Google has made some updates to the Gmail experience with a heavy focus on contacts. The company says that out of all of the feedback it gets about Gmail, most of it is about improving the contacts experience.

New contacts features include:

• Keyboard shortcuts (go to Contacts and hit "?" for the full list)
• Sort by last name (look under "More actions")
• Custom labels for phone numbers and other fields
• The ability to undo changes you’ve just made
• Automatic saving
• Structured name fields, so you can adjust titles, suffixes, and other name components
• A bigger, more prominent notes field

In addition to these, Google has slightly altered the look of Gmail. Mail, Contacts, and Tasks links have been moved to the top left. Compose Mail is now a button rather than a link. A smaller header area puts the first message in your inbox higher on the screen. Finally, the select all, none, read, unread, and starred links that used to be above messages are now in a drop-down menu, next to the archive button.

The features appear to be in the process of rolling out, as I am not seeing them yet in my own account. The company also says that Google Apps users will have to wait because they’re working on making domain-specific features work well with the new interface.