
Gmail Labs' newest feature, an "Inbox Preview" on the loading screen, might just be the best thing that ever happened to email checkers working off a shaky or slow connection.

As Gmail's engineers point out, it stinks to wait for Gmail to load up all its AJAX-y, gadget-loaded interface, just to find out there's no new mail. Sure, there's a "Basic HTML" view you can click in the lower-right corner to speed things up, but with Inbox Preview enabled in your Settings/Labs list, you'll get a plain text preview of your 10 newest messages and blurbs from each of them.


For those often facing a weak or restricted connection, this feature seems like a must-enable—even if it might tempt one into futile clicks on static messages. Others might have their new-message bases covered with any of the myriad message checker apps out there, but casual web users will probably dig this feature.

New in Labs: Inbox preview [Official Gmail Blog]