Google Upgrades Gmail for iPhone and Android

• Posted: Tuesday, April 14, 2009
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Android Phone, iPhone

By Jason Ankeny

Google announced a series of improvements for Gmail messaging services running on iPhone and Android devices. Writing on the Official Google Mobile Blog, engineer Joanne McKinley writes that the upgrade accelerates actions like opening an email, navigating and searching; in addition, new browser technologies like HTML5 and Gears enable users to read and compose messages over poor or non-existent network connections (an update informally announced by Google vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra during a keynote appearance at Mobile World Congress 2009 in February). "The full impact of this new architecture isn't visible yet, but it will enable us to significantly improve performance and quickly roll out new features in the near future," McKinley writes.

Google says the new Gmail for mobile will also introduce a "floaty bar" that appears at the top of the screen when the user selects a message. The bar offers options to archive, delete and more, and continues floating as the user scrolls through the inbox. In addition, Google tweaked the look and feel of messages, promising an easier-to-read interface more closely aligned with the desktop Gmail experience, and relocated the search menu into the top header. Google notes that the new Gmail for mobile supports iPhone and iPod touch devices running on OS 2.2.1 or above; all Android-powered phones are supported.

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