14 DAY TRIAL // As expected, Google released the newest version of its email application, Gmail 5.0, which is supposed to blend better into the company’s new Android 5.0 Lollipop ecosystem.
All developers have been given a few months’ time to accommodate with the new Material Design UI that comes packed in Lollipop and make their apps compatible with the new design.
Obviously, Google couldn’t have skipped its own apps from getting a touch of Material Design, as many of the company’s Android applications have already been updated in the last couple of weeks.
Gmail, however, also picked up a few new features besides the design change that other Google apps received with the latest updates.
The most important change that the latest version of Gmail app brings is support for Yahoo, Outlook and Exchange email accounts. More importantly, the Exchange accounts that are normally used for work feature Push, which means you will be receiving emails in real time.
If you go for a Yahoo or Outlook account, then you will have to set your application to check for email at a certain period. The minimum is 5 minutes, but you can also choose to manually check for it when you want.
The new version of Gmail renders the stock email app useless
There doesn’t seem to be a limit on how many email accounts you can have on a smartphone, but we have only added three accounts, so there may be a limit that hasn’t been revealed by Google yet.
With the addition of Exchange accounts support, the email application that comes within the Android operating system becomes useless, as many would prefer to have all email accounts grouped in one place.
In order to add a new email account, you can either choose the Manage accounts or Add account, which is the quicker option. The Inbox of each email account has a different color and you can set each one to notify you whenever you receive a new message.
You can either designate a sound or make your phone vibrate each time you receive a new email. Each email account has its own Settings menu where you can customize it to suite your needs.
We’ve taken the application for a spin and made some screenshots, but we’re ready to answer any questions you might have on the Gmail 5.0 for Android.
Keep in mind that Google is now pushing the application to all compatible Android devices, but it might take a while until it reaches all smartphones.
