Here’s how you do it!

Click on the little gear in the top right hand side of your browser, and choose “Labs”

Find the one called “Preview Pane”, and Enable it.

Now, when you get back to your Inbox, on the top right hand side, you should see a drop down near your message count and previous/next buttons.

Click on the down arrow, and you can then choose how you want your preview pane to appear, No Split, Horizontal Split, or Vertical Split. For larger screens, the Vertical Split is very nice!

Enjoy!

It also works with desktop notifications, so you will see the reminder come up on your screen if you have Gmail open.

Install the extension here https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/pbmfoncgccdhoknelpglaacbgkclcape (you must be using the Google Chrome browser for this to work.

The Goods:
- Android operating system is amazing, and is only getting better
- Has wifi
- GPS is great, and ties in to Google Maps and other applications very well
- If you are a Google user (Gmail, Google Calendar), it integrates flawlessly with these. (you will need a Google account to use the phone). It’s free, and I use Gmail for almost all my e-mail. The phone will automatically sync your Contacts, e-mail, and Calendar with your online ones. It’s pretty damned seamless
- Android Marketplace has some great applications (like the iPhone, only not quite as good yet)
- The Dream has a full physical keyboard, touchscreen, and scroll-ball – which makes it a triple threat.
- Very solid web browser, and will match the iPhone’s once Android gets multi-touch.
- It is open and customizable
- Memory – you can add a microSD memory card to it for more space. They are very cheap.
- It is a solid option as a smartphone that is not an iPhone or a Blackberry.
- Not a bad camera (3.1 megapixel), which has autofocus, so you can use it to scan barcodes to see where you can buy something cheaper. Also records video. Does not have a flash though, so you, and your target must remain still.
- You can run multiple applications at once, unlike some other phone…
- You can actually customize the interface, with simple things like a custom background! Take that iPhone!
The Bads:
- No headphone jack. It comes with earphones with a built in microphone that plug into the charging port. Really crappy that it doesn’t have a generic headphone jack.
- Bad battery life. Like the iPhone, if you use it, you’ll get a day out of it (unless you turn off wifi and GPS, then it lasts longer).
- Internal memory is so small (256MB) that it may not be able to handle the next Android update. They are working to get around that, but as of now, it looks like it will be limited in updates. This is very, very disappointing, and I hope Rogers will honour its early adopters with an upgrade.
- It’s a little thick and bulky, kinda like me. But I was willing to deal with this for the keyboard.
- It is the first of the Android phones, and the hardware is unable to really take advantage of what Android can really do. I have also had to reset the phone a few times…

Here is what it came down to for me: I use this thing a lot for work, so I e-mail, text, schedule things, and use the web a lot on it, so I wanted the keyboard. And, being a geek, I LOVE the phone. I would say to anyone looking to buy a solid smartphone to check out the HCT Magic, which is the touchscreen only Android phone. I think it’s the same price, and is faster, better battery life, and has enough internal memory to handle future upgrades. Also, it’s a little smaller and sleeker. You do lose the physical keyboard for a virtual one though. So, if you’re like me, and HATE typing on something like the iPhone, then the Dream is a good choice.

As for the available Applications, right now, they are not quite as good, and polished as the iPhone’s, but they going to have to get better. Recently, Facebook had to concede and make an application for Android. With over 20 new phones coming out, they can no longer disregard Google’s Android as a fad. Now, that being said, they devoted 1 person to help with the creation of the Facebook application, while I have a feeling they team for the iPhone app was substantially larger. I have not doubt that Android is going to be a big contender to the iPhone and Blackberry.

When it comes down to it, I can’t live without this phone for work (or geeky fun), and it does the job really well. You can watch YouTube, surf the web, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instant Messaging…

As far as smart phones go, it’s the only choice I would have made. I really don’t like Blackberries, although their battery life is amazing, I just hate the interface, usability, and their browser is atrocious. They are a great business work-horse, yet not so much a consumer/geek phone.

If you are looking for a safe, tested phone, the iPhone is most likely the way to go, even though it’s a wee bit pretentious. It’s pretty solid, and just works. But it’s expensive, and you are getting trapped into Apple. Apple is the new Microsoft/Evil Monopolistic Corporation in my eyes, not to be overly dramatic…

To me, as a geek, there was no choice other than an Android phone.

Another thing I’ve been hearing a lot about is the Google Drive, which is rumoured to be an online storage area from Google. On this drive, you will be able to store photos, files, music, videos, and access them from anywhere, and pretty much anything (iPhone, computer, toaster…).

Sometimes, I love Google so much I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant.

In other news, today, I saw a guy wearing one of those poncho sweaters that people buy in Mexico. The early 90′s are back. I wonder if I still have any of my “Grunge” clothes?