Google toiling away on gaggle of new Gmail features

If there's one service we rely on each day more than any other, it would be email - and one of the most popular email clients around may soon be infused with new superpowers straight from the Google mothership.

Geek turned up screenshots today from what appears to be a forthcoming version of Gmail for Android, which the report claims will bring an avalanche of new features after being unleashed from internal testing.

Gmail users shouldn't expect a complete visual makeover, but Google is attempting to make the app more useful with the addition of new tabs for Travel, Purchases and Finance, much like the previous Social, Promotions, Forums and Updates sections added last year.

For those too busy to attend to their inbox, Google is also planning to implement a snooze feature into Gmail, which will restore a previously read email back to the inbox after a predetermined amount of time.

Inbox, pinned

Speaking of the inbox, Gmail developers are also hard at work developing a new feature called Pinned, which allows users to keep important emails front and center at the top of their inbox.

According to one of the screenshots, the Pinned feature includes a toggle that will instantly shift emails back to their original place with a single tap, perfect for viewing incoming missives sorted by date.

Curiously, the currently available star system doesn't show up anywhere in the leaked screenshots, although it's unknown if Gmail plans to eliminate this feature entirely or plans to incorporate it into future builds.

There's no telling how soon these new Gmail features might make their debut, and there could be plenty more simmering on the back burner that we have yet to discover.

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