Gmail experience better than iCloud on iOS?

[pmontanarella]

Hi all,

I've been thinking recently of the "Gmail experience" on iOS and it occurs to me that the experience for Gmail users may actually be better than the one for iCloud users, as strange as that may be.

For example, take two standard iCloud services, mail and calendar. With iCloud you use the standard apps and get great integration. However, for gmail you might use Mailbox and Sunrise calendar, which are both superior to their default counterparts. Yes you do get great "out-of-the-box" integration with iCloud, but if you spend a bit of time to actually set it up right, you might end up with a better experience if you use Gmail. Just something I was thinking about today. Do you guys agree? Is there something I'm missing? Please let me know, as I prepare to possibly move back to Gmail...

Thanks,
Pietro

 

[bohbot16]

Gmail is extremely popular, especially amongst the tech savvy. It's the go-to service for developers who are creating more innovative experiences like Mailbox and Sunrise for calendar. Apple does a good job of using standard protocols for iCloud (IMAP, CalDAV), so I doubt that they will be left out in the cold by these services in the long term.

The real question is how quickly you want to be able to try new services that are built on top of the email and calendar provider you choose.

 

[joegullo]

I have used both and I find myself heading more toward Google because Apple seems to be lagging with updates to their services. For example, in 2013 there is no reason why you can't edit iWork documents through iCloud.

Everything syncs very easily from my computer to iCloud, it's just very basic.

 

[bohbot16]

I have used both and I find myself heading more toward Google because Apple seems to be lagging with updates to their services. For example, in 2013 there is no reason why you can't edit iWork documents through iCloud.

Everything syncs very easily from my computer to iCloud, it's just very basic.

I think it depends on the service. I like iCloud better for shared family calendars. The iWork/iCloud deficiency is maddening. I end up having to export them to a shared DropBox folder then importing updates back into iCloud later.

 

[joegullo]

I think it depends on the service. I like iCloud better for shared family calendars. The iWork/iCloud deficiency is maddening. I end up having to export them to a shared DropBox folder then importing updates back into iCloud later.

I agree. Calendar, email, and contact-wise it's great. Once you get to the iWork side, it's a complete disaster IMO.

The only reason I can see why they don't offer web-based editing is because they see more people using the iPad and iPhone to edit documents? (hence the apps in the App Store). If you're at your computer you're more likely to use the actual program rather than a web-based one.

 

[bohbot16]

I agree. Calendar, email, and contact-wise it's great. Once you get to the iWork side, it's a complete disaster IMO.

The only reason I can see why they don't offer web-based editing is because they see more people using the iPad and iPhone to edit documents? (hence the apps in the App Store). If you're at your computer you're more likely to use the actual program rather than a web-based one.

I understand that Apple prefers having native apps for each device over a web app, but they don't provide a way to do collaborative editing, even if everyone involved is using an Apple device.

 

[joegullo]

I understand that Apple prefers having native apps for each device over a web app, but they don't provide a way to do collaborative editing, even if everyone involved is using an Apple device.

And it's not like they haven't done it before with iwork.com - at least the collaboration part.

 

[ugahairydawgs]

To each his own really. Some people like to have a really robust feature set with their email, with all kinds of filters and sorting options. For those types, Gmail, despite it's privacy concerns, is best.

Other's just want a simply repository for emails with simple (folder) sorting. If you fall in that category (and use a good bit of Apple hardware) iCloud works great.

There's no hard and fast "right" answer for everyone here. YMMV depending on who you are and what you need from an email provider.

 

[r0k]

On my iThings, the email I'm looking for is never there. I mean I may have seen it once but when I go back and look for it again, it's never there. I have to resort to gmail to really reliably find something. For me this is enough of a reason to keep a foot in both camps. My email gets forwarded to both gmail and icloud, but I rely mainly on gmail for mail and rely on icloud only for backup, photostream and sync.

 

[adr1974]

I think it depends on the service. I like iCloud better for shared family calendars. The iWork/iCloud deficiency is maddening. I end up having to export them to a shared DropBox folder then importing updates back into iCloud later.

Wondering -- why is iCloud better than google for shared calendars? We rely heavily on shared calendars. I used to use google, then switched to iCloud. At this point, both seem fine. Was thinking about switching back to google (since I just switched back for email), but don't want to give up anything from a functionality perspective.

 

[bohbot16]

Wondering -- why is iCloud better than google for shared calendars? We rely heavily on shared calendars. I used to use google, then switched to iCloud. At this point, both seem fine. Was thinking about switching back to google (since I just switched back for email), but don't want to give up anything from a functionality perspective.

If I recall correctly, it was due to iCloud's ability to give you push notifications for changes to a shared calendar that you didn't create.

 

[Yujenisis]

I think the OP raises a good point, Google's Gmail is successful because it took a different approach to email. It worked (mostly) and they are enjoying great success.

The problem with iCloud is it's literally just a "WebApp" for Mail but with fewer features. I'd love to see Apple "re-invent" mail. Just look at what the folks at Orchestra did with MailBox.

Apple would to well to give them all jobs because while not perfect it is disruptive innovation with some great concepts that just need polish.