Gmail Time Zone Notifiers Prevent Badly-Timed Long-Distance Calls

No Dad its ok, i had to get up to get the phone any ways. :snark:

TatumJibsheet

not sure it would make a difference to me, especially when it makes an assumption what your work schedule is....who really works 9 to 6 anyway?

Sadly most of my American colleagues (and friends) have no idea how to call a phone number to anywhere but the US, so they would never get through anyway! ;-)

I like the idea of being aware of the time zone of the person you are contacting. But I can see my self getting tired of the little red icon pretty quickly.

gpzbc

People who can't figure out timezones probably aren't smart enough to access Gmail either.

the next step is to integrate this into Google Voice...oh well, actually the next step should be to integrate Google Voice into Gmail.

I think it's a great idea, but since 7% of men have some degree of red-green colorblindness, I wish they'd make the icon change shape significantly as well as change color.

EbenezerNoppa

I like the idea. I had an instance where I needed to know something and the person is on west coast time (I'm east coast) so that would have helped me, although, it was the first time I emailed them, so I'm guessing it wouldn't have? LOL

I could take it or leave it.

Now, the day that the Labs listing has some sense of order will be a day where cheers for Gmail Labs will be heard upon the mountaintops.

I already posted a feedback to them asking to clarify what the default green and red times are as well as allow for custom settings. The latter should make the feature a lot more practical if we can adjust it to fit the lifestyle of a particular region or an individual contact. Until then, this is as useless as beer goggles.

Revanth Reddy

That's the cool thing about email. You can respond at any hour of the day and you are not disturbing them. It is quietly awaiting them whenever they feel inclined to check their inbox.

gpzbc

I do have to think that the margin for this being useful would be pretty small... When I go to call a customer at work, for instance, the most I'll check my e-mail for is their phone number in the signature. If I already have it, then I'm already calling. Why go to my computer first?

Then there's the fact that most of my customers are retail-oriented and don't work 9-6. I'm sure it's useful for someone, but without ways to modify the work hours, I don't see it being useful for me.

Skorpeyon

@Skorpeyon:For those who use it within a social context that encompasses several time zones, it's really pretty useful. If you travel on a regular basis, it's nice to know when you might be bothering even those friends who keep their accounts open at all times. Time zones tend to run together after a while.

ZafinaEriphyle

Can you customize the time setting for certain groups of people? That way your work contacts are set to notify you when it's outside office hours, and your personal contacts are set to notify you when it is within cell phone free time (usually after 6pm or weekends, depending on the service). Contacts with kids who don't want to be called after 8pm, etc.

To me, the best thing about this feature is that it means that Gmail integration with Google Voice is imminent. It's only mildly useful as a Gmail feature, but terrific for Gvoice...which I bet is why it was conceived.

VayaConQueso

www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/personal

You can set up the particular time zones you're interested in - and if you register, then it'll save your information.

Personally, I don't generally check my gmail account before I make a phone call anyways.

tidybowl

@Bilsko: The next step would be getting google voice...