GMail Testrun :

I log into Blogger and found this invitation to test run GMail and I jumped at the chance. The invite said that I will be given only one opportunity, so I was doubly careful while signing up. Can’t afford to goof up now.

Kiruba[@]gmail.com is my test mail id. Here’s my first hand report.

The positives

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Quick reply box : Right below the message, there is a small box which when clicked on instantly shows the compose box. No need to press the ‘Reply’ button like in Yahoo or Hotmail.

Shows when the mail was received – It shows both the time the message was received (9:17 a.m) as well as how long back it was received ( 22 minutes ago ). Neat.

Amazing single key shortcuts – This feature had me gaping. It just requires a single key press to do a function. For example, just press ‘C’, and the compose box opens up. Cool or what!

Snippets – Just like in Google search results, you have a first few lines of your message shown in the subject line.

Very Fast – It can’t just be the 512 kbps connection at my office. GMail is definitely twice as fast as Yahoo. This could be because of very few users of GMail now.

The Negatives

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Ugly looking logo – Doesn’t have Google’s class.

Open in new window – There is this dumb icon which when clicked opens up the same screen in a new window. Don’t know what’s the big deal about it. I found it stupid.

Starred : Performs the same function as Yahoo’s Flag but can’t equal it.

I really wish Google allows private domain email (kiruba[@]kiruba.com) to sit on GMail. I definitley won’t mind them running their ads on my mailbox.

To sum up, GMail gets my two thumbs up.