Observations on
Inbox by Google
Inbox was introduced in late October last year. Described by Steven Levy as an App Child of GMail and Google Now, it is not replaceming G-Mail; more a fresh new approach. It should be no surprise it was received with mixed reactions. It is intended for everyone and everyone has their own opinion.
A few observations come to mind after more than 6 months of usage on all 3 platforms: desktop, phone and tablet, on OSX, iOS, Android Lollipop and Windows 7.
The focus in this article will be on observations and features. Further information and evolution of thought is provided in the companion article.
Visuals were created from January throughout May 2015.
Inconsistencies
These are hopefully on the road map to be updated soon.
Missing Sent E-mails
Once in a while, there will be a missing Yesterday section.
Today followed by Last Month will only be visible.
Counters
New E-mails indicator
Indicator can be subtle with a different color of the menu, for example.
More prominent indicator would be the change of the default state of the sidebar. By default it is closed. To indicate there are new e-mails in the bundles, it could open when the app is launched.
Snooze Locations… location?
Once I add an item to a Snooze Location, where can I see the location list? and the e-mails that are associated with them.
Missing Bundle Labels
After you place the e-mail inside a custom bundle, when the new e-mail of the same conversation arrives, there’s no bundle designation on the page.
Click less. Do More.
Any type of bundle containing 1 e-mail requires 3 clicks to focus on reply.
We could also speed things up with the Send & Done button.
Primary Actions
Actions, such as reply and forward, should be available at any point of interaction.
At the moment, on the desktop version, only pin, snooze and done are displayed on hover. For those of us with a lot of bundles, maybe it can have it’s own drop down.
Phone version could utilize left and right swipe for more than 1 action.
Primary actions should be achieved with least number of interaction steps
Top Bar
Miscellaneous
Reply Field
Replying to a longer e-mail may require a lot of scrolling back and forth for referencing and to remind ourselves of the content details. More useful composing layout could include a 50:50 horizontal and vertical split with independent scroller(s), which could also take advantage of the bigger monitor size.
Switching between the 3 modes of composing layout and remembering the one we used last time, could be useful as well.
1 Liners
Some e-mails are short. 1 liners we could call them.
Inbox could recognize the content length and offer an alternative view.
Composing: Last and Most used contacts
In addition to the current suggested contact, Inbox could suggest the last and the most active e-mail addresses. Even more than 5 could work.
Upcoming section
It might be useful to have a section, collapsible element at the top, that would display the upcoming list of activities and other useful information. To avoid the distraction from the Today list, it would only indicate the number of upcoming items, lets say this week.
Forward this e-mail conversation as PDF
Sometimes it is necessary to forward the e-mail or the entire discourse as a PDF and in the current iteration that requires several steps in the desktop app and even more difficult in the mobile app.
Google Answers in the E-mail body
One of the coolest features in Google Search is the immediate response one gets when entering calculations, diverse mathematics, definitions, translations, etc.
What if you could harvest that power while composing:
- Ok Google: 230x45
would provide 10350 on the right - Ok Google: “cheerful” in Japanese
would result in 陽気な - Ok Google: map of Arlington, VA,
would attach a link in the form of a map card. - Ok Google: map directions to: Bethesda, MD
would attach text directions as link, attachment, etc - Ok Google: population of France
would provide 66.03 million - Ok Google: what time is it now in Paris?
would ask: Paris, France or Paris, Texas? - Ok Google: greek restaurant, 20 mile radius
would attach a yelp/ot card with list of 5 (Kapnos is yummiest) and links: http://www.yelp.com/c/dc/greek and http://www.opentable.com/kapnos
Maybe even an API could be built for the 3rd parties to provide widgets of their services. Wikipedia, Amazon, Cinema, Theatre, Wolfram Alpha are a few that comes to mind.
Auto-Suggestions: URL, Photos, Youtube
As you are composing the e-mail, typing an URL brings up auto-suggestion from the browser history and bookmarks. Last few days, perhaps even the current week will do just fine. It may come in handy, to send the URL of that cool website you saw today or this week.
Typing Google Photos, could suggest attaching the photo from the most recent feed or based on the subsequent words.
Youtube history could also be another source for auto-suggest.
Services Cross Integration
Some details need to be ironed out for Inbox to be more like J.A.R.V.I.S.
Thorough integration of Google Services would increase competitive advantage over all other e-mail apps on the market.
Only a few other companies are close to accomplish this.
Cards
Just by typing a particular set of keywords, various other cards could be automatically attached to the e-mail:
- Contacts
- Definitions, Translations, Calculations
- Map links, directions, contact info
- Drive document links
- Hangout links
- Google+ post links
- Event links
- Flight, Hotel, Airbnb, other travel confirmations
- Reservation confirmations, receipts, etc
- Image(s) thumbnail (when pasting an image URL)
- Google Express buttons
- Yelp/Open Table links, buttons
- Wikipedia links
- Twitter cards
etc.
The algorithms Google is using if not today, hopefully in the near future could recognize and bundle information in such way to be of upmost importance to the user.
Card Example: Contacts
Keep mentioning people while you are composing your e-mail and Inbox will keep adding their mini contact cards.
Snooze, Calendar, Map, Drive, etc
The first time I used the snooze option, I assumed the action will be reflected in the Google Calendar. I was wrong. I wish I wasn’t. In the similar manner, snoozing to a location could show up on the Maps.
How about adding a location reminder that would show up the next time:
- I’m at Dave’s : Remind Dave to …
- I’m at Whole Foods : Remember to get …
More locations other than Home and Work? Could I attach an e-mail to a calendar event? How about a Contact, Map, Google+ Posts, Hangouts, Drive Document, Videos?
You keep adding addresses into your event reminder and Inbox is smart enough to add mini Map Cards for each and every one of them. You have an event, you need to present with your partner and your partner isn’t showing up. Fear not, in your event details, the contact cards of everyone involved will show up with buttons for a quick phone call, text message, hangout, etc.
Had an awesome hangout that you would love to attach for that event? Attach it to the event directly from Inbox.
Are you using any documents for that super important presentation?
Add a link from the Google Drive. Photo?
In fact, go ahead, attach any link item from any Google Services or Products to any event and it will all be there for you. 1 click away. Everything related to ensure the event goes smooth. Presenting in the woods? No internet? No problem. If you choose so, all related material has been cached. Local storage FTW.
You may also choose to share any of those attachments with any of the partners associated with the event. If you wish so, they would receive a notification whenever any of those attachments is updated.
Google Now / Now on Tap
A nice touch would be to get a item in the form of:
Also, Inbox can check the status on a daily basis and when the package is delayed, provide notification. When the result of an inquiry deviates from the expected, the notification is added / presented.
Attachments and Google Drive/Photos
All attachments are automatically managed by Google Drive or Photos adding all of them to a dedicated folder / album.
My Day
Chronological reminder of how awesome your day has been.
Maybe this would work better as a stand alone app.
How was your day? Mine was great. Thanks very much.
- I talked to Tony Stark and a couple of other peeps
- I created some Drive document and will be adding my notes today.
- I added a new event for the Article I’m writing
- I looked up the directions for the Cinema
- I checked the traffic for my way to the airport
- I met Jen ☺
And I have links to all those activities in one convenient section. They auto-archive everyday, but are there today if I need to quickly reference them.
Needless to say, this should be opted-out by default, avoiding the privacy concerns some might raise. The settings page would include switches for opting-in desired services.
Example: Lets See Jurrassic World
Lets review an example of a using a couple of features mentioned above.
To Mary:
Hey, are we going to see Jurassic World this Saturday?
While I’m writing this, Google attaches cards:
- Google Map of the last cinema we went to
- List of times the movie is playing
- Rotten Tomatoes review link
- IMDB page link
- Trailer
- Google Express button to purchase tickets
Mary replies:
Sure, 8pm? Joe will also join us.
Inbox adds a calendar event card.
Me replies:
Sounds good.
I click on the Google Express button, get the tickets and get back the receipt.
Inbox adds cards:
- To add an event for the cinema and a reminder for the 45 minutes before, since the last time I went there, I walked and according to the directions, it would take me 30 minutes to get there, with 15 minutes to get ready
- Mary’s contact info and Joe’s contact info
- Link to Ticket e-mail receipt
On my way to the cinema I will have both Mary’s and Joe’s contact card attached to the event so I can easily call, text, e-mail or hangout.
Example: Road trip
You are planning your road trip with your friends. You have the flight info, hotel reservations, events in calendar, tickets to events, maps to various locations, and many other small details to keep, including the contact info of all your friends, etc.
How about integrating some basic info about the country you are visiting, things to look for, important information to be aware of, alert on that news developing that you might have missed during the flight, recommendations, some common phrases one should have in mind; useful information which you are already getting if you are searching information about this country.
Would it be cool if Inbox could identify, connect and temporary bundle all of those to be conveniently available for you in one place? In that way you don’t need to go thru so many apps, services, etc when you need a specific information.
You have all your friends contact info in a mini temp. group; one place to call them, text them, maybe even temp. allow location sharing.
Let’s just event-bundle all of this into a “Thailand Road trip”. Once it is concluded, it is auto-archived but not forgotten. Uploaded photos maybe connected to it after you get back home and upload them.
Lets call this Trip on steroids.
We will take a break here. Part two is in the works!
In the meantime, check the companion article for more information.
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Thank you.
