Google Apps Review

Written by Hugh, on January 15th, 2010

Trading at the Beach

I just signed up for Google Apps and I am very happy with it. As you probably know, the world is starting to move towards browser based applications and Google is one of the leaders.

Their Google Docs offering is a collection of free browser based programs that are similar to Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Since they run in a browser, they can be accessed on almost any computer with an internet connection, without installing any additional software.

I’m sure many of you also use Gmail, Google’s free email service. I have been using it for awhile and I really like it.

Apps is a paid version that offers many of the same features that the free products do. So you are probably thinking, “Why would I want to pay for something that I can get free?” Well, here is my Google Apps review and why I think it is worthwhile to use this service.

Do you have your own domain or want to set one up? If not, then stop right here. You are better off using Google’s free services like Docs or Gmail. They are great services and they function the same as the paid versions.

If you do want to set up your own domain and you don’t have one yet, just go to GoDaddy.com and buy one.

Now you have a domain name, but what do you do with it?

Traditionally, you would go to a website host like HostMonster and sign up for one of their hosting packages. If you are looking for a full blown fancy website, then this is still the way to go, provided you have someone that can design the website from scratch or install a content management system like WordPress. These hosts are inexpensive and work well.

The only issue I had with these types of hosts is that their email services were not quite as reliable as free services like Hotmail or Gmail, sad to say. In addition, I always use a program like Microsoft Outlook to access my email because their browser interfaces to check email are usually just good enough to get by, at best.

First of all, Google Apps solves the email problem, period. You can route the email going to your sugardaddy@i-trade-forex.com email address directly to Gmail and get in a nice, neat and familiar interface. One of the major benefits of using Google as your email host is the powerful spam filtering that they provide. It is one of the best I have seen anywhere and definitely the best free spam filter.

To me, that is huge. Not to mention the fact that you get 25 GB of email storage per email address. Yes, that’s GIGABITES! The only issue with this arrangement is you only get one email address per account. If you want another address, you have to pay for an additional user. This is fine with me because I only use one email address.

Next, there are all the other components that come with Apps.

Of course, there is Google Docs. I didn’t use Docs too much until I signed up for Apps but I have to admit, it works well. It is very convenient because I can access my spreadsheets or documents from any computer and I don’t have to carry around a USB drive or worry about misplacing anything. I can also share these docs with other people and we can collaborate on different projects.

The next feature is the calendar. Again, you can use Google’s free calendar, but this calendar coordinates with other people you are linked to and you can even sync the calendar with your compatible mobile phone.

Another cool feature is Sites. It allows you to create a private intranet for people in your group or company. You can set up multiple websites with an easy to use template driven interface. No programming necessary. You also have the option of making one or several of your sites public so you have a website that everyone on the internet can see.

There is also Google Video, which is a feature that I don’t use, but I may in the future.

What is bottom line?

The great part is that as of this writing, Google Apps only costs $50 per year, comparable to most website hosting packages. For me, I was primarily looking for the email hosting but there are a lot of other great features too. If you want to host your email on Google Apps and have your main website hosted somewhere else, this is also possible.

This works for me as an individual but it is obviously targeted at businesses, helping them put up an IT infrastructure almost instantly with minimal cost. They are also developing new apps all the time, so I’m sure it will only get better. Click here to get more information.