Gmail Email Service Tested and Reviewed
Februari 21, 2005 
I got my Gmail account back in January.
Gmail is the free email service from Google.
Google says:
"Gmail is a free, search-based webmail service that includes 1,000 megabytes (1 gigabyte) of storage. The backbone of Gmail is a powerful Google search engine that quickly finds any message an account owner has ever sent or received. That means there's no need to file messages in order to find them again."
Google is still testing this service.
Here's my review of Gmail.
Enjoy.
Case
Gmail: a ton of megabytes and superiour features.
To use Gmail you have to be invited by someone. (I have 30 invitations left for anyone interested; just use the contact link at the right).
After signing up (id and password) you get an account with 1,000 megabytes (1 Gigabyte!) of storage for free. Right now Gmail is only available in English during the testing period, but can be used to send and read emails in most languages.
That's a lot of bytes to store emails!
What makes Gmail so special, is that it uses Google's search technology to find your emails. You just enter your keyword in the search box and Gmail will find all emails containing that keyword. Of course you can also search the Web from there which is really convenient if you want to perform searches based on your email's contents.
Using the Show Search Options you can specify more advanced search terms.
It works like charm.
Another feature is that Gmail shows you a conversation flow. If you send an email to anyone and that person replies, you'll see both messages listed together. And that goes on as long as the conversation takes.
Even when you use the search feature Gmail will display the whole thread.
That gives a splendid overview.
Gmail uses its own folders, and you can't add any. But that isn't really necessary, because instead you can organize your mail by defining labels that you add to messages. You can even add multiple labels to messages if you want to, but the terrific search feature makes that unnecessary.
A bit strange is that a search using label names doesn't work, but you can list anything under a certain label them by clicking the particular label-name in the menu box.
And there's a filtering system that you can use to have labels automatically attached to messages.
The folders Gmail uses are Inbox, Starred (stars let you give messages a special status to make them easier to find), Sent, Drafts, All Mail, Spam and Trash.
I had some legitimate messages delivered in the Spam box (false positives) without knowing why. Gmail doesn't list their filter rules. You can easily whitelist such messages if necessary, but you have to keep an eye on that one.
There's also a Report Spam feature. If you use it, the spam will automatically be removed from your inbox and information about it will be reported to Google.
You can archive any email which means it will not be shown unless you click the 'All Mail' button. Trashing a message puts it in the 'Trash' folder, but it will stay there for 30 days unless you mark it and delete it forever.
Composing messages is easy. As soon as you type the first letter of an email address, Gmail makes a suggestion from the addresses stored in their system (every time you receive an email, the sender's address is stored). Although there's a contact manager included (you can even import contacts) you will rarely use it, because this auto-fill system works great and is a real time saver.
All messages sent are stored in the Sent box.
A spell-checker is included and you even can attach files that Gmail have you select from your own computer.
The 'Settings'-link at the top right gives you plenty of options to manage your Gmail account. From there you can set your reply address, filtering options, sig-files, labels, forwarding options and you can even have Gmail act as a POP-account.
A very nifty tool is the Gmail notifier. It is a downloadable Windows program that alerts you whenever you have a new Gmail message.
You can also set keyboard shortcuts in this section. I've seen some people rave about it, but I don't use them. Too much work.
Soooo, how about the ads?
Gmail displays ads in the same way that ads are placed alongside Google search results. Ads are selected for relevance and therefore Gmail uses your email contents.
Some people are worried about that. They feel that this system takes their privacy away, because Google looks at their email. In their support section Google says: "Advertising and related information are shown using a completely automated process". I believe them. Why should they be interested in my personal email? They have better things to do, like making money. Lots of money. And they can only do that by using fully automated systems. So I have no fear.
Besides that, it's good policy to keep sensitive information away from public services, isn't it?
Another issue may be the cookie that Google sets. It seems to expire in 2038 and it's the same cookie Google sets when you use their search engine. So, if you leave those cookies there then yes, they can follow your search and email patterns. I believe that they use that to serve more targeted ads. Fully automated that is, no one is reading your email.
By the way, and this has nothing to do with Gmail, I ALWAYS delete ALL cookies after closing my browser (Firefox allows you to set it up that way so they are automatically deleted). That's another good practice to avoid sensitive information being spread on the Net.
That leaves one more question about the ads: are the obtrusive? Well, I saw them when I opened my first message because I had a good look around, but I don't see them anymore. They are very unobtrusive and sometimes they aren't even there.
Are there any disadvantages?
You can't use HTML in messages. Personally I see this as a great advantage, because in my opinion HTML in email has caused way too many spam problems. I always use text messages and if I want to use HTML, I just send my readers over to a web page. Simple!
I missed is a virus-checker, but on the other hand Gmail doesn't allow you to send or receive executable files (.ext extensions) and Gmail doesn't automatically open images when included in messages (you have to open the message and click 'Display External Images') to protect you from spammers verifying the email address is real.
I really would like to know a bit more about their spam filtering rules, so I can avoid my messages ending up in someone else's Spam box.
But that's all.
Gmail is a great service and I'm changing my ezine subscriptions to Gmail. Plenty of room, superb features and great search options!
If you would like to receive an invitation to use Gmail, let me know using the 'Contact An Own Site' link at the right and I'll send you one. I have only 30 of them left, so you better be quick.
That's it for today.
Wish you success.
Case Stevens
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