Gmail - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

Redesigned Gmail Screenshot Leaks During Google I/O Session - It's Packing A Navigation Drawer And Dumps The Bottom Action Bar

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Google, News

At Google I/O there was a session called "Structure in Android App Design," where they talked about various navigation techniques, including the new navigation drawer.

It's a cool talk; you'll learn a lot about the pro and cons of each navigation structure, but at about 23 minutes in, while they were talking about the new nav drawer design, they dropped this slide and completely blew my mind:

YES.

That is an entirely new Gmail design - a new design rocking the awesome new navigation drawer. Let's take a look at this versus the current Gmail interface:

Ok, spot the differences!

May

Here's How To Enable The New Hangouts In Gmail, But Only If You're Ready To Lose Phone Dialing

Posted by Kyle Wiggers in Google, News, Tips & Tutorials

Google may've said during Wednesday's keynote that it planned to roll out Hangouts to Gmail users gradually, but if you just can't wait to integrate the new messaging service into your e-mail dashboard, there's a way to gain early access. Simply log into Gmail, ensure you've signed into Google Talk (if you're having trouble enabling Talk, try installing the browser plugin), click on the thumbnail associated with your account in the Talk sidebar, and select the "Try the new Hangouts" option.

If you don't see the option right now, you can trick Gmail into giving up the goods by clearing your cache and cookies.

May

Sending Money With Gmail Is Live, You Just Need To Be Invited - Here's How (US Only)

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News

A few days ago Google announced this crazy new feature that allows you to attach actual money to Gmail messages. We've discovered the feature is actually up and running, you just have to be invited!

To get invited, someone just has to send you some amount of money over Gmail - a penny will do fine. So, find someone who has access to it, give them your email, receive a penny, and you're in!

If you happen to find someone who has access, and they send you a penny, you'll get an email like this. Clicking on "claim money" will take you to the special wallet site that gives you access.

May

[Dolla Dolla Bill] Gmail Can Now Attach Money To Emails Via Google Wallet

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Google, News

One of the cooler new features of both Gmail and Google Wallet that didn't make it into today's three-hour Google I/O keynote is the new ability to send money to any Gmail contact. Just message or reply to someone, write something along the lines of "here's your money, dog," and click the Attachments paperclip icon. You'll see a new option among the expanding icons: a dollar sign. Click the dollar sign, and you can send funds straight from Google Wallet. You can literally attach money to an email. How cool is that?

Of course there are a few restrictions. At the moment you can only send money via Gmail on the desktop, and you need to have either credit in your Wallet account or a linked funding source.

May

[New App] XonoMail Beta Promises Smart Automatic Organization Of Multiple Email Accounts

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

The stock Gmail app is one of the best mail experiences on a mobile device, but it can still be nearly impossible to tame particularly active inboxes. XonoMail Beta has just arrived in Google Play, and it promises to keep your email in order without a ton of configuration. Best of all, it's completely free and has no ads while in beta.

XonoMail is based on the open source K-9 Mail project. The official K-9 app doesn't get a lot of attention these days, and it's UI is extraordinarily outdated. XonoMail goes the Holo route (#YOLO) and pulls multiple mail accounts into one place.

Apr

'Babel' Name Purportedly Makes An Appearance In Gmail, Might Be The Real Deal

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, Google, News, Rumors

From poorly-executed "leaks" to potential legitimate sightings, there's been a lot of hubbub about Google's supposed unified messaging service, likely called Babel. This isn't necessarily surprising. After all, if you asked most Android enthusiasts what feature they most wanted from the platform in its next iteration, you'd hear a lot about unified messaging. We've tried to stay clear of covering every flurry of Babel-related murmurings so far, but today we saw something new – Google+ user Patric Dhawaan posted a screenshot of what he says is a notification in Gmail, triggered when "pruning" his inbox.

At first, we were a bit suspicious of the screenshot.

Mar

[APK Teardown] Gmail 4.3 - Seven Unused Notification Actions, 'Whoosh Zoom,' And Some Kind Of Half-Working Google+ Integration

Posted by Ron Amadeo in APK Teardown, News

Gmail 4.3 recently hit the streets, bringing with it a long-awaited (by me, at least) ability to archive email directly from the notification panel. It's awesome. But what else did Google sneak into our phones and tablets with this update? Let's find out.

Fair warning: this is going to be one of those teardown sessions that raises more questions than answers, so bring your speculation hat.

Experimental Preferences

Gmail has always had this wacky file in it called "experimental_preferences.xml." I've mostly ignored it, because it has only ever had two relatively-boring things in it: "full text search," which works already; and "Enable drag and drop contact chip," which would let you type a name into the "To:" field and move it to something like "CC:" by dragging it.

Mar

Gmail Update v4.3 Allows You To Reply, Archive, Or Delete Emails Right In The Notification Shade

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Google has finally added the feature that we've been wanting since Google first started adding functionality to notifications back in Ice Cream Sandwich: the ability to archive email directly from the notification shade. Now, when you get a new email, you can choose what to do with it immediately. This is extremely handy for the chronic email checkers who would like to be able to dismiss the clutter as it comes in, rather than let it pile up later

This is something that seems so obvious that when Ron reviewed Jelly Bean, the lack of buttons was a disappointment in an otherwise fantastic update.

Dec

Google Extends Free Gmail Calling For US And Canadian Users Once Again, Through 2013

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

If you use Google Voice, or simply make the occasional outgoing call via Gmail, Google's got some great news for you. The service is going to continue to be free throughout 2013 for users in the U.S. and Canada! International callers will still have the same rates applied. In short, nothing is really changing, and that's a good thing.

When Google first introduced the ability to make phone calls in Gmail, it said the service would be free through at least the end of 2010. At which point, that promise was extended to the end of 2011. Then 2012. And as of today, free Google Voice calling lives to die another day.

Nov

Gmail Advanced Search Options Expanded, Search By Size, New Date Options, And More

Posted by Matt Demers in Apps/Games, Google, News

Google announced today on the official Gmail blog that advanced search in Gmail has been expanded. You can now scour your mail with more flexible date search options, by attachment size, exact query match, and more.

The new syntax works in any version of Gmail, including the Android app, allowing you to use flags like 'size:value' and 'older_than:value' in order to pare down results. For example, below we've used 'size:5m' and 'older_than:1y' to search for mail with attachments of 5MB and that are older than a year, respectively. You can find the full list of advanced search flags here, including the new ones.