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Topic: Collaboration

New version of Gmail starting to roll out

Summary: Google announced a new version of Gmail that has a completely new javascript engine at this years Analyst day. It wasn't a surprise that they announced the new Gmail -- last month the cat was let out of the bag when a translator for Google found hints in the "Google In Your Language" service.

Garett Rogers

By Garett Rogers for Googling Google |

Google announced a new version of Gmail that has a completely new javascript engine at this years Analyst day. It wasn't a surprise that they announced the new Gmail -- last month the cat was let out of the bag when a translator for Google found hints in the "Google In Your Language" service.

Just today, some people started seeing the new version of Gmail -- the improvements (like being much faster) are mostly under the hood, but there are a few noticeable changes.

The most obvious is the improved contact manager. I haven't had a chance to actually play with the new interface yet, but it seems intuitive just by looking at the screenshots.

Gmail Contacts

The Google Talk contact popup has also gone under the knife and looks a lot cleaner.

Gmail Google Talk

Overall, the change isn't major from a users perspective, but it is still welcome. The Gmail interface has remained largely untouched since it was launched -- and maybe that's a good thing?

[Thanks Andres]

Topics: Collaboration, Browser, Google

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10 comments
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  • Looking forward

    to the new version, which I hope will come here to Stockholm within the next couple of weeks. In my opinion it is indeed a good thing the [b]Gmail[/b] interface has remained largely untouched since it was launched, but that doesn't mean it can't be tweaked a bit....

    Henri
    mhenriday
    Reply Vote

  • MIME Digest

    Will gmail now support MIME digests?
    conspicuouschick
    Reply Vote

  • notice "ui=2"

    just notice it. it doesn't work though, there's gotta be a cookie being set somewhere as well.
    Voodoo187
    Reply Vote

  • RE: New version of Gmail starting to roll out

    You folks in the computer trade press just don't get it. I'm sick of hearing about new Google features that aren't rolled out to the rest of us for months. Google knows who you are! They're the search experts and tag your accounts because you are industry pundits. That's why your get to see these features first. Think I'm making this up? Ask them. I'm fed up with hearing all the spin about Google this or that over features I know I won't see anytime soon.
    djysrv@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: New version of Gmail starting to roll out

      You might be surprised that I don't have access to the new Gmail features yet either. These screenshots were sent in by a reader of my blog who happens to be an average user.

      According to Google, we should all see these new features very shortly -- perhaps within the week.
      Garett
      Reply Vote

  • Not working

    I see the new version (chat works fine and better), but the contact page doesn't load. I wonder if that's just a temporary issue...
    gbonato
    Reply Vote

  • Unusable

    I find the new contacts manager (beside the start, where it updated on me while I was using contacts and gave me a scare) to be somewhat unusable. First off, when adding a new contact, you now have to go down all the way to the bottom and click on a link to expand the note-taking area. I often take notes for contacts when adding them, so it's just an added pain.

    Also, I haven't figured out yet how to compose to a group - right now, I'd have to manually select *every single person* in the group by hand before the "Email" option to send this to everybody shows up. Gar!

    I also dislike the new lighter yellow color. Yes, but bugs me, I liked the orange one better.

    As for the new javascript - personally, I prefer the older way with the part-page reloads - it actually seemed smoother (and just a bit slower) than the new non-reloading javascript.

    In short, I clicked the "Older version" at the end :(
    Vadim P.
    Reply Vote

  • Choose the old version?

    So if you don't like the new format, you can choose to keep the old one? If true, that sounds great.

    And just when did we get more space? It says I have around 5 GB now!
    ridingthewind
    Reply Vote

  • I got the new version

    ...and I must say it is pretty nice although the changes mostly seem to be subtle ones

    - John Musbach
    John Musbach
    Reply Vote

  • RE: New version of Gmail starting to roll out

    I still don't have it update :(
    raldred@...
    Reply Vote
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