I've just got my GMail invite yesterday and just managed to login and play around with it. If you haven't heard about it GMail is Google's latest offering in which they allow 1 GB limit Email accounts that you can use to send your emails to peeps in the internet. Due to its large size, alot of people have been groveling for an account - as registration is limited to a small beta user base and also additional users are only allowed in by invitation. There are tales in which GMail accounts were auctioned off in various sites, which highlights a serious problem in the underground unscrupulous ways in which some people chose to take advantage of this beta test.
Anyway, back to the topic. I've just managed to look around GMail today, and I've noticed a number of different things with GMail that makes it rather exciting. The first and most obvious impression is the size limit in GMail account which is 1GB and a whopping size compared to other email services. My hotmail account gives me a puny 2MB, whereas my faculty email allows up to only 20MB - and as you noticed its a farcry from the GMail size.
On the login page, the GMail has been very simple - in which I like. It closely resembles google which offers a much simpler and unfuzzy interface when compared to other comparable search engines.
After logining in, the first thing I noticed in GMail which I liked alot is its rather fast loading time which has to do partly with the fact that there are no picture ads(at this moment) which plagues other free email service especially Yahoo that displays a half page ad. Coupled with simple text based links, the Gmail is a pretty simple interface that gets straight to the point. Other noticable features on the first page is a nifty tool called starred email or emails that the person deemed important can be quickly moved to this folder for later referal instead of having to wade through the email list. Another feature that caught my eye is the google toolbar at the top of the page that allows quick retreival fo search items in google and also allows the user to search into mail details. This is a very useful addition as I remember when I had to open my friend's account looking for a email I had to open everymail to scan for keywords, when it might be easier to search through it.
On further investigation, in the contact list I've noticed that it includes contact lists and also a nifty option called - frequently emailed - which lists out the people that we have frequently emailed to. This feature sounds like a good idea to implement in the email system as the majority of email we send are lumped to one group of people - and a quick referral list here could help instead of having to go through hundreds of contacts.
The setting page contains options that are pretty typical except for the shortcut keys, in which users can type single keyprints in different part of the system to be quickly moved to a new page. A good example would be pressing 'C' on the main page will forward the user into the Compose page. If used well, this tool can be a great time-saver for power users.
On a first impression, GMail has impressed me alot. However the only thing missing from GMail is POP3 or IMAG access to an external email client - which is a big drawback considering I prefer to open emails off-line at times. Hopefully someone would come up with that service soon :)
Anyway if you are interested in related news, you could read about a dude's attempt to fill up his GMail account with spam at the following url:
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/14/1121209&tid=217&tid=111
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i really like gmail... so far the only spam i've received has been from the nigerian scammers trying to give me $1000000000.
the best features imho are the 1gig of storage and how fast it is. when i send a message it goes almost immediately, and when i return to my inbox it's also instant. with hotmail i have to wait... and wait... and wait... every time i click on anything.
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