On the one hand, this is traditional email, but seriously rethought. And it's a competitor to Gmail, another Google product, so in a sense Google is cutting off the branch it's sitting on. But, as Steve Jobs liked to say, if a company doesn't cannibalize itself, others will. Simply put, you need to be able to competently replace old products with new ones. Let's try to figure out what Inbox is and what to eat it with.
Total integration
Inbox is not a traditional email client. This is a combination of various reminders, tips, filters, lists, tools for performing various tasks, etc. - in a word, complete organization of not only mail, but also all business life. Inbox has distinct elements of Gmail and Google Now– by bringing them together, Google wants to help us organize our messy lives with one universal application.
The integration of Inbox with Gmail is manifested in the fact that any action in Inbox with mail is automatically reflected in Gmail, and vice versa. Integration with Google Now is that you can create reminders in Inbox that will appear in Google Now. At the same time, both Gmail and Google Now will be preserved and will remain separate services - Inbox does not replace them at all. This is not a replacement, but an addition.
At the same time, Inbox does not distract from its main stated task, because, after all, inbox is translated as an inbox. Gmail users will not have to configure anything - Inbox will contain all correspondence and all contacts from Gmail, and updated in real time. Mail status in Gmail and Inbox are completely synchronized with each other, and this is where Inbox has an advantage: it's native. Google app, which has direct access to Gmail. It doesn't need to work through the IMAP protocol like other applications.
Reinvent mail - and with an eye to gadgets
Inbox development is led by the same person who runs Gmail, Alex Gawley. According to him, he and his team decided to rethink email, giving it a “fresh start”, throwing away 30 years of stereotypes and templates. He says:
The world has changed a lot since [email] was invented.
It's hard to disagree with him. The world has changed a lot even in 10 years of Gmail's existence. At the same time, Inbox, unlike Gmail, is created according to the currently fashionable trend of “mobile first” - first on mobile phones. On desktop it can only be used in Chrome. On tablets, Inbox will not be supported at all at first.
Among other things, Inbox is an excellent demonstration example of the new “material design” that Google has been professing for some time now. Animations are fast and smooth, text is very clear, and menu bars are colored aggressively. On the iPhone version, these elements are slightly muted, but still present.
Like Gmail, but smarter
The first reviews from people who have worked with the system can be summarized as follows: interesting, but strange and unusual. The basic idea is this: at its core, this is mail, but it doesn't just show letters in a continuous list, but tries to cleverly give you only important and relevant information using complex algorithms, while supplementing the mail with other useful content.
Inbox is like Gmail, only smarter. Russian-language motto: “More than mail.” Google is responsible for the intelligence in this case, trying to implement in mail an idea similar to Google Now: understanding user behavior and anticipating its needs. At the same time, it tries to help the user save time.
For example, Inbox can automatically sort emails into different categories according to their content. Work letters go in one folder, bank statements in another, pay stubs in a third, and letters from mom in a fourth. This feature is called Bundles. Inbox can create such sets entirely on its own, but you can change the rules governing sorting if you wish.
Another function - Highlights (important) - allows you to find especially important information, such as flight times, event schedules, or photos of relatives. This feature allows you to find information from the Internet, not just from emails, so we also get search integration.
Emails in Inbox act like reminders: if a new email isn't interesting or relevant, you can "snooze" it and it will be temporarily hidden. This function is called Snooze (sleep, doze).
As you work, cards with Google Now-style tips appear next to messages:
You can also create reminders with alerts in Google Now style:
Simplification or complication?
Not everyone liked Inbox. Some reviewers have noted that it makes working with it unnecessarily difficult. by email and tries to rethink old concepts too radically, which is reminiscent of Google Wave - another revolutionary development that turned out to be misunderstood and unnecessary. Computerworld columnist JR Raphael writes:
Like most people, I have a complicated relationship with frenemies-type email. I want it to be simpler. But now, looking at Inbox, I don’t see simplification, I see complication. And if it confuses me, it's not hard to imagine how it will confuse ordinary users who do not deal with technology on a regular basis.
In this sense, Inbox stands at a crossroads. It could go the way of Gmail, which really gave mail a whole new dimension, or it could go the way of Google Wave, which turned out to be too complicated for ordinary people.
Rafael adds: “I really want to use Inbox. I want to give him a chance and see if I can get used to his unconventional methods." Will millions of ordinary users want to give Inbox a chance - that is the main question.
How and who can get here?
Inbox address – google.com/inbox/. On this moment The service is available by invitation. To receive an invitation, you need to write a letter in any form to the address [email protected]. But there is one condition: the letter must be written from a Gmail address. In addition, a user who has already received an invitation can invite a friend. Thus, Google wants to take advantage of viral marketing, since it is unlikely to be afraid of server crashes. “We are doing well with the servers,” Goli smiles.
Inbox works in Chrome browser, iPhone (iOS 7 and above) and Android devices (Android 4.1 and above). If Chrome isn't one of your favorite browsers, unfortunately, Inbox isn't for you yet. It is also not yet available to Google Apps users. The service does not work on most Google Apps for Business domains - only on Gmail.com. But this must change. Goli explains that now his team is only thinking about ordinary users but then adds:
We'll do a ton additional functions, thanks to which it will fit perfectly into the business context.
To pass the time while waiting for an invitation, you can watch the official Inbox video teaser. But let us warn you that there are two and a half frames about the service, so no useful information will not be able to be extracted. The rest of your screen time you will have to watch happy people on vacation - apparently Google employees.
Inbox has a lot convenient function automatic distribution of letters into categories. Smart algorithms are able to distinguish the subject of letters, group similar ones and place them in one of the appropriate categories. If any of them slipped past, then you can put it in the desired collection yourself. In the future, Inbox will remember your actions and will work without errors.
In the category settings, you can also specify the time they are displayed. For example, you can configure Inbox so that the folder containing emails from social networks was displayed only once a day and did not distract you with its presence during working hours.
2. Saving links
There are a huge number of different bookmarking services and extensions, but people still continue to send links to their inbox. Therefore, the Inbox developers made sure that it was at least convenient for users to do this. They released a special extension for sending links, and also created a mailbox a special category where you can easily find them.
3. Calendar and inbox reminders
Calendar and mail client are the most necessary tools for any business person, so their mutual integration can only be welcomed. Now reminders created in Google Calendar can be viewed directly in Inbox, and vice versa. You can also attach a reminder to any of your emails, thus turning it into a task that appears on your calendar.
4. Postponing emails
Inbox has a very convenient option to temporarily hide emails from your inbox. You just need to select one of the preset values or set your own time so that the letters you currently do not need are moved for temporary storage to the “Pending” folder. At the appointed time, they will appear in your Inbox again, and you can continue working with them.
5. Newsletter digests
If you subscribe to several daily newsletters, Inbox will help you get to know their content faster. Based on the received letters, a special digest is created containing only the most interesting content. This will save you a lot of time, especially when there are already a lot of letters in your mailbox.
6. Smart reminders and replies
No one is surprised anymore by the Google suggestions that appear when typing search query. Approximately the same technology is used in Inbox when creating reminders. The next step in this direction was the templates of phrases that the mail service offers to use when writing a response letter. Moreover, they are selected in accordance with the context, so sometimes you don’t even have to write anything yourself: you can simply choose one of the options offered by Google.
Well, is it convincing? Have you already switched to the new Inbox email client or are you still loyal to your usual Gmail?
Colleagues from Gmail proposed a big novelty - a new mail interface, available (at the time of writing) only by invitation. I was able to try Inbox on my work email: on a laptop, i.e. in a regular browser, and on a tablet, as an application. First impressions - you will find below.
First, some background. I recently calculated that I receive about 70 letters a day - this is only to work email. Fewer letters are sent to personal email, about 20 per day. Most of my mail is sorted by filters; a third or less ends up in the Inbox. I have been using filters and labels for a long time, and I have a lot of them - especially for personal mail. However, after a period of intensive creation of a large number of “nested” shortcuts and filters for them, it turned out that both of them are not at all easy to manage. In general, the more labels and filters, the less order there is in your mail. Why? because the interface for managing them in Gmail has remained unchanged almost since 2004. So recently I've been trying not to create entities and make do with just a few basic labels. However, I don't skimp on filters.
Overall, I have a good gmail setup in browser.zere. However, all the settings - shortcuts, etc. - were lost. mobile version. In addition, it was impossible to create a new filter from a mobile phone; switching between shortcuts was and is difficult. Finally, useful extensions such as Active Inbox do not work on mobile.
I'm probably not the only one who had similar problems. So in the end, my colleagues from Gmail came up with new version interface - which appeared, in fact, yesterday and which is simply called Inbox. I tried it today, in two versions - browser and tablet. Overall, I liked the application - especially in the tablet version. More detailed review- below.
Inbox appearance
As for me, you get used to the email interface more than to the search engine. I already had experience of parting with mail: for example, when I changed Yandex.Mail to Gmail, for a whole year I really missed the Y.Mail interface. So it will undoubtedly take me some time to get used to Inbox. First I tried it in the browser version - and after 5 minutes of testing, with great pleasure I returned to the normal interface. Inbox seemed too bright and unusual - the vertical arrangement of letters, strong colors, an unusual new letter button... Inbox is nothing like the laconic Gmail - it is nothing like Google in general!
However, when I downloaded the application in the evening Inbox - then I no longer had any visual shock, only the pleasure that the email client was finally behaving as it should. Archiving letters with one click of a finger, a new letter button just under the thumb of the right hand, a bright and visible menu - everything was in place and everything was as it should be. And yes, exactly on the color I tabletnbox" did not cause any surprise - I am familiar with this interface from Google+, Android interface Kit-Kat, Google Store, etc.
Total: 100% hit Inbox on mobile and tablets. I still have to get used to it in the browser.
Ease of use and features of Inbox
Inbox, by and large, is the reincarnation of the good old Multiple Inbox - in regular Gmail it is possible to divide the Inbox folder into several sections. Multiple Inbox did not work on mobile, and did not display well on small screens (laptops). Then Priority Inbox technology appeared, when automatically incoming letters were divided into several categories. In the new I nbox uses both principles - automatic sorting into 6 categories, incl. Travel and Finance. Also, it is possible to display any personal label in the inbox - as long as the letters in it are sorted using filters.
My main joy is that the interface for managing shortcuts and filters has become much simpler. You can go to the settings of any Shortcut in one click, whether in the browser or in the application. In each Label you can immediately see the rules (filters) by which mail is sorted. In other words, if the mailing address has changed, you just need to edit this label, add a few conditions to the sorting rules and you're done. Previously, you had to either look for an old filter or create a new one on top of the old one. In general, filters have merged with Shortcuts - and rightly so. Finally, in the shortcut settings, you can specify whether it should be displayed in the Inbox, or whether the content should be immediately Archived.
The concept of the Archive has changed - it is now the Done section. Those. Inbox is aimed at more meaningful work with mail - not just read-and-forget, but read and do the job :) The Getting Thing Done concept is still far away, but there is a correct understanding of the Inbox folder as a place for processing letters. It is possible to prioritize letters - then they will not fall out of the Inbox. Finally, this is the ability to set up reminders - although I haven’t had time to try this functionality yet.Otherwise, the Archive function has not changed, only the name has changed.
In the end: as for me, this is a complete holiday. There is also a very simple management of filter shortcuts. There is also a slight rethinking of the mail function - yes, not new, but first of all it was necessary to achieve special extensions, and now the Inbox-In-Work-Archive process is available out of the box.
Minus: you can only add a shortcut to your Inbox that is sorted by rules. I tried to add a label like “Pending” or “Do it tomorrow” to my inbox, but it didn’t work.
Lastly. Now all the newspapers are full of headlines like - Google has introduced a new mail service. In my opinion, this is not true. Inbox is not a new service, it's still the same good old Gmail. The same Gmail that at one time revolutionized all email services. Again, IMHO, but Inbox is far from a revolution. On the other hand, this is absolutely the evolution of email - towards mobile, towards ease of management, towards email as a working tool. Mailbox (as a separate application) and Active Inbox (as an extension) did and do something similar. But it is absolutely certain that none of the free email giants have yet moved in this direction, while Gmail has gone ahead and set a new trend.
