For reasons we can't possibly begin to fathom, Google killed off their iPhone-optimized mobile interface for iGoogle back in January, much to the chagrin of their users. Instead of just leaving the old version online while they made improvements, the company decided to redirect iPhone users to the standard mobile iGoogle page instead. The only explanation at the time was that they wanted all their users to have the same, consistent mobile experience.
But today it appears that Google has changed their mind and has decided to give smartphone users their own unique experience yet again. On the Google Mobile blog, they've announced a new-and-improved version of iGoogle, this time designed for both iPhone and Android users.
]]> What's New in the New Mobile iGoogle
According to the announcement, the new iGoogle mobile site is faster and easier to use than before. This version also finally supports the user-created tabs where many of you have sorted your content and gadgets into different categories for organizational purposes. The first three tabs appear at the top of the screen and then a drop-down list ("more tabs") is available for accessing the rest.
Perhaps the killer feature of the new iGoogle mobile site is its support for Google gadgets. Although not all gadgets are supported - those using Flash, for example, don't work (thanks, Apple!) - Google supports most of your favorite gadgets, including those built by third-party developers. You can also rearrange these gadgets on the mobile site without affecting the layout of your iGoogle desktop version.
For those of you using feed-based gadgets like Google Reader, the new iGoogle mobile site features an in-line display of articles which allows you to read the summaries without having to leaving the iGoogle web page. In other words, it's a very functional mini feed reader, just like the gadget you're used to from the non-mobile homepage.
User start pages like MyYahoo, iGoogle, and Netvibes may have already seen their heyday come and go when it comes to our desktop and laptop PCs...especially since the invention of the tabbed web browser lets us set multiple homepages for easy access to all our most-visited sites. However, on the mobile, there's more need for a one-stop-shop type of portal and today Google delivers just what we needed.
To try the new iGoogle for yourself, go to igoogle.com from your mobile browser (iPhone and Android only) and then click the link "Try the new Mobile iGoogle!" to see the new version.
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