What you may have missed

Friday, December 19, 2008

GMail, The Extraordinary Email App! Now has Video and Voice Chat

Being able to switch from email to chat, to video chat, to sending SMS to your friends, all within the same browser window, well that is productivity in its extreme.



I gotta tell you, this GMail keeps on getting better.  Email, chat, SMS, Video, Voice, VoiceMail, all on the same web browser window!  No single program ever put together those features on the same roof!  Let alone have them all work on the same web browser windows, - a tough task on its own.


GMail as Online Storage, the History

Most of us were happy with the 2GB hard disk space Google gave us way back, a few years back, and called it GMail.  At the time, before GMail arrived, Microsoft's Hotmail and Yahoo covered the email needs of millions of users with mere 2MB online disk space.  Instantly, GMail was a hit, because it provided 1000 times the space its competitors were giving.  It meant no deleting emails to empty inboxes so that you may receive new ones.  It also meant no more forcefully checking your email every few days so Hotmail doesn't close the account -something it still does.  Most of all, it meant virtually unlimited space for all of your emails, pictures, word and pdf documents, your entire address book.  That space now over 7 GB and will be 10 GB soon.

Soon after, GMail became the wanted email to have!  At some point, it was cooler to own a GMail account than to have your own domain name email.  So, to slow down the influx of registrants, GMail's new registrations got restricted to by-invitation-only.

Most users heard about GMail from friends, from there on, and they either were invited to it, or were left out waiting for the day it got public.  Well, it got public and now, to keep the excitement, the features of this email program that runs on the fastest servers in the world, the Google servers, keep getting bigger and better.

Speaking about features, what does GMail's competitors have for their users?  Start with Hotmail, the last I remember, it is just plain old email.  Nothing much else.  Yes it can recognize photos and will put them in a fancy collection.  But, the biggest thing you can do is, well, email.  Send and receive emails, reply to them etc.


GMail as Instant Messenger on Web Browser

Well, GMail on the other hand, the regular stuff other emails allow you to do, send email, receive email, reply, delete, store etch, you can do them better here.  I am not here to discuss those, because they're so common.  But you can chat inside the GMail.  That is right, if you see a friend online via your GMail, while you type your email, just click on their name and a little chat window - pretty on new browsers, shows up on both ends.  You just start talking to your dear friend.  Why is this feature so special when MSN Messenger does the trick?

Well my friend, how often do you go to a friend's house and notice their computer does not have MSN Messenger installed? But they do have Internet.  So you check your email. And there is no other means to talk to your contacts, right?

Well with Gmail you can.  Right inside the GMail itself.

I thought I had said enough about the exciting features of GMail.  Then you look and see its got other cool features, with regards to communication.

GMail as free SMS Tool

Communication is the primary focus for GMail.  I reported the other day that GMail now allows sending SMS to all american phone numbers with no charge to you!  If you're the one sending!  The receiver gets charged local incoming SMS fees depending on their plan.

As that was not enough, GMail takes communication further to the next level!

GMAIL Voice and Video Chat

Now, out of the GMail develop laps, 'since sometimes reading "lol" doesn't deliver the same punch as actually hearing your friend laugh at your jokes, you can now use voice and video capabilities in your Gmail chat. From within Gmail, you can have an actual conversation with someone (seriously, out loud), or even chat face to face over video.'   This is a quote straight from GMail help.

This feature was first introduced back in November 11, 2008.  Hearing this for the first time, I feel so out dated.  But because the programs of GMail are working day and night, even GMail user experts need time to catch up to them. being able to switch from email to chat, to video chat, to sending SMS to your friends, all within the same browser window, well that is productivity in its extreme.

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