[Poll Added] Yahoo Mail Innovates, Gmail Stagnates

[alsiladka]

Source

Less than two years after their beta release, Yahoo Mail has begun rolling out of beta after releasing an onslaught of innovative feature improvements along the way. On the other hand, a whopping three years into their beta release, Gmail remains one of the most popular but stagnant web-based beta email apps around—and most of Gmail's innovation since its release has come in the form of third-party hacks and extensions. The short of it: Google makes a great beta, but with Gmail they've been much too slow to actually take the application to the next level. Let's take a look at some of Yahoo Mail's killer out-of-the-box features in comparison to what Gmail is offering.
What They've Both Got

Autocomplete: It's a simple feature, but hell if we don't rely on address auto-completion almost exclusively these days. I don't even know half of my contacts' email addresses any more.
Chat: Gmail's got Google Talk/Chat while Yahoo's integrated Yahoo Messenger. Both work exclusively with users of those email services, which is a little annoying. UPDATE: As many readers have pointed out, this isn't strictly true. GChat users can also chat with other Jabber users, and you can even chat with other services with some added effort. The more useful chat application depends entirely on which service more of your friends use for email, though Gmail does save chat transcripts, which edges out the built-in Yahoo client.
Keyboard Shortcuts: Both email apps have a fairly good set of default keyboard shortcuts, though both are very different. I lean toward Gmail's shortcuts, having always found them more intuitive. One might be tempted to point out the third-party Gmail Macros, but keep in mind that those aren't actually integrated into Gmail.
Where Yahoo Mail Wins Out

Unlimited Storage: Yahoo thrilled all their users by announcing unlimited storage, meaning you no longer need to keep close watch on your account usage. In contrast, Gmail's once innovative 1GB of storage has progressed to just under 3GB. It's not that 3GB is bad, Gmail, but you're still falling behind the curve.
Built-in RSS: It's by no means as robust as Google Reader, but Yahoo has gone that extra mile and incorporated RSS directly into their email application. And while Google Reader and Gmail share very similar layouts (meaning one could easily imagine a tight integration), Gmail users have yet to see integrated RSS in any form other than third-party hacks.
Push Email for iPhone: It certainly doesn't affect as many users as many of the rest of the features, but Yahoo Mail's support for push email on the iPhone is just another point indicative of their desire to innovate new features into their email client.
Integrated SMS: When Yahoo Mail rolled out of beta, they also added the ability to SMS contacts directly using their email. The SMS feature and out-of-beta rollout still haven't reached my Yahoo Mail account over three weeks since the announcement, but this added feature is obviously a step in the right direction.
Robust contact management: Yahoo Mail's Address Book is head and shoulders above Gmail contact management (which—if you've ever tried viewing "All Contacts"—is an absolute disaster). Incidentally, Yahoo's Address Book also syncs with the iPhone—again, not applicable to everyone, but an absolute killer feature for anyone who owns an iPhone. (And it's worked, too, as I've set up filters to forward all of my important email from Gmail to my Yahoo account for this feature alone.)
Drag and Drop: If you want to file a message into a folder, you can do so in Yahoo Mail with a simple drag and drop. Sure you can label content in Gmail, but unless you're using a third-party add-on, it requires selecting each email you want to label and then choosing a label from a cumbersome drop-down box. I can already see all the labels on the left sidebar, Gmail! Why not add drag-and-drop capabilities like you've already implemented in Google Docs & Spreadsheets labels into Gmail? Or if not, get going on incorporating Gmail Macros (see below).
Where Gmail Tops Yahoo

Threaded Conversations: The one thing that Gmail has done that absolutely puts all other email applications to shame, web or desktop-based, is its threaded conversations. This single feature—along with the third-party Gmail Macros—is what keeps me in complete love with Gmail. It's revolutionized the way I view and keep up with email. The endless thread of Re:s comes to a screeching halt in Gmail, and I still don't understand why every email application doesn't follow suit.
Labels: They may take some getting used to for people who are used to straight folders, but Gmail's labels outsmart Yahoo Mail's folders if only because labels are not buckets in the traditional sense that folders are. You can label a single email with as many labels as you want, meaning you can access through as many organizational avenues as you feel are applicable.
Chat Transcripts: Like I said above, Gmail outdoes Yahoo with its chat transcripts, which rather seamlessly integrate with regular email content—even within email threads. It's a simple but powerful implementation.
Where Third Party Add-ons Come In

Gmail Macros: Written by Google's very own Mihai Parparita, Gmail Macros up Gmail's keyboard navigation one hundred fold. In fact, Mihai—who's the tech lead for Google Reader—actually integrated a very similar set of keyboard macros into Google Reader, which—*GASP*—just left Google's labs and beta labels in the dust. The Gmail Macros script has been available from Mihai as a Greasemonkey script for a couple of years now, and it's currently bundled into Lifehacker's popular Better Gmail Firefox extension (see below), but when will we see this kind of crazy-useful functionality baked directly into Gmail?
Better Gmail: Because we want to love Gmail so much, Lifehacker has bundled all the greatest third-party Gmail scripts (including Gmail Macros) into a Firefox extension called Better Gmail. Better Gmail adds Gmail Macros, Google Reader integration, Google Calendar integration, and tons more into the best email beta on the block.
The Possibilities

It's probably obvious that Gmail is my preferred web-based email (I've sung its praises many times before), but I'll be damned if I don't want to see some improvements out of it. Aside from what I've discussed above, Gmail could shut me up about most of my complaints if and when they pull off the rumored and much-anticipated offline Gmail via Google Gears. (Is it any wonder that Google Reader was the first—and so far only—Google app to actually use Google Gears?)
Personally, though, I'd much prefer a dedicated Gmail desktop client that incorporates most of the third-party abilities and syncs labels and read/unread status with the web version. Gears could be all right, but sometimes you just need the speed of a dedicated desktop application—but you still want virtually the same interface and a lot of the same features you're used to in the browser. I'm probably asking way too much.

I had been trying to get this to everyone's notice for long, but people are too much taken over by the initial Gmail shock. Yes, even i agree that all the email world shakup could be credited to Gmail, but what is even more important is how to reply back to the opponents.

I feel Yahoo has simply blown the winds out of Gmail and Live Hotmail. Not only does it excel in UI, but even the features.

[Sourabh]

Gmail allows you to fetch mails from up to 5 POP3 accounts. So, you can access, track, send all your mails from one central location (along with your primary google id) and manage emails better. No email forwarding features or substitutes make life so easy managing several email ids.

This is the primary reason I like Gmail. I can't believe storage space is a criterion to decide a winner. 3GB is more than enough for anything sane!

What other features is Gmail missing out on to take it to the next level?

Yahoo has those stupid signature messages too - 'Delete button is history <LINK>' or some 'Yahoo!answers this or that'. Annoying!

[goobimama]

As much as I love Gmail, and use it, and think it is currently the best email service out there, there hasn't been much innovation. And I'm not talking about what features aren't there. I'm talking about innovating, creating new features which we never knew existed which make using email a little easier. I don't care about space and such trivial things. I'm talking about killer feature innovations like the conversation threaded view and such...

[contactpraven2001]

gmail is still better then yahoo mail ..........I use both but gmail is much lite and easy to use i don't think space would be winning factor 3 GB is more then enough.

[goobimama]

'd much prefer a dedicated Gmail desktop client that incorporates most of the third-party abilities and syncs labels and read/unread status with the web version.

There is one of these for the mac...Mailplane.

[tuxfan]

Gmail provides POP3 access, Yahoo doesn't!! That's one important enough feature for me to stick to Gmail. With POP3, my hard disk capacity is my mailbox size

Additionally, Google Apps is pretty neat! Use Gmail features with your own domain! And that too for free!!

Yahoo may have 100 features. But IMHO, gmail still rules due to 10 features that it provides because of their usefulness.

And if space is criterion go to IndiaTimes (yucks!). They provide unlimited space

[kumarmohit]

Totally Agree.

But if the option is ultd space, I wud go with yahoo instead of indiatimes.

[Pathik]

I m all for Gmail..
Cant do without POP3... also yahoo's new interface is a bandwidth hogger..

[ThinkFree]

Gmail
IF you use classic interface of yahoo than you get flash ads which hog bandwidth and new interface is for high speed connections only

[ax3]

its just a TOM & JERRY chase ........

yahoo or gmail both r best ...........

[praka123]

no,yahoo laaags,
we dont want features,we want a "working" one-and that is google's gmail.yahoo takes tooo much time with BB itself.
i am fortunate that i dont have a live hotmail account

[hailgautam]

Where Yahoo Stagnates?

Yahoo is annoying with all those flashy ads all around - very annoying & confusing

No POP support

Its a clutter out there.

Unlimited = 3 GB (may be 2 gb as well) for people who do not like their inboxs to be a store house of junk mail from all over the net.

[aryayush]

Originally Posted by goobimama

There is one of these for the mac...Mailplane.

And it is totally awesome. I personally love it, specially its Google Talk integration.

[din]

Not much using web interface. But comparing yahoo n Gmail, I love Gmail. Not much distracting things in Gmail. Pretty neat. And 2 GB is quit ok, as it has pop support.

[shady_inc]

Recently I configured my Gmail account in Thunderbird in just 3-4 easy steps.The same is not true for Yahoo.
Also,Yahoo mail is too slow as compared to Gmail.
If you really need all those features mentioned in the original post,just use a client like Thunderbird or Outlook Express.

[Sukhdeep Singh]

Gmail rules in one feature POP3 and SMTP. If yahoo can provide that for free to all users and not just .co.in, their users *actually* using yahoo accounts will increase

[zyberboy]

Gmail has more features but to me yahoo is better

No exe,rar attahements in gmail
MyPhotos option is not ter
No Easy html signature in gmail, yahoo rocks here
Can select between Ajax and html interface in yahoo,with same kind of options. But not in gmail(limited options in html)

[[xubz]]

Not to mention Yahoo adds ADs to the footer of the email, which IMHO s****

[casanova]

Yahoo features looks tempting. But I am reserved with Gmail. Might be will start using Yahoo as my E-storeroom

[alsiladka]

Atleast all of those over here have not used Yahoo Mail (Newer interface) even once, i suggest you all to try it out atleast once.

You cannot compare properly unless you have tried out both of them.

Personally, i love yahoo's features. Dont require a Pop account when you have such a nice interface. BTW, all the Yahoo.co.in accounts have POP.

And Yahoo also fetches mails from your other POP accounts.

[zyberboy]

Originally Posted by subbzzz

Not to mention Yahoo adds ADs to the footer of the email, which IMHO s****

Ads are things of da past in cyberworld...use firefox+ABP

[crazyforever]

juz make POP3 service free yahoo - nd see the difference - gmail is nowhere near in the contest

[goobimama]

Gmails' conversation features is one thing that makes a big difference. The inbox is no longer clogged with hundreds of RE:'s....

Plus I find Gmail is a little snappier, though Yahoo is prettier. I guess it might be just as fast on a high speed connection.

[tuxfan]

Can some mod start a poll here please? It's Gmail vs. Yahoo!

[Nav11aug]

Originally Posted by goobimama

Gmails' conversation features is one thing that makes a big difference. The inbox is no longer clogged with hundreds of RE:'s....

Plus I find Gmail is a little snappier, though Yahoo is prettier. I guess it might be just as fast on a high speed connection.

exactly , for both points. "A new way to look at mail" ,as Gmail introduces itself is brilliant and makes ALL the difference.

Yahoo looks too cluttered for me.

[Sourabh]

Originally Posted by tuxfan

Can some mod start a poll here please? It's Gmail vs. Yahoo!

Nice idea. Poll added, start voting guys..

My vote goes to Gmail. Poll runs for 7 days, cast your vote now!

[Choto Cheeta]

Over All
Yahoo (for folder support, lets you to turn off Spam filter, free pop access)

Attachment speed
Rediffmail (Faster than any other free service)

Gmail (only for domain emails)

[gary4gar]

Originally Posted by Choto Cheeta

Over All
Yahoo (for folder support, lets you to turn off Spam filter, free pop access)

from when did yahoo gave free POP access ??
don't tell me about co.in accounts

[Choto Cheeta]

Originally Posted by gary4gar

from when did yahoo gave free POP access ??
don't tell me about co.in accounts

Why should not I tell u .co.in account ?? if you dont follow the pricipal what Yahoo is suppose to do ?? yahoo is offering pop support for .co.in as one from India will get .co.in... now at the time of registration u will get .co.in if u enter India as you location

So why should not I talk about .co.in ??

[infra_red_dude]

yes, i agree wid saurav. .co.in a/c are much in discussion as any other. i use both my gmail and yahoo.co.in a/c configured for pop3 access in gmail. i never login to any of their sites. i find it convenient this way. both provide pop3 access. so i guess this matter should be taken outta discussion.

btw, i like gmail for its simple and snappy interface (i log onto the gmail page when i'm away from my lappy)