. I have switched to the older version at this point of time, since the newer one is a bit bulky and slow-loading. May be I’ll switch back.
But there’s a good news. Google has reportedly released an API for Gmail + Greasemonkey, and developers can easily add custom stuff to Gmail with scripting easily. May be that’ll bring a lot of things we’ve been asking for.
Has your account been upgraded to Gmail 2.0? What are your thoughts?
Well I have got the new features long time back, but since they rolled out IMAP I have stopped using their website.
IMAP is the best thing as you dont have to carry any load with you anywhere. Anyways Gmail’s contact list is a bit spammy and so I don’t prefer it too, I download and synchronize my contact list office after deleting all the contacts I don’t need.
All in all the changes don’t matter to me or to any other power users who can make use of the IMAP feature Google rolled out.
Hi,
Yeah even my gmail was upgraded to the more slower loading version but the one think I immediately noticed was that it broke the “Better Gmail” firefox plugin I used. All the custom attachment icons (word, excel, pdf) went back the old black clip icon…
Regards,
Tanmay.
Mine was updated 5 days back and I like it.
I feel:
1. It’s faster for me!
2. Did ya guys notice the minor color changes? It’s pleasant than b4.
3. Who named this Gmail 2.0? Google? Some minor changes only, it should be 1.2.5.
I like the new improvements especially the prefetching. It has eliminated the need to use the ‘Preview Conversation’ Greasemonkey script for me now that the messages load so fast! I have my Gmail open all day pretty much so I don’t mind the initial long load time. But, I can see how annoying it could be if you open it multiple times a day!
It broke the Better Gmail plugin for me too hehe. I haven’t decided which version I like better. I’ll be testing it out a little more.
It does take time to load but after that it becomes fast so i like it.
I got this new version a few days back. It loads faster now. This new version javascript and CSS of the backend application, so we didn’t get many new features. in the coming future we may expect some new features
@Keith: Even I tried IMAP on Thunderbird and liked it. May be I’ll be using it in the coming days.
@Tanmay: Yeah, it wasn’t compatible, but a new version has been released that works now with Gmail. Download it here – http://lifehacker.com/software/exclusive-lifehacker-download/better-gmail-2-firefox-extension-for-new-gmail-320618.php
@Ashwin: I noticed the colour changes, but the colours are just too subtle
@K: Yeah, it’s a bit annoying since I login multiple times a day.
@Brown: Do tell us if you liked it.
@Madhur: Yep, it takes time, but message loading can’t be any faster.
@Ram: Yeah, they may add more features soon.
I preferred the older version. It was faster and didn’t force us to view the ads…..
[...] gives his thoughts on GMail’s new version. I personally love the old interface, which was light and quick-loading (once it loads, that [...]
i hope they will just release the new gmail with greasemonkey built-in inside it. that would be awesome.
Definitely slower for me. Thats how I noticed the new version was here.
@Beta3: May be you could get rid of the ads soon with some new custom scripts.
@Syahid Ali: That’s something I’m also hoping for, and hopefully that’ll bring in a lot of third party customizations to Gmail.
@PCHere: Hehe, thanks for dropping by
The new version is now what I’m using (switched), a little bit slow-loading till now, nothing much to complain.
I think the word that Google loves most is “Beta” so as soon as gmail came out of Beta it goes into it again with 2.0…
I hope Google gives us some sort of option to stay on older version. It isn’t going to be very good to stare at blank screen for long. PS: Hope you like the link.
@Beta3: Try out one of the scripts from Greasemonkey scripts for GMail, though it may not work since they were made during the time of older GMail. But no harm trying !
@Jalaj: Google never really called this version 2.0, it’s only people like us who’re calling it so
@Sumesh: There’s a way, use the ‘Older Version’ link on the top right to revert to the previous version.
It takes time in the beginning, but after that it gets fine. Overall, I like the new version and won’t change back to the old version
i hate the new version, takes forever to load and i use several computers so i end up logging in several times which makes things annoying. as far as the link to go back to the old version i find it puzzling as gmail automatically logs me in with the new version and then i can click on the link to go back to the old version effectively doubling my initial load time.
HURRAY! at least until they decide to push the change onto that setting.
There is a solution though if you want the old version. go to settings and select for language english (uk) and you automatically log in with the old version.
@Haris: Ok, I think you’re loving the new one
@Alonso: That’s exactly what annoys me about the new version.
very interesting……………… i did’nt try yet…. waiting eagerly for the “new gmail”
I like this new version. Its fast loading and the interface is much faster as well.
My Mailbox doubled.
Has anybody noticed the increase in mailbox size? Mine has increased to 5216 MB from some 3MB last month….!
Just noticed that my gmail had a link “previous version” so am I automatically upgraded??
@Jalaj: Yep, your account has been upgraded.
The only trouble I’ve had with new version is that I can’t forward pictures from my inbox. The forward goes without the pictures. For now I’ll stick with the old version.