Updates to Contacts and a (slightly) new look for Gmail (gmailblog.blogspot.com)

Using the API, you could now build a decent CRM that integrates directly with your contacts, no? Or perhaps just sync existing data.

Force-refreshing my (non-Apps) inbox shows nothing. You’d think they would mention a rollout strategy in the announcement.

Been playing with it.. I'd call this a very marginal improvement at best.

Looks like there's still plenty of space left for companies like Etacts and Rapportive to play with.

Is it just me or does it feel like the "Compose Mail" button is now in an awkward place?

I'm not completely happy with the list view. The only blocking problem is that the person I email near every day does not even appear under the My Contacts subsection. I've actually found out the reason while writing - apparently My Contacts is a group and not all users are added. Is there no all contacts view?

Cosmetically, I don't really like a list as I can't tell from a glance who is who. I'd quite like a small magazine-style avatar+name+email block - on a grid 3/4 wide and 4 down for example.

I can't drag groups onto users as I do with labels which is a little counter-intuitive. All-in-all though it's not a bad addition, just not a complete one.

Finally I'd like an option to remove the Tasks link, rather than choosing one of three to show. Mostly small things but things I'd like.

For a power user who uses keyboard shortcuts all the time the new layout is awesome.

One thing I have noticed from a few minutes of use is contact groups should work completely like labels. Right now you can add and remove them well but there is no filtering based on group.