As a tablet user, I actually like this; when I got a honeycomb tablet, I realized I had come to miss the split-screen view after several years of using Gmail...not that I want it to turn in gOutlook, but there are definite advantages.
On the negative side, it's very weak that there are no formatting controls in this version. I miss them on the tablet side already, which means that messages sent from that device necessarily have a different signature from those sent from my desktop. It's not necessary or even desirable for mail recipients to know I was using one device or another. Some people like to signal that they are on the go with 'sent from my phone' or the like, but I would rather have some basic editing functionality, and this would not be hard to add. On a tablet it's annoying, on the desktop or a laptop where I might need to work offline it's unforgivable. On the up side, this is a good starting point for building an editing/configuration interface that could find its way back towards the tablet space. With wide-format screens the norm nowadays, I was struck by how much more pleasant the panel experience was on my desktop monitor and could see myself switching to this from the page+widgets approach of existing gMail, which is beginning to feel very long in the tooth.
This goes double for Google Docs, although it's slightly off-topic. I like working on my tablet a great deal and find I can type surprisingly fast even with the on-screen keyboard as opposed to an external one. But Google Docs on a tablet is so unusable that every manufacturer ships with some open-source office suite to make up for the deficiency. since Android does not have the same mind/market share as iOS/iPad, Google needs to offer compelling software alternatives. In many respects it already does so; but productivity tools are noticeable by their absence or abridgement. A minimally-capable version of Google Docs made sense on a smartphone, but on a full-size tablet it's absurdly self-defeating, and inimical to a corporate or academic environment. I would pay for a 'power user' tablet version of core apps like gMail and gDocs. The fact that there is no easy way to leverage forms into an Android clipboard/data-entry interface is a major missed opportunity.
This really needs to see some movement in tandem with the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich launch. I know both Docs and Android are outside of your remit, but hope you could circulate these concerns in the cafeteria, so to speak. I mention this here because *@gmail.com is increasingly acceptable as a professional address, but this will only last so long as the tools cater to the needs of professionals.
On the negative side, it's very weak that there are no formatting controls in this version. I miss them on the tablet side already, which means that messages sent from that device necessarily have a different signature from those sent from my desktop. It's not necessary or even desirable for mail recipients to know I was using one device or another. Some people like to signal that they are on the go with 'sent from my phone' or the like, but I would rather have some basic editing functionality, and this would not be hard to add. On a tablet it's annoying, on the desktop or a laptop where I might need to work offline it's unforgivable. On the up side, this is a good starting point for building an editing/configuration interface that could find its way back towards the tablet space. With wide-format screens the norm nowadays, I was struck by how much more pleasant the panel experience was on my desktop monitor and could see myself switching to this from the page+widgets approach of existing gMail, which is beginning to feel very long in the tooth.
This goes double for Google Docs, although it's slightly off-topic. I like working on my tablet a great deal and find I can type surprisingly fast even with the on-screen keyboard as opposed to an external one. But Google Docs on a tablet is so unusable that every manufacturer ships with some open-source office suite to make up for the deficiency. since Android does not have the same mind/market share as iOS/iPad, Google needs to offer compelling software alternatives. In many respects it already does so; but productivity tools are noticeable by their absence or abridgement. A minimally-capable version of Google Docs made sense on a smartphone, but on a full-size tablet it's absurdly self-defeating, and inimical to a corporate or academic environment. I would pay for a 'power user' tablet version of core apps like gMail and gDocs. The fact that there is no easy way to leverage forms into an Android clipboard/data-entry interface is a major missed opportunity.
This really needs to see some movement in tandem with the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich launch. I know both Docs and Android are outside of your remit, but hope you could circulate these concerns in the cafeteria, so to speak. I mention this here because *@gmail.com is increasingly acceptable as a professional address, but this will only last so long as the tools cater to the needs of professionals.