Meet Inbox: Google tries to reinvent email yet again

Google’s got a new way to manage email: Inbox. It’s a refinement of Google’s already pretty rad Gmail service, and it’s headed up by the folks, like Jim Denis, who used to work for Sparrow, a fantastic Mac email app that was acquired by Google in 2012.

“Built on everything we learned from Gmail,” says the Inbox announcement, “Inbox is a fresh start that goes beyond email to help you get back to what matters.”

With Inbox, for now an invite-only service, you’ll start bundling your emails together, a natural evolution from Gmail’s current system that tries to separate the promotional emails from the personal ones. Inbox’s website shows Promotions, Purchases and Travel as the bundle examples, with an option to create new ones.

Inbox also seems to have a more visual layout, letting you see updates to your orders, the status of your flights, details about reservations and even picture attachments without having to click through and open the message — a time saver, for sure.

There’s a new Reminders field at the top of Inbox, letting you get more done right in your email system. Reminders are already available in Gmail, but this should help increase their visibility. There’s even a Snooze system to help you put off emails and reminders until later, similar to what the Mailbox app does on Mac and iOS.

To get an invite, you simply need to send an email to [email protected]. Google will send you a reply that says, “Thanks for requesting an invite. We’ll send you one as soon as possible. Your friends at Gmail.”

If nothing else, it’s a delight to know a team that focused on reinventing email for the Mac has now created a new way of taking care of the ubiquitous electronic communication technology for Google, the best email provider out there.

Source: Google Inbox

Rob LeFebvre

Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.