If you already have an email address and do not want to get a new Gmail account, Google does provide an alternative signup web-form to get your free Google account utilizing your existing email id. One simply needs to use https://accounts.google.com/SignUpWithoutGmail and complete the signup process skipping the need of an Gmail account. The same can also be accessed using the "I prefer to use my current email address" option located just below the text-filed where it asks for Gmail ID in default Google signup form.

The new Gmail Tabbed interface introduced a few months ago turned out to be the part of a bigger advertisement revenue earning strategy by Google, the new design is now spawning targeted ads right into your inbox disguised as genuine emails. Whether this is SPAM (which is basically unsolicited emails) or not, nobody is liking the new move from Google. Microsoft took no time to make another video in their Scroogled by Google campaign which can be watched after the "Read more" link below with a working tip to get rid of these invasive inbox advertisements.

Gmail's labels/Tags is no less than a life-saver when it comes to efficient email management, this nifty feature has now been taken to the next level with introduction of the new inbox interface which organizes email into five optional tabs: primary, social, promotions, updates and forums. These categories make it easy to read messages of the same type all at once, and keep track of your mail more efficiently.

The new interface is highly customizable with ability to choose which tabs a user wants, supporting full drag-n-drop functionality between tabs. The new tabbed interface is also available on mobile devices when using the official native Gmail apps on Android and iOS platforms. Do watch the video shared below with instructions on how to activate and deactivate this new interface now.

Elegant, lightweight and fast email client "Sparrow" for Apple Mac OS X and iOS platform got acquired by Google, Sparrow is a popular utility which uses a simplified user interface and is tightly integrated with Google and other IMAP email accounts. The simple to use email client features drag-and-drop attachments, Dropbox/Box.net support for uploading attachments, Growl support, Gmail labels and keyboard shortcuts, as well as threaded replies and easy switching between accounts in desktop version.

Both the iOS and Mac versions of Sparrow offer a better usability then native email clients on respective operating systems.

With Google's purchase of the client utility, one can safely assume and expect "Sparrow" themed changes in Gmail in future.

Microsoft has targeted Google in it' latest satirical video aimed at Gmail, emphasizing the fact how the “Gmail Man” walks around looking inside people’s email showing advertisements based on keywords. Using the video Microsoft is promoting their latest offering Office 365, the newly launched BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) replacement, is a more private alternative for businesses. “You email is your business,” the video says. “Google makes it theirs.” - full-video after the jump.

One of the coolest feature supported by Gmail is it's support for themes, Google has now unveiled a brand new sleeker, elegant theme and here is how you can get the brand new Gmail avatar right now.

While Gmail Labs already featured an "unread message count in title-bar" hack, the same was not very useful while using tab-pinning in Firefox or Chrome web-browsers. Thanks to a new Gmail Labs feature we can now have the unread mail count as an favicon clearly visible when using tab-pinning feature in Firefox and Google Chrome.

Google has released five new themes for Gmail - the new themes Basic Black, Basic White, Android, Tree Tops and Marker will surely refresh your Gmail experience.

After successfully integrating Voice and Video Chat in Gmail Google has taken another step forward and is now offering free calls to and from Gmail itself. Integrating Google Voice into Gmail users will now be able to send and receive free calls to the U.S. and Canada with calls to other countries at very low rates right from their web-browser without installing anything (Apart from Google Voice and Video Chat Plugin).

You can now say goodbye to unofficial Gmail themes hacks, as Google now officially supports and provides Gmail Themes for a refreshing look to your Google mail account, Google Gmail team unveiled the new themes with 30 brand new themes to spice-up your mail-box with colors, the Gmail theme styling looks quite similar to Orkut Themes, the feature will get rolled out to all users in upcoming days and can be accessed from the Theme Tab in your Gmail settings page.