The newly released application takes you beyond the use of “LOL” to loads of smiley faces, we are known to shy away from formal email communication, and occasionally make a few blunders in that fashion when first entering the workplace.
One playful new feature that the search engine giant has just released is ‘Scribbles’ that allows you to hand-draw your own graphic to send with the email message. It is absolutely an impeccable means to express yourself further than keyboard functions or a font style–something which you can do better with images than words. Choose from different colours, brush sizes, lines, spray paint and erasers. Kind of sounds like Paint.
Surprisingly, the new web app interface integrated in to the Gmail and Gmail iOS, allows scribbling through the Scribble button that appears in the email compose window to add a personal touch to your latest communication.
Certainly, it is an impressive feature for the users to try out but Android users are yet to get the Scribbles support in native Gmail App. If you access your Gmail from the usual mail.google.com web address, then the function can be discovered in devices that are compatible with iOS 4+ and Android 3.1+, as well as BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. We believe that will arrive with an update soon or may be with the Android 4.0 ICS update which is up in the anvil.
Assessing the example images, scribbles are attached to Gmail mailings as PNG files, which, as long as they are not overdone, should add a level of personalization normal signature blocks do not convey:
(Source: Gmail blog)
Furthermore, the search engine behemoth is also inviting people to submit their scribbles for comparison/contrast purposes, and you can do so by mailing them to gmailscribbles@google.com. They also suggest using the #GmailScribbles hashtag. Apparently, this designates them as share-worthy. Whether or not Scribbles for Gmail will be widely adopted or not, you have to admire Google’s ‘reasons’ for introducing this feature:
From prehistoric humans etching in caves to the modern-day thinker sketching a stroke of genius on a napkin, scribbling is a natural form of human expression. Not constrained by formatting or font styles, scribbling is a versatile outlet for expressing individuality and creativity. Not to mention it’s a lot of fun.
This update will also empower you with a vacation responder function that automatically responds to emails when you are going to be offline for a week or two. Another new feature will notify you with a loud ping whenever you receive a new email.
With Christmas festival just around the corner and the year 2011 coming to an end, make the best of this feature to let your young ones send greetings to the loved ones.