I had some great news waiting for me in my inbox this morning. Google had done it again. Released another cool application that I could sink my teeth into. As Jordan Running pointed out this morning, it's the new Gmail mobile client. As long as you have a Gmail account and a supported device, you can access gmail.com/app, and download the Java file. Sitting back and relaxing, I expected that downloading the application at gmail.com/app would take a few minutes at least. 30 seconds later and it was done. 137kb, and within seconds the application was installed and ready to fire up. A clean nice screen with the Gmail logo, Username and Password fields greeted me. After entering my credentials, my emails were all waiting for me! How cool is that? Typically accessing Gmail though m.gmail.com on my Moto RAZR's browser takes a minute for my emails to get pulled in, but now it's just a few seconds. Google's claim of five times faster was dead on! Reading the emails was done pretty effortlessly, far less clicking and scrolling than in an ordinary mobile browser. So how about all of the other options? They are even better than I had expected. Through the MENU, users can easily reply, forward, search mail, compose mail, mark as unread, add a star, view details, and even report spam.
My only concern? If you want to access more than one of your Gmail accounts, good luck. The mobile client is great if you want access to only one account for super fast, no login necessary after the first time, required. But try and figure out where to log off of your account, and enter new credentials! Nowhere to be seen. Oh well, this is only the first release, and you can't have everything, I guess. All in all, Google did a great job on this application, and are hot on track by helping users get the information they want, wherever they are.
Update: How do I sign out of the Gmail for mobile application? Google knows the answer.
Drop a line, and share your experience with Google's new mobile client. What do you think?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-02-2006 @ 1:36PM
Blue_Chi said...
I installed the app on my Nokia 6230i, but it was not able to connect, I tried it on my Nokia 9500 communicator and it worked like a charm.
Lets hope we can get a mobile application version of google calendar, that would seriously rock.
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11-02-2006 @ 1:41PM
Chris Gilmer said...
Blue_Chi - mobile google calendar would be killer!
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11-02-2006 @ 2:58PM
gooby said...
Couldn't get it to work on my Nokia 6630. I kept getting a "Error. An unexpected error occurred during program execution. Please try your operation again." Dunno if it's supposed to work here in Finland yet (does country settings matter?). I was trying to connect via my WAP settings.
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11-02-2006 @ 3:23PM
Chris Gilmer said...
No support for Google Apps for your Domain yet. too bad.
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11-02-2006 @ 3:52PM
BJ said...
I don't use Google Apps for Domains, but do have another address listed in my account as "default". When sending mail, does it retain that default or does the message appear to come from @gmail.com?
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11-02-2006 @ 4:26PM
Joe said...
It works great on my unlocked Motorola K1 KRZR running on Cingular.
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11-02-2006 @ 6:51PM
Matthew Sandoval said...
do i understand correctly that this won't work on Verizon phones? (f*#$*#ing verizon).
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11-02-2006 @ 7:36PM
Russell Heimlich said...
I just got a Dash 2 days ago and boy is this release right on time. Finally, the rows are lined up so I can see the subject and who sent it. This program is a godsend for the mobile web surfer like my self. Anyone know of any other must-haves for the DASH?
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11-02-2006 @ 10:00PM
Victor Goh said...
Works like a charm on my Motorola PEBL. This came in just in time as I was totally frustrated with the "Data Server Not Available" error on http://m.gmail.com .
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11-03-2006 @ 1:20AM
Amiga said...
Does this work with Google Apps for Your Domain too?
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11-03-2006 @ 5:03AM
kez said...
Works like a charm on my K800i - and only 113kb, too : )
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11-03-2006 @ 9:27AM
damian said...
Doesn't work in the Uk on a Sony W810i. Google Maps app works fine so maybe they've done something different with this?
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11-03-2006 @ 12:15PM
Xenophon said...
Just downloaded for my Sony W800 and works like a charm.. only scrolling to next page is not as easy as a link at the bottom.. overall.. quite fast and much better than gmail on opera mobile.
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12-04-2006 @ 8:23PM
Hallutonagenic said...
I just bought a SE K610i last week. This app seemed like it was heaven sent. However, after a seemingly ok installation each time I load it I get a "This program required a working data connection" message. Has anyone else succeeded on a K610 on 3 or is it just me?
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