Gmail is one of the best web mail apps around and I have been using it for a few years now. When the iPhone came out, there was a lot of talk about a native Gmail application; but, because of Apple’s stringent rules, that talk was pretty much quieted as soon as it was spoken. Apple was completely satisfied with the way that Mail on the iPhone worked and wanted you to use that instead.
Well, being patient and letting things play out, we finally have ourselves a native Gmail application for the iPhone. Since I mainly use it as my main email client, I figured I would give it a test drive and see how it actually works and whether or not it would take the place of Mail.
Functionality
The core functions of Gmail are all available within this app and that makes it very easy to use. First, you have full control over your email by being able to use one of the great features of Gmail, which is the ability to organize your mail. You can access all of it from your inbox all the way down to putting them in different folders, or as Google calls them “labels.” Email can also be starred and labeled so that you can move them into the proper place.
Snapshot of inbox and labels
Writing is a very intuitive and seamless experience that makes it easy to fire quick emails on the iPhone. When you want to compose a message you can start typing in the contact’s email address, and if it is one that you have previously written or have saved in Gmail, it will bring it up and you can select it. You can also select a contact from your iPhone address book if you don’t already have their email saved in your Google contacts. For attachments, you are limited to only attaching a picture or video that you have on your iPhone, no documents or anything else.
Composing an email
Some of the other features include search and push notifications. With search it can comb through all of your email to find what you are looking for, similar to how Gmail does it on the web. Notifications, overall, seem to work very well; in fact, as soon as I get one on my computer, within seconds I get one on my iPhone as well. The only caveat is that you cannot take advantage of the new iOS 5 notifications, and are stuck getting notified with a beep or a buzz of your iPhone and the number of emails above the Gmail icon.
Look and Feel
When you first start to get into the app, you find that a lot of what you can do in it is very similar to the mobile web version and to some degree, the actual web version that you would use on your computer. A lot of the functionality of Gmail is in this native app and so it makes it feel like you are actually using it and not getting a watered down version.
Comparison between native vs. web app
When you compare it to the mobile version, it feels more like Gmail should. For example, you can’t get notifications if you were to use the mobile web which, to me, is a big reason to use this instead. To a lesser extent, using a native app versus going into Safari is just simpler to navigate, and less steps to take to get to my destination. With the mobile version, depending on how long I have been away, I need to open Safari, then re-log back into my account, and finally, I am back in Gmail. With a native app, I just open it and there is my email; no need to worry about anything else.
The Good and the Bad?
When the app first came out, it was met with a lot of criticism. As I read through my Twitter stream, most people were turned off by it because of lack of features and that it really didn’t serve a better purpose than either the web or using Mail on the iPhone. In my opinion, I see potential in this application as Google did well in their first iteration. You get a solid app that works well and does the majority of what you could do as a normal Gmail user. I know I felt that after using it for a while, I wasn’t limited in any way by the fact that I was using this and not iOS 5 Mail.
Snapshots of an email message
But, that is not to say it doesn’t have its shortcomings. For example, you can only use it for one account and you also cannot check your Google Apps email. For most people this is fine, but if you want to check more than one account, you are out of luck. Two, I noticed that because this isn’t connected to your iPhone like the Mail app, if I wanted to share a picture over email, I have to make sure that I have Gmail set up on iOS 5 Mail. Granted, I could go into the app and send it as an attachment, but it would be nice to have it integrated with the iPhone. Lastly, it would be nice to have the ability to send attachments other than photos and video; maybe have it connect to Dropbox so I can send documents.
Conclusion
Overall, the Gmail app is out to a solid start and Google promises more features are to come. It works well and gets the job done for email and I think if it could integrate more with the iPhone, then I would use this as my full time mail app. You can also get it for the iPad and it has the same functionality and look as the iPhone version, but just on a bigger screen. Get it free on the App Store and let us know what you think about it and if it is going to replace the Mail app for you.