Gmail 2.0 for iOS miles above it's predecessor
Google released an update to their loudly panned iOS Gmail app this week. I'm almost in tears. The first release was so badly done, that I switched to the default Mail app that comes with iOS as the better alternative. For you other nerds, that's equivalent of leaving Google Chrome for Internet Explorer.
Okay, maybe that's stretching it, but it was far under the bar I expected from Google. So when
we found out that Google had bought Sparrow, the uber-popular email client, we were hopeful that we'd see an update to their own iOS client soon. Thankfully, that day came this week.
The new interface is much, much sleeker and even more minimalist than the previous. Rolling through your messages is a breeze, and the things you expect to be able to do in Gmail - like archiving, starring, or deleting messages - are a lot more intuitive than they were in the previous release.
One the biggest issues in the first version was it's restriction to just one gmail account. That's been remedied with the ability to have up to five accounts tied to the app. You can also respond directly to Google Calendar invites and Google+ notifications from the Gmail App. Love the way it's all coming together.
Interestingly, the new 2.0 app does
not allow for offline email viewing. Gotta take the bad with the good, I guess.
Gmail 2.0 requires iOS 5.0 or later and has been optimized for iPad and iPhone5.
Get it here.New "Communities" in Google+
What? People still use Google+? Yes, people (including yours truly) still use Google+. I was on Google+ before it was cool and have never left. While I "circled" (the Facebook equivalent of "friending" someone) people who have never updated, Google's recent move to integrate Google+ into as many apps as possible means that more and more people are getting introduced to it and even even comfortable with it, even if it was because they
had to.
Like any of the other social networks, Google+ had it's strengths (pre-built user base, Hangouts) and it's weaknesses (Sparks and - rather ironically - search), but it's shown from the beginning that it wasn't afraid of trying new things. One of those new things went live on Thursday. Introducing, Google Communities:
If you're a Google+ user, you should see the Communities icon showing up when you log in. If it hasn't yet, just keep checking, you'll eventually get there. As expected, most of the Prairie Nerds here will no doubt be joining the Star Wars community. Very soon, we should gain the ability to create our own. We'll have to see what becomes of that.
