Google released today a Java client for their Gmail service which works on all Java-enabled cellphones (mobile web-based client also available). Click through to see many screenshots from the app. Having used it for a few hours we conclude that it’s very usable, very fast and it can even read and display images and MS/OOo attachments. More reviews on this app here and here. Additionally, now the Google-owned YouTube is preparing for a mobile launch within 2007, while Google is a major partner in the Opera Mini project. Version 3.0-beta was released yesterday. It now supports SSL, RSS feeds and content folding (which unfortunately does not play nice with OSNews’ mobile page). Screenshots inside.
I hope that Google considers bringing as a binary mobile application their Calendar, GTalk/Jabber, Office, Reader too. Their Gmail app is really nice.
The mobile gmail client is really nice–a huge improvement over the web access.
yeah. It really doesn’t work well with osnews. gotta try rss feature someday later.
By the way, where can I download gmail java client?
Browser: Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/3.0.5849/1422; en; U; ssr)
Opera Mini works just fine with osnews. It’s just that for SOME news items it’s enabling its content folding, which is not a desirable action. Other than that, it’s just fine.
I just installed this on my samsung D500 (gmail.com/app) but it complains about certificates? I think this only works in USA.. the link http://www.google.com/mobile/gmail/ redirects me to http://www.google.com/mobile/index.html .. this is so stupid :'(
I think it should work fine even in Europe.
how come they aren’t downloadable from the desktop? my carrier doesnt allow dowloads. But i can load stuff with the data cable and as you can see opera mini works on it. is there something i can do to download from the desktop?
Browser: Opera/8.01 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/2.0.4459/1378; en; U; ssr)
You must download the user agent extension for Firefox and create a new profile entry called “Nokia”. Then, select that profile, go here http://www.google.com/mobile/gmail/ and download the JAR file shown in that page. Then, send it via Bluetooth or USB to your phone (except if it’s a Samsung, in which case you can’t send Java files via BT/USB — only via the network via a direct link).
wget -U Nokia http://gmail.com/app/v1.0.0/en/gm-Nokia-Advanced_MIDP2.jad
wget -U Nokia http://gmail.com/app/v1.0.0/en/gmail-nokia-g.jar
Update: it works as direct link from Firefox too.
Edited 2006-11-03 13:41
After having tried numerous smartphones over the past several years, it’s my opinion that none of them is really worthy of everyday use. The screen real estate is too small, content is too difficult to read, the hardware/software is too slow, and the user interfaces are poorly designed and require too many steps. Sure, there are times when you need information and a smartphone is convenient to have; however, I’m betting that it’s probably going to be far more useful to a larger number of people to use text-messaging services (ie. GOOGL) to request specific pieces of information than build the kitchen sink into a phone. The advantage of the GOOGL-like approach is that every phone capable of doing text messaging can take advantage of this service. Smartphones are more of a niche market — and not growing nearly fast enough to justify the hype.
I use my treo everyday for some surfing, email, ssh etc.. works fine. The UI is palmos and is very simple and only takes a few clicks to do most stuff. (loading a website is 2 clicks, enter url, one more click…)
thanks Eugenia and Andrej. You both helped. and I didn’t know you could do that with wget. cool.
since my phone isn’t nokia. it’s a motorola iDEN so i put motorola in the user agent extension and google let me get a generic version. links if someone else is like me.
gmail
http://www.gmail.com/app/v1.0.0/en/gm-Generic-Advanced_MIDP2.jad
http://gmail.com/app/v1.0.0/en/gmail-g.jar
opera mini
http://beta.mini.opera.com/mini.jad?rnd=1862277251&edition=hifi
http://beta.mini.opera.com/dl/CL3O3V*jd*BFGpvCjqgAABbZDw8C/mini.jar
i havent tried them yet because i think i need windows to run the java application loader for it. but i’ll see if it’ll work on wine.
Edited 2006-11-04 01:56
Well, wget is my beloved web hack tool.
Anyway, I didn’t understand why you need to run java app loader from windows?