SOFTWARE HOUSE Google has overhauled its Gmail services, offering a simpler design and organisational tools for users to better control inboxes.
"Today, Gmail is getting a brand new inbox on desktop and mobile that puts you back in control using simple, easy organisation," wrote Gmail product manager Itamar Gilad in a blog post on Wednesday.
Gmail's new inbox allows users to group mail into categories that appear as different tabs. "You simply choose which categories you want and your inbox is organised in a way that lets you see what's new at a glance and decide which emails you want to read when," Gilad added.
To customise the new inbox layout, users select the tabs they want from all five to none, drag-and-drop to move messages between tabs, set certain senders to always appear in a particular tab and star messages so that they also appear in the Primary tab.
In Gmail for Android 4.0 and above, as well as the iPhone and iPad apps, users will see their "Primary mail" when they open the app, after which they can "easily navigate to the other tabs".
Google's Gmail facelift leaked last week during the Android Design Team's "Structure in Android App Development" presentation. The team's event video accidentally revealed a left-side navigation drawer and a missing "action bar" along the bottom in the Gmail for Android app ahead of its announcement.
Gilad promised that for those users who update their inboxes and immediately don't like it, they can switch right back to the classic view by switching off the optional tabs.
Google is rolling out the Gmail inbox revamp gradually, and the desktop, Android and iOS versions will become available "within the next few weeks".
The company's promotional video for the upgrade is embedded below, which uses some funnky '60s Motown music to convey how it will change users' lives forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment