Email will never die. It’s just too important to both professional and private communication. But email isn’t that fun. Ok, email is absolutely not fun.
Google is announcing a couple of Gmail improvements to make it feel “personal and fun!” – emojis and new themes.
Gmail has had emoticons for a while, but they’re outdated and pretty terrible. Gmail on the web will now feature the same emoji available in its Hangouts app – lumpy faces and all.
“Themes can help you dress up your inbox, as well as distinguish between your home and work accounts, so they’ve been an important part of Gmail since they first appeared in 2008. Starting today there are hundreds more high-res options available (photographed by some fellow Googlers!). And of course, you can always upload your own,” says Google.
“Once you’ve found the right photo, you can now use editing tools like blur, vignette, and text background to make your image and messages look great together.”
Will new themes and emoji make Gmail fun? No, Gmail isn’t fun. I will say that I’ll probably use these new, actual emojis however.
Google says the new stuff should roll out over the next few days.