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Gmail's Contacts overhauled, general layout tweaked

Let's be honest with ourselves, the contacts manager in Gmail used to look and act like it was made in 1994. Clunky, inflexible, and pretty intensive on manual labor, it was the sort of thing you just didn't bother to fiddle with too much. That plight may be at an end now, however, as Google has upgraded the whole experience to better align it with the rest of its email service. Newly added features include keyboard shortcuts, custom labels, sorting by last name, and autosave, which together with a UI realignment make your list of buddies far easier to both navigate and alter. Along with this Contacts update, Google is rolling out a few subtle nips and tucks to the overall Gmail interface, the biggest of which is the commitment of the top-left corner to a trifecta of items: Mail, Contacts, and Tasks. Oh, and some header optimizations have resulted in the top message in your inbox now appearing a whole 16 pixels higher. Can't say Google is neglecting the details.