Gmail App Vacation Responder Live: Holidays Truly Begin

This holiday season the folks responsible for the Gmail app for Android have added the ability to set an instant-response email to incoming emails, a service that's existed in the web browser-based interface for some time. This feature will allow users to set up and respond to all emails – or select contacts – for a certain number of days.

Users working with the newest version of Gmail will have only to head up to the upper right-hand corner of their screen under the three-dot menu button. You'll set a start time, an end time (optional), a subject, and text. And check or un-check the option for Send only to my Contacts, too.

This update to Gmail also includes the new ability to attach of any type. This adds notable app types such as PDFs and ZIP files, documents and whatever else you happen to want to hook on. Files too large to attach to an email will be attached via Google Drive – easy as pie.

Gmail for Android has also been updated to include a select number of features for Android 4.4 KitKat. One of these is the ability to print hard copies of your emails straight from the Gmail app. Another addition to the mix is "enhanced performance" on low memory devices, this brought on by Google's push for Project Svelte – aka the Android workability on devices of lower-than-average processing power.

This app will be released in a roll-out that starts this week, today. Have a peek in the Google Play app store and stay tuned!