Despite Google currently residing on my short list, I was still excited to see some talk about the upcoming upgrade of Gmail. According to Google Operating System, it looks like Google did announce a few things, including a significant increase in the speed of Gmail thanks to prefetching messages.

When you load a page that contains a list of messages, Gmail will fetch them in advance so that when you need them, they’ll be available instantly. Google said that Gmail will have a completely new JavaScript architecture that will bring a much better performance.

Other things we can expect from the next Gmail upgrade:

  • Improved contact manager – This will allow you to share your contacts with other Google products such as Google Docs and Google Calendar.
  • Better integration – If done properly, this could be a big one. Unfortunately we all know Google’s history when it comes to product integration.

No mention of folders or other highly requested features, but there is definitely a few things for Gmail users to get excited about!

Update:  Phillip Lenssen has made a follow up post with screenshots.