Gmail

Gmail

Gmail includes excellent spam protection, phishing warnings and virus scanning; ultimate organization, conversation view, POP3 access and 8 GB of inbox storage that continues to grow every day.

Additionally with Gmail you can chat, post documents and spreadsheets online, customize your homepage, get mobile access, check your RSS feeds, be notified every time you receive a new message and your account never expires. However, Gmail is like an exclusive club, you have to be invited to join.

Security:

Gmail’s security includes spam, virus and phishing protection. All spam is filtered into a spam folder that allows you to separate the good from the bad, all incoming and outgoing messages are scanned for known viruses, and suspicious messages that look like phishing scams are flagged with a big red banner across the top of the message. Additionally, you can report both spam and phishing attempts to Google.

Although we found Gmail’s spam protection to be top–notch we are slightly disappointed that we could not adjust the strength of the spam filters from low, medium or exclusive.

Features Set:

Gmail provides some of the best email organization on the Internet. Their pride and joy feature is the “conversation” interface. Instead of having a list of back and forth emails between you and a friend or co–worker all replies and sent messages are filtered into one line of inbox with a corresponding number of messages in that conversation. For example if you have recently gotten in touch with an old friend and have continued to correspond for several weeks, your inbox might look like this, “me, Marcus (9) How have you been?” The first person on the list in this case “me” indicates the person who initiated the conversation.

Additionally, you can create custom filters and have all your messages sorted by, “from”, “to”, “subject,” “has the words” and “doesn’t have.” Messages can be places into labels (folders), stared, deleted or forwarded

Gmail does not include graphic ads on their pages, however they do place subtle ads based on the text of your emails on the right hand side of the page. Computer bots scan your messages and place ads that might relevant to you. Google insists human eyes never see your messages; however, if you feel uncomfortable with this arrangement see the #2 free email service, Windows live Hotmail.

Extras:

Gmail leads the pack when it comes to additional features and extras. Gmail was the only service we reviewed that included an instant messenger program without an additional download. If one of your contacts is signed into their account, you can chat with them. If you both have webcams, Gmail is equipped with video chat software too. With Gmail’s mobile access, you can send and receive emails through your BlackBerry or other mobile device. Gmail also offers a downloadable notifier for your PC.

Gmail possesses two unique features. You can customize your homepage and post documents and spreadsheets online. To customize your homepage you can choose from a list of several RSS feeds provided by Google, or you can import your own RSS feed from your favorite websites and arrange them on your homepage. Gmail’s docs and spreadsheet feature allows you to post an editable document or spreadsheet online and access it from anywhere, similar to online storage. This feature is great for group projects at school or work, where all members of the team can access the same material. Gmail is also available in dozens of languages from Arabic to Vietnamese.

Gmail provides a plethora of extras. We particularly love Picasa for photos, the calendar for scheduling and the iGoogle customizable homepage.

Support/ Ease of Use:

Email can’t get much easier. However, in order to join Gmail you must be invited by a friend. All new accounts come with 50 invites and you are free to pass them out as you please.

Gmail’s help section includes online help, tutorial, FAQs and message boards. All of our questions were easily answered using the search feature. However, there is no email contact if you can’t find your answer with the provided materials.

Summary:

Gmail is already the undisputed leader in the web based email arena. It’s a secure, easy–to–use program that places the world at your fingertips. Gmail is one of the few free services we reviewed that has implemented strong anti–phishing protection. Additionally, this was the only service to offer the docs and spreadsheet feature with multiple person access. While we would have liked free online storage besides the docs and spreadsheet feature, Google integrates so many useful extras that our only real complaint about Gmail is simply that we end up using it too much.