Before I start, I'll first mention that I've used Gmail for quite a while, and will carry on using it because it is still a good service and provides one important feature I've not seen others provide: full SSL (and not just for log-in). In the age of growing public Wi-Fi it is an important feature to me.
Frankly speaking there is really not much wrong with it. The only reason I am making this post now, is because I am in the process of closing shifting all my mail from my ISP email account (as it will be closed soon) to one of my webmail, so I am tidying up my mailboxes now and get to feel the flaws.
So, what's bugging me? Them bloody labels! What normally happens when I (this is important because just like I do not want Apple to tell me hold a phone, I do not want Google to tell me to change manage my email account) normally use other webmail, is that I'll pick the mails that I may need to keep (e.g. confirmation email from online purchases), then shift them into their corresponding folders, a three clicks process. This clear up my inbox for the messages that I may have read but would like to be reminded of.
In order to do something similar in Gmail, there is one extra step required, because labelled mail stays in the Inbox: Mute (two extra clicks).
And just as I occasionally add new folders in other webmail, I sometime find myself needing to create a new label. The process after having created the folder usually go like this: Search Mail (Ebay) -> Select all -> Move to Ebay folder. The process under Gmail after creating the label goes like this: Search Mail (Ebay) -> Select all -> Apply Ebay label -> Apply Mute -> Click older -> Select all -> Apply Ebay label -> Apply Mute -> Click older -> Select all -> Apply Ebay label -> Apply Mute
Why did I just repeat two steps? Well, because Google in their infinite wisdom decides that 20 search results per page is adequate. Maybe on a phone it is, there is no reason not to have the *option* of having at least 50 if not more per page. Though I just noticed that Gmail 'remembers' the 'ticks' from the previous page, so it isn't really necessary to apply the label/mute more than once. Doesn't change my opinion that 20 search results per page is kinda limited though!
Reminds me of the defunct Lycos mail uk who decided that 20 mails/page was adequate for the inbox. Might be for those who delete their mails frequently, but if you are going to give people the storage for several lifetimes worth of mails, you may as well let them view more than 20 at a time!
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tl;dr: I don't like Gmail labels. Possibility of multiple labels < not having to mute everything I label. More results per page result please. YMMV.


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