Google, this at its official mobile blog posting announced that it has introduced Gmail for Mobile 2.0 for J2ME-supported devices such as the Nokia N95, as well as BlackBerry phones, making the application more responsive and enabling offline support to inboxes for the first time in case the user moves out of mobile coverage.
Gmail for Mobile 2.0 also runs faster and supports J2ME phones
According to a Gmail engineer, the importance in deploying the second iteration of the popular Gmail mobile was to produce a faster and more reliable experience for users. The company states that users’ should now experience significant raw speed improvement, smoother scrolling, and no freezing. Users with multiple Gmail accounts also can now switch between them without using different applications to access messages.
“Our objective for this version was to make the experience faster and more reliable,” Google software engineer, Derek Phillips claims. “We re-architected the entire client to push all the processing to the background, greatly improve the client-side caching scheme and optimize every bottleneck piece of code we came across.”
It also introduces offline support, allowing users to read recent e-mails and compose new messages even when there is no 3G signal.
The new Gmail for Mobile 2.0 app is designed run on handsets supporting Java J2ME, which includes BlackBerry devices and takes advantage of the power and features offered by a wider variety of smartphones.
Gmail for Mobile 2.0, for the first time includes option to save multiple e-mail drafts in the phone, saving the rigmarole of having to install different mobile apps to keep tabs on different Gmail accounts, besides adding shortcut keys that enable users of phones equipped with QWERTY keyboards to press “z” to undo, “k” to go to a newer conversation, and “j” to go to an older conversation.
New features include:
- Multiple Accounts Management: If you have both a Gmail and Google Apps email account, you can switch between them quickly and will no longer have to use two different mobile apps to access personal and work emails.
- Multiple Mobile E-mail Drafts: Lets you save multiple email drafts in your mobile phone, so that you can pick and choose what you would like to send later.
- Powerful Shortcut Keys: If you have a QWERTY phone, you can use shortcut keys. For example: Press ‘z’ to undo, ‘k’ to go to a newer conversation, and ‘j’ to go to an older conversation. See Menu/Help in the app for more shortcuts.
- Basic Offline Support: Mobile 2.0 allows users to compose and read their most recent emails even when there is no signal. Also, any outgoing messages will be saved into outbox of your phone and sent automatically when you are back in coverage.
Gmail for Mobile 2.0 is available in over 35 languages now, and can be downloaded by accessing Google’s mobile page.