I've been a Gmail user since way back when invites were going for $50 on PayPal.  It has certainly changed the way I use e-mail, mostly because of the way it tracks e-mail threads as conversations.  The other reason is that you can store so much mail (almost 3GB now) and search for old items in a split second.  It's not often that I search for an e-mail that I received over a year ago, but when I do need to I wonder how I got along without it.

Google released a trimmed down version of Gmail several months ago that lets you use Gmail from within a mobile browser.  This was a big step forward at the time - you could access your Gmail labels, search your archive, and address e-mail messages to recipients from the database of contacts that Gmail maintains for you. 

While it was great to be able to use Gmail via the BlackBerry, it still didn't capture the full Gmail experience.

Recently, Google opened up a whole new way to access Gmail from a BlackBerry (and, in fact, most any Java-based smartphone).  Gmail for BlackBerry offers speedy access to your Gmail account and makes many of the features available on the BlackBerry that you probably take for granted when using Gmail in your desktop browser. 

Gmail was one of the first web apps to make heavy use of "Ajax", or Asynchronous JavaScript for XML.  This technique allows data to be retrieved from a web server without requiring a complete page refresh, which significantly speeds up web apps and makes them look and feel more like a regular application.  There are no mobile browsers that support Ajax yet, so web apps on the BlackBerry are relegated to the tiring page refresh routine - which is that much more time consuming when operating on a mobile network.

The new Gmail Application for BlackBerry makes the experience much quicker.  To get started, go to http://m.gmail.com in your BlackBerry's browser and look for the "Get Faster Gmail" link at the top of the page.  Click there and install the free program on your BlackBerry over the air.

You'll then have a snazzy Gmail icon in your Applications folder.

After you put in your username and password, you'll notice the familiar "Loading..." message in the top right-hand side of your screen.

After a few moments, your Gmail inbox will populate with your most recent e-mail conversations.



One nice feature is that, unlike some BlackBerry apps, Gmail conforms to many BlackBerry usability standards such as the ability to page through a list by holding down the Alt key and using the trackwheel to scroll which you can do with your inbox.

One of the best features of Gmail is the way e-mail threads are grouped together as conversations and Gmail for the BlackBerry gives you quick access to older messages within an e-mail thread.



Just scroll up the thread and click on a message to expand it and see the full contents.  This behavior is very similar to the full Gmail experience in your desktop browser.



When you compose a new message, Gmail uses the auto-complete feature that is one of the best and most popular features in the desktop browser version.  Just type the first few letters of an e-mail address or recipient's name and Gmail will populate a list of possible matches below the recipient line.  In fact, this works even better than the built-in BlackBerry mail compose auto-complete since it matches e-mail addresses as well as names.



Clicking your trackwheel accesses the menu which has most of the options you'd expect to be able to do on your desktop.  You can apply labels, mark a message as spam, and "star" a message to flag it for some reason.  Also notice how the selected item on the menu has a larger font than items that aren't selected - this is a nice touch that I've seen more and more BlackBerry applications implementing.



Selecting the "More..." option from the menu gives you access to your Sent Items folder as well as access to your Gmail labels.



When you choose "Labels..." from the menu, you can control which Gmail labels are made available in the menu.  Just check the box next to the labels that you'd like to appear.



The ability to search your Gmail quickly is one of the biggest draws of the full version.  Gmail on the BlackBerry is no different.  Searching your entire (almost) 3GB mail archive is fast and elegant.  There's even a feature provided that the full desktop doesn't have - an easily accessible recent search list.



When you use the Escape button on your BlackBerry to exit Gmail, it stays running in the background.  To actually exit the program you must choose Exit from the trackwheel menu.  When Gmail does run in the background, it regularly checks for new mail, so when you return you'll have quick access to the latest mail you've received in your Gmail account without refreshing the data.



I've been using the Gmail program for awhile and I'm loving it.  This certainly sets the bar higher for BlackBerry applications.  It's great to see a free and useful application for the BlackBerry that conforms to the usability standards of the BlackBerry and isn't merely a retrofitted J2ME application.

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About the Author
Dave Mabe, the author of the O'Reilly book BlackBerry Hacks, is a largely self-taught engineer and writer who strives to create a simple, elegant solution to a complex problem. He has worked in the communications industry for eight years and has worked with BlackBerry devices for almost five.