#1 Observation : Security :
Keeping my Inbox open all the time gives me security concerns. I dont want peers to see my inbox while am chatting. Guess this will also affect performance.

Recommendation : A Minimize Inbox feature can be included.

#2 Observation : “Quick Contacts”Top 20 Frequently Mailed ( Instant messages are considered to be mails?) contacts are displayed under Quick Contacts.

“Quick Contacts” looks cramped and cluttered. Often, the full name of a contact is not visible.

User’s current mental model makes them to expect a vertical scroll bar to view all their contacts.
Users also expect a method to group their contacts. Users expect a feature to view only the “online contacts”

Users will also need an option to sort Quick Contacts alphabetically.
“Show All” displays all those people from whom I’ve ever received mails. ( Some 500 or so!)

#3 Observation : “Performance” G-Mail has become a lot more slower to load. Latency is back.
Update : May be its just because of my ISP.

#4 Observation : “New Instant Message Alert while Multitasking” Users tend to switch between Tabs and Windows and Multitask.

Whenever am in another Tab/Window, and if an New Message is sent to me, the “Page Title” changes from “GMail Inbox” to ” says….. ” for a few seconds . Initially, one tends to miss this, but with time one learns this.

Recommendation :
The New Message alert is very subtle. It can be a little prominent, but not draw too much attention.
Color can be used to draw attention or an additional icon can also be used.

#5 Observation : “Access” A lot of organisations ban Instant Messenger & Mail access. Will they be able to block Instant Messages sent through G-Mail without blocking G-Mail access?

To be continued >>