Gmail 2.0 and Mailplane

Google prepares Gmail for the future. According to the official Gmail blog, Gmail 2.0 is being rolled out over the next few weeks. If you see the "Newer Version" link in the upper right part of your main window, you already have been upgraded:


However, Mailplane isn't compatible with Gmail 2.0, yet. The Gmail 1.0 interface is still available, and Mailplane 1.54 automatically opens this interface when started. So, if you don't use the "Newer Version" link, Mailplane works without problems. I am currently working on the upgrade. Mailplane will support both Gmail 1.0 and 2.0.

But, what can you expect from the new Gmail? In Firefox, Gmail 2.0 doesn't look much different. However, for Mailplane users it is great news: Some really missed Gmail features will come to WebKit and therefore Mailplane (and Safari). Here are two examples:

Quick contacts/Google Talk in sidebar:


The "Update Conversation" feature:


Google seems to have unified the code for the different supported browsers. The days are numbered where WebKit users had to live with an older Gmail version, I guess.

And here is the best part: Mailplane is based on WebKit and WebKit is the fastest browser rendering engine. With the new Gmail speed improvements, Mailplane will be faster than ever.

From the Gmail blog post: "These techniques really shine on newer browsers and computers. Using an alpha version of Safari 3 on a MacBook, we're seeing sub-200ms times when opening messages—pretty quick."