Gmail 5.0 is rolling out to Google Play, grab the APK now! (update)

Update: While we reported on Gmail 5.0 rolling out to Google Play over the weekend, and even included an APK for download, it turns out we were a little premature. The app had not in fact hit Google Play for anyone, and the APK was simply a very far along (essentially finished) copy. We don’t have the final Google Play APK yet, though hopefully it is only a matter of days before it hits your device. We’ll be sure to update if/when we get our hands on the officially ‘final’ version of Gmail 5.0. 

Last night Gmail 5.0 apparently began to rollout, bringing Material Design goodness and even support for email accounts from other providers including Yahoo, iCloud Mail, Outlook and basically any account that supports IMAP/POP or Exchange.

Having the ability to place all your accounts under one roof is a welcome change, and means that you no longer need to juggle multiple email clients. Of course the existence of Inbox (which doesn’t support other account types) kind of gets in the way of this “one email-app to-rule them all” philosophy — but I digress.

As for the Material Design changes in Gmail 5.0? Gone is the gray coloring that was pretty everywhere in the previous version of Gmail, and the usual (for MD) splash of red coloring has also made its way to the header and status bar, as well as the circular button for composing new emails. Another big change is the redesigned navigation drawer, which looks sharper and has a new interface for switching accounts that works better (and is faster) than before.

As for the way emails work, unread messages are now bolded. Once you’ve read the messages they are then unbolded. You’ll also notice that the emails themselves now have circular images, instead of the old square pics. Those are some of the biggest changes you’ll find here, but the bottom line is that Google has revamped the entire Gmail look and feel in order to fit in with Android 5.0 Lollipop and Material Design.

If you are interested in picking up the app, you can grab it for manual installation from GappsEarly, or you can wait until the full rollout on Google Play. For those that have tried the latest version of Gmail, what do you think of the new look?