New Year’s Resolution Special: Top 5 Suggested Google Wave Improvements

If I were Google, here would be my ambitious shortlist of improvements that I would make to Google Wave. Although “the Wave” has immense potential and is particularly useful as a brainstorming tool for business, it could possibly displace Facebook and many other social networking sites. However, before anything this dramatic can happen, Google must make the following amendments:

1. Integration with Android: currently, Google Wave officially supports only Chrome, Firefox, and Safari, but it does function somewhat on Android’s Browser. I expect Google to optimize Wave for all Android smartphones, especially now that the Nexus One has 800×480 resolution to work with. Even Facebook operates well on smartphones right now. Ironically, since Apple’s iPhone uses Safari, Google Wave runs much better on it (and there is even an “app” mode for Wave)!

2. Optimization for Slower Computers: I have a smooth overall experience with Wave, but users with older/slower hardware insist that the program needs to scale down better. Even on my laptop, the browser gets a bit choppy when medium to large size images have been inserted. Surely, as Wave gets updated, it should become faster.

3. Streamline the UI: OK, admittedly, the user interface is already simple and intuitive, but long Waves turn into cluttered messes. Honestly, I do not have any ideas on how lengthy Waves can be streamlined for easier navigation, but the Google programmers are the ones earning the big bucks, so they should invent the ideas!

4. Bugs Galore:as is the case with all beta software, Wave is littered with some irritating bugs. Private replies cannot be deleted; there is no ability to remove invites from specific Waves; trash does not work at all, etc.

5. A Google Chat Client: instead of just Wave, Google should branch out the application and integrate it with its own chat client to replace Skype and AIM. “Wave Chat” could be a simplified version of Wave but with instant messaging as its purpose. If Google succeeds with Wave, offers its own chat program, and allows Android to be the best mobile platform for Wave, Facebook could be in for a serious threat.