A few months ago when I was stumbling around with what to use for my e-mail system, I stumbled across a website promoting an application called Mailplane. Mailplane is a dedicated Mac OS X application designed to provide a new way for you to connect to and interact with the web-based Gmail client and help it feel more integrated with your desktop. Being a Gmail user myself, although a Gmail user who currently relies on POP access to use it, I waited a few months to receive my beta invite and gave it a try.

First thing’s first: Mailplane doesn’t alter the Gmail web interface in any way. Essentially, the program is a pared down WebKit-based web browser just for Gmail, and it displays the exact same Gmail interface as your browser would. Now, if you really like Gmail’s interface and practically live in there, then Mailplane app will seem like a really great app to you. Although I do like Gmail’s interface, I find it difficult to change the concept of folders/mailboxes to one of labels, and I think that Gmail’s Contacts management is HORRIBLE, so although I opened Mailplane thinking I’d get something really new, I quickly realized that I simply had the exact same Gmail web client that I had seen in my own web browser, and everything that I liked and didn’t like about it were still intact, exactly the same as before.

So then, what does Mailplane add to the experience? Other than moving it from a web browser to a dedicated client app, not much. You do get a toolbar at the top which includes a number of buttons for Gmail tasks, but I personally didn’t find myself inclined to use the toolbar. After, most of those options are already presented on the main Gmail page, and so I’d rather click links on the page that I was already familiar with than moving my mouse way up to the top of the screen to click a toolbar button. Mailplane also includes a number of its own keyboard shortcuts, not to be confused with Gmail’s own keyboard shortcuts feature, which uses very different combinations.

However, one thing that some people will enjoy is Mailplane’s support for multiple Gmail accounts (by the way, Mailplane also works with Google Apps accounts as well), so that you can have the username/password stored in the keychain and be able to quickly switch between accounts. Mailplane includes Growl support and lets you set it as your default e-mail client, so you can easily get to Gmail when you click those “mailto” links. Mailplane also has the feature of allowing you to drag-and-drop files on a message to attach them, and also has a dynamic resize feature for attached images to keep the filesize down. It even has a plugin for iPhoto so you can send photos to Mailplane with a click.

However, there is one thing that I had really wanted to see with this app, and if this app had offered it, I would have switched to it in a minute. About a year or two ago, I actually did use Gmail’s web interface + the Gmail Notifier as my e-mail setup, but I realized quickly that that wasn’t going to work when I had those moments where I had to go offline. Very often I’ll be in a situation when I have no internet but need to read an existing e-mail, something that Mail’s POP does. But Mailplane doesn’t save copies of messages on your local computer, like I said, it’s just a mini-web browser dedicated to Gmail, and so if you’re offline, it won’t work. And another thing I wanted to see in Mailplane was integration with Mac OS X Address Book. Again, I really don’t like Gmail’s Contacts system, and since it’s a Mac OS X application, it would be nice if when I type names, my Address Book contacts showed up.

If you’re a big fan of the Gmail web interface and use it for all of your e-mail needs, Mailplane is definitely an application you should check out. However, Mailplane doesn’t exactly reinvent the kitchen sink, so if you’re not a die-hard fan of Gmail’s web interface, this application isn’t about to make you change your mind.

Mailplane is currently in private beta, and unlike Skitch, I don’t have any invites to share or anything. If you want an invitation, you can request one on their website.

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Tags: email, Gmail, invites, plug-in, review, Software, Web 2.0, web browsing