The Verdict on Gmail's New iPhone App

After the first two versions didn't go so well, Google released a third edition of its email app today — and it seems to be a serious upgrade. (We think.)

Perhaps the cliché will work in Google's favor and the third time will be the charm for Gmail on the iPhone. After the first two versions didn't go so well, Google released a third edition of its email app today — and it seems to be a serious upgrade. (We think.) The first version got pulled from the app store within hours after complaints of bugs and overall outrage. A few weeks later, Google put out one that worked but didn't exactly win over the masses. (It has a 2.5 star rating in the Apple app store.) Now, following its acquisition of Sparrow—the mail client everyone loves—we get what people expect to be an improvement. So, is it?

Well, we can't really tell because at this moment, the iTunes store won't let us download the app. It didn't work on my iPhone either. People say that deleting the app  and then reinstalling will do the trick. But it didn't work for me, at least. Off to a good start, Google.

But per this hands-on video from Gizmodo, as well as Google's announcement of the new app, it looks like Gmail for iPhone pulls in a few of Sparrow's best tricks.

One of the biggest user complaints about Google's last mail-fetching app was the inability to toggle between multiple accounts. Now that's solved:

Similar to Sparrow's multiple logins offering (left), the new Gmail app (right) lets users who have more than one account access those accounts without having to log out and back in again, which is annoying.

Other than that, new improvements include an overall faster experience, including autocomplete while typing, notifications, an infinite scroll, and, well, a completely different look. Once iTunes makes the app available, for real, maybe we'll find more gems that Gmail learned from the Sparrow team.