Xobni Smartr vs Rapportive for Gmail

When you receive a common mail, which has other known/unknown respondents, it becomes difficult to know who is who and does what. Specially, in organisations and institutes this becomes a serious problem, as we may not know everyone. Gmail’s people widget provides quick relief at such point. It tells us about the associated people and their position in the organization that are present in the mail conversation. However, Gmail’s People widget is very basic and lacks necessary features.

Enter Smartr (Beta) from the San Francisco based start-up company, Xobni (“inbox” spelled backwards). The company has already proved its salt in email and relationship management. Almost everyone using outlook is familiar with its blue sidebar, which brings variety of features along with it. On the same lines, Xobni has released Smartr that gives you rich information on the right sidebar of your inbox. It instantly tells you about person’s job title, company details, and updates from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Another option, possibly a better one is Rapportive, which does nearly a similar job. It has first mover advantage and it was the original tool to hide Gmail ads and provide useful information instead.

Smartr vs Rapportive –

#. Smartr has well organised and better interface for contact info. Rapportive has clean and minimal interface.

#. Smartr helps you to find that right contact effortlessly while composing a mail. It also has graphical stats and finding common contacts feature.

#. Rapportive has raplets through which you can customize gmail with your favourite apps and CRM tools.

#. Xobni is also available for Android, Blackberry and iPhone.

#. You don’t need a Rapportive account but just authorize Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn to use its power. For Xobni Smartr, you will have to make a separate account.

#. Smartr is still in beta. Rapporative is a fully functional stable product.

#. Rapportive integrates with Gmail People Widget. Smartr replaces this.

Analyse for yourself. You can choose only one of them, as both cannot be installed side-by-side. Smartr is the new way for mailbox productivity, enhancing your work style and making your inbox more intelligent. Rapportive, with its customization capability is carving a new way for the future inbox.

Note: Both, Xobni Smart and Rapportive are browser based third party addons and works only for Firefox, Chrome and Safari.