WOWW - Google is FAST. Guys - IT'S ALIVE - it's already been implemented.. I just logged into one of my accounts and found the messenger right below the Folders list.

Here's a screenshot:


Looks terrific - am just waiting excitedly for someone to log on and test it's features Looks like an exact replica of GTalk.


You can pop the chat dialog out as a separate window or simply keep it floating inside your Gmail page. Awesome.

Here are the pop-in and pop-out mode screen-shots

Pop-in


Pop-out


And I found some more cool features... as shown in the following snapshot

1. Say you aren't observing the IM window - only checking your Gmail - the contacts name in your list becomes dull amber and flashes indicating new message..

2. Also hovering your mouse above ANY EMAIL address in your messagelist, pop's out a new window prompting you to Invite to Chat or Mail.



3. Also another feature I missed out - that Hraefn pointed out - is a little link called Off-the-record right below your IM window. If you click on that, starting from next line you type, till you turn it off, NONE of your CHAT MESSAGES are LOGGED.

Here's what they say about Off-the-record



4. Also they're got their own cute little B & W simleys The smileys appear as normal text at first and then through AJAX, they become graphical smileys - at first sideways, and then with a minor smooth animation they turn and become straight - which I find real cool. The animation can be re-enacted if you hover your mouse over the smileys.

5. It saves your chat-log in realtime. So anytime just pop into your Chat folder in Gmail - and you'll find the updated conversation log there.

Sweet ... used it just now. I must say, the idea of saving all the conversations in the gmail account itself is really revolutionary. Now, I can look back on important conversations from any system anywhere in the world. Also, can use it in Linux perfectly. There's no problem with firefox in Linux at all .

It's not introduced into all accounts yet - I have it in one of my alternative accounts - but am waiting for it to turn up in my main account, so I can start adding people. Yeah - the universal thing is what I like best - from any platform, from any corner of the world.

One thing I've learned about Google is that when they say they'll do something, they really deliver. The said that Gmail Chat will be out soon, and it is. I just never reckoned on how soon that would be. Barely 24 hours after the initial announcement, Gmail Chat has gone LIVE—at least for some users.

I've just left a short chat session with m^e to test out the features of the new Gmail Chat, and I liked what I saw. It's not as heavily decked out as Yahoo! Messenger, MSN, or AIM, but that's exactly why I like it. It's a simple, no-frills type of IM client that does exactly what you'd want an IM client to do: chat.

So what do I think of the new Gmail Chat? Here's what.

PROS

• Gmail Chat is light on the browser. — Normally you'd expect a web-based browser to be heavy on browser resources. I'm happy to say that this isn't the case. My browser worked normally the entire time the chat session was open, with no hangups or crashes—and this is on a machine with limited RAM running Windows XP, and using the Flock browser (which is only a developer's preview and not even a beta).
• Pop-out mode. — I like having a pop-out mode because this allows me to browse other websites and still keep my chat session open without having to return to my Gmail page. It's almost like having a desktop IM client. =^^=
• The smileys. — m^e told you about Gmail Chat's cute little B/W smileys, right? Well, I just love them! They're certainly a departure from the usual smileys we see everyday, and so simplistically stylish!
• Realtime chat logs. — Say you accidentally close your chat window, and you didn't get to read your chat-mate's last message. Well, since chat sessions are logged in real time, just head over to your saved chat logs and that message that you missed is there. Nifty, isn't it?
• Off-the-record mode — If you have a conversation that you don't want anybody to save, either yourself or your chat-mate, then is the perfect way to do it.
• Ability to block a contact from chat. — Really handy if you have a contact that spams your chat. Just hover your mouse cursor over the contact's name to bring up the following popup, then choose block.
  
  
  
  Or you could use the 'Options' menu in your chat screen.
• Ability to quickly add chat contacts straight from your address book. — Yep, you can add a chat contact straight from your address book (you still have to send them a chat invite, though). All you have to do is go to your address book, click the checkbox next to the contacts you want added, then select Add contact to... Quick Contacts, as shown in the screenshot below.
  
  

Being a new feature, of course there are some kinks they still need to work out. Here's my list of things that I think they should implement or that they could have done better.

CONS

• No conference chat or chatroom yet. — Chatrooms aren't available for Gmail Chat yet, but I have hopes that Google will soon implement it. As mentioned in the Gmail Chat help center:
  
  
  QUOTE
  Can I set up a conference call or chat room?
  
  No. But we're always working hard on improving Gmail, and look forward to announcing new features and improvements as they become available. You may also want to download the Google Talk client so you can get the latest features we add to our free voice calling and IM service.
• No easily visible warning of new messages when using pop-out mode. — Currently, the only way to be notified of new messages is when you see your contact's name flash in your Gmail screen. However, that's not really effective when you're using pop-out mode because your main browser window is usually looking at other pages instead of the Gmail screen.
• No text formatting. — This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether you like text formatting. Myself, I like it the way it is, but there are times I wish I could use simple formats like bold or italics just for emphasis.
• No nickname feature available. — As it is now, it's your Gmail account name that's displayed on the screen.

Those are the only downsides that I can think of for now, and they're relatively minor ones. Despite it all, Gmail Chat still looks to be the best upcoming IM client. It's certainly one I plan to use in the future, especially once my main Gmail account gets it.

Oh, and I almost forgot. For those of you who don't want to use the Gmail Chat feature, you have an option to turn it off. Just go to the bottom of your Gmail page and select to view the page as 'Standard without chat', like in the screenshot below.



-P.S.- I just love how efficient Google is about this. They even have a troubleshooting knowledgebase for the new Gmail Chat even though it's been live for only a few hours. Way to go, Google! =^^=

Wow dude you can write well for sure That's gotta be one of the best compiled reviews I've seen. Good one. Keep it up.

Okay, now I am really convinced that Google is really working things up here!! First, their Google search engine, then Gmail, and then Google Talk. So what now? More implements to the service!

Hold on - please correct me if I'm wrong - are you saying that you can CHAT through Gmail?? If that is correct, then I am really amazed I mean, Yahoo! nor MSN has that (except their MSN Web-messenger and it's horribly needing of fixes) and Google, that new kid in town, is beating 'em all so badly C'mon Microsoft, what's going on with you?

By the way, do you know how Google's Google Talk is beating MSN Messenger 8.0? It uses FAR less memory (RAM) than that fat resource hog. I don't know how it does that - there are graphic and textual advertisements but that doesn't really ... well, at least for me, it doesn't cover up their problems. It's like a big hole in the program!

Anyway, one of the MAIN reasons I don't use Google Talk is because very few of my friends use Gmail. They're all stuck with *STUPID* MSN Messenger and Hotmail. I mean, dude, Gmail is 2.6 gigabyte storage!! How much is Hotmail? 2 megabytes? That is 0.1% of what Gmail provides! And for free! The ads are very simple and they aren't annoying!!

Bah... why do I have to suffer this? Please add me (look at my signature)

You missed out on Google Desktop - because of which I can now always

• Keep track of Latest News and Current Affairs
• Keep a watch on the weather
• Keep a tab on my Adsense earnings
• Make quick notes
• Maintain a handy To-Do list
• Get my daily horoscope
• Quick shutdown/reboot/hibernate

All from this handy little lightweight unobtrusive sliding bar on the right of my desktop.

It's so fast and so bloody powerpacked - specially once you start mixing and matching the various plugins.

Here's a screen-shot:


You can download it at: http://desktop.google.com/

Try it out and the plugins too - it's an AWESOME tool.

Holy shoot, how do you get that! My goodness... Google Desktop. Is that a software package? Or some ... Google software that they came up with that's going to beat everyone's minds senseless?

Okay, I got a little over there

By the way, why can't my computer hibernate? Wait, what does it exactly do? I've never done it before!

Wow - it sounds to me like Google put a lot of thought and effort into coming up with this program. As usual, they're taking common sense (i.e. what users would actually want and make use of) into account when they come up with new things.

And wow, are they fast!

Haha cyborg I'm in your boat, I got gtalk... loved it... added all my...uh...no friends that use it....hrm...

I'll need to go on another recruiting campaign and try to convince some of them to start switching over or at least using both, I can't stand msn but it's my main chat proggy cause everyone uses it. Maybe knowing how good the web gtalk is will entice a few more away from the dark side