Gears Finally Comes To Gmail!

I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a Google fanboy. I love just about everything they offer. If and when an Android handset comes to AT&T, I will most likely drop my iPhone like a bad habbit and snatch up the G-Phone, that's how much of a Google fan I am. With that said, this post makes me a little giddy inside.

Google took a big step in the Gears project today: Gears has now come to GMail!

For a quick refresher, Gears is Google's offline solution for their online products. Google's Office products are available through Gears right now, meaning that documents you've saved online can be taken offline with you, for example on a plain ride or on the train, then uploaded with changes once you're back to an internet connection. What this means for Gmail is that now you can download your messages on to your machine and sort, label, star and respond all while offline! Once you reconnect, you're changes will be synced and responses sent.

There are a few limitations, including the inability to attach documents to responses and messages while offline. Also, this is a Labs product, so it's technically a Beta add-on for a "Beta" email client. Finally, this will only be available in the US and the UK for now, but we'll be sure to let you know as soon as we hear it's been opened up to other regions. If you don't see this available in your Labs tab today, give it a day or two. Google has promised to roll this out to all Gmail users by the end of the week.

Gmail Goes Offline With Google Gears [Tech Crunch]
[via: Download Squad]