If you use Gmail chat then you are probably already familiar with those green, orange, and red bubble indicators which tell you if your friends are available, away, busy or offline.
Almost a year ago, Gmail Labs added a feature called the Green Robot that replaces the plain old bubble with Android robots. The cool thing about the feature is how it identifies which of your friends on Gmail’s chat application are using Android phones.
Though this might be old news, there isn’t a better time to re-introduce the Green Robot! With the recent increase in the number of Android devices out there, it is obvious that this feature certainly enhances the Android experience. This Gmail Lab feature should enjoy more notoriety in the ecosystem.
As the image below shows, an a orange robot means your friend is online via Android but is currently away. A green robot means your friend is available on their device, and a red robot means your friend is online with Android but is currently busy. When your chat buddies log into regular Gmail, their status icons will revert to the traditional red, green, and orange status bubbles making it easy to know who is on the web client or on an Android device.
These icons can help you decide on how to tailor your conversation depending on the icon displayed. You may decide to send shorter, more concise chat messages when your friend is mobile.
I think it’s about time Google merged this experiment into Gmail because it works so well. It just gives a cool visualization of all your Android buddies on their devices. This should have even been integrated into the Google Talk client as well – for now it still does not have this feature. The coolness factor here is the exclusivity it provides to Android devices! These robots will not show from other mobile devices using  Gmail chat. It’s just a cool way to to pick out your Android buddies from the crowd! YES, Android users deserve some special treatment.
If you still have not activated this cool feature then get to it.
- While on Gmail click on Settings and then go to Labs.
- In Labs browse the list for Green Robot! by Chad Y. (See Image)
While you are at it, send some feedback about this feature.
Let us know if you agree this feature should be merged with both Gmail Chat and Google Talk. Maybe we can get the word out this way. I would love to hear your thoughts. Enjoy!
