Google’s Inbox Announced

This could be the future of email. Google Inc. have announced on their official Gmail Blog the launch of a new email app called ‘Inbox’. The search giant invigorated webmail with the launch of Gmail back in 2004, and now they’re doing it all again with Inbox. From the official blog post: “Inbox is by the same people who brought you Gmail, but it’s not Gmail: it’s a completely different type of inbox, designed to focus on what really matters”.

Google Inbox is a free mobile app, currently only available by invitation, that promises to organize that over-crowded inbox of yours.

Some of the app’s features include ‘Bundles’, which will take all similar messages, group them together and automatically highlight important information such as flight itineraries. Users can also customize it accordingly.

The ‘Highlights’ feature brings important emails front and center. The app will even pull in information from the web that it deems useful, like tracking information for a package.

Users can also set ‘Reminders’ that will obviously remind them about various tasks. In addition there is ‘Assists’ which works with reminders to provide additional information (like attaching a map to a restaurant reservation confirmation email or real-time statuses on a flight). The Snooze feature will allow you to dismiss them temporarily.  The integration of Google Now into the app lets you set your own reminders that will appear at a specific time, or when you are in a specific place.

Google’s Material Design, the visual design set to debut with Lollipop, comes across strongly in Inbox.

Currently the app is available by invitation only, however you can receive an invite by emailing inbox@google.com. Inbox will run on Android, iOS and the web. It is said that a tablet version and support for other browsers is currently being worked on.