Offline support comes to mobile Gmail

Filed under: E-mail, Google, BlackBerry, Mobile

Offline support comes to mobile Gmail

by Christina Warren Oct 23rd 2008

Not content with Android, the Google Mobile team has pulled another trick out of their sleeve: Gmail for mobile 2.0. Really, this is Gmail for mobile 2.0.6, but why quibble with details.

BlackBerry users got the bulk of the updates last month, with the Google Mobile App for BlackBerry, but now Gmail 2.0 has been pushed out to all J2ME phones.

Here are the highlights:

Offline support: This is big. You can read recent e-mail and compose messages, even if you don't have a signal. Messages you compose offline will be put in the outbox and sent as soon as you have a signal.

Multiple account support: The BlackBerry has had this feature since last month, and it is easily one of my favorite features. If you have multiple Gmail or Google Apps accounts (I have a Gmail account I rarely use for personal correspndance and three or four different Google Apps accounts), you know that having to log-in to a different account to access your mail is a huge, huge pain. You can set-up multple accounts and switch between them at ease.

Mobile drafts: You can compose multiple mobile drafts and then choose what you want to edit or send later. BlackBerry users have also had access to this feature for several weeks.

Shortcuts: Phones with a QWERTY keyboard can now use shortcut keys like, "z" fo undo, "k" to go to a new conversation, and "j" to go to an older conversatio -- just like in the desktop browser version of Gmail.

If you use Gmail and you have a BlackBerry or J2ME mobile phone, you definitely want to download the latest version of Gmail for mobile. You can get it at http://m.google.com/mail.

[via Mashable]

Tags: blackberry, gmail, gmail mobile, GmailMobile, j2me, mobile gmail, MobileGmail, offline

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

supernova_hq said 3:38PM on 10-23-2008

I do love google and they make some impressive stuff (Android itself is amazing), but what exactly does this do that my current mail application + IMAP does not? I guess if it can view your contact list (which is a pain in the ass with email clients using gmail) then I would consider it. I would much rather they work on a protocol for synchronizing contact lists.

Salsa Shark said 11:42PM on 10-23-2008

Have they added cut-and-paste yet? I hate that I can't do that in Gmail on my BlackBerry...

Joey said 12:08AM on 10-24-2008

When I try to go to that site on my Sanyo M1, it just has a visit link instead of a download link and shows me the web page version of gmail mobile, instead of letting me download the app. I have the 1.5.??? version now, so I know it works, I just can't find a link for it.

b0nstio said 5:33AM on 10-24-2008

Why does the icon for the application get successfully smaller with each release? On n96 the icon i like 16 pixels and very pixelated!

Christina Warren said 8:26PM on 10-23-2008

Yeah, I don't know. It got smaller on the BlackBerry too. Weirdness.

Marco said 10:39AM on 10-24-2008

Well, tried it today... first JAVA sucks... so damn slow. Took 2 minutes!!!, yes minutes... to load on my N95 cell phone.

Then every click took at least 10 seconds... OK... I’d accept it when there would be a real offline support... but it’s stupid now:

My WLAN was offline... the Google Mail JAVA mail application scanned for wifi access... and scanned... and scanned... after minutes I got an error message... "... that there is not way to connect me to the internet" (the app is smart lol) and that i can only stop the software now...

I think I first have to connect to Google Mail using this software when I am online.. and then when my wifi or whatever drops... then it maybe works... But I want to write some drafts when I’m on the road ... no way without inet connection... Sorry Google.. but this software sucks...

I am so happy that I bought Profimail (http://www.lonelycatgames.com/?app=profimail) years ago... best application in the world.. FASTER than fast.. and well, it simply works. I can write OFFLINE mails when I am OFFLINE...

Kai said 12:32PM on 10-24-2008

The article mentions "offline support" as one of the new features, so I'm guessing you can write mails without an Internet connection now, and only send them when you get a connection.

And anyway it seems your phone has a problem... 2 minutes on a N95? One of my friends has a Nokia E65 (I doubt it's as powerful as the N95) but it loads in seconds.

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