14 DAY TRIAL // While Google is focused on the mobile space as much as anyone else, the fact that it's still an emerging market is pretty obvious. A mobile version of the Gmail web app for touch devices has been available for a year and a half now, yet only for English language users. Not anymore, though, as Google has finally gotten around to bringing a localized version and introduced support for 44 more languages in one fell swoop.
"Last year, we launched a new mobile Gmail experience for iPhone and Android-powered devices," David Yonge-Mallo, Software Engineer at Google, wrote.
"Since then, those of us who use Gmail in English could go to gmail.com from our mobile browsers and get most of the same features we’re used to in the desktop version of Gmail — including search, stars, labels, and threaded conversations," he explained.
"Starting today, this updated version of Gmail for mobile is now available in 44 new languages," he announced.
The Gmail interface optimized for touch-based devices, specifically the iPhone and Android phones, is now available for much of the world with the 44 new languages supported, pretty much all of Google's big markets.
So far, users had to either make do with the regular version of mobile Gmail, a very bare-bones experience, or use the English interface.
The smartphone-specific version adds support for search, labels, threaded conversations and a number of other features we take for granted in the regular web version.
Still, those serious about email on the go would do much better to use the Gmail app for both Android and iPhones. The app includes quite a large number of features and is pretty much on par with the regular desktop web app, while being optimized for a small screen and touch input.
Very recently, the Android app got support for Priority Inbox, one of the biggest new features in Gmail this year. Of course, there is some support for Priority Inbox in the mobile web version simply by filtering emails with the "Important" label.