Yahoo Go! 3.0 Beta is now available

A while back I wrote about my wishlist for Yahoo Go! version 3. Looks like I won’t wait any longer, just in time for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Yahoo has made Go! 3.0 beta available for download. Yahoo Go! is also being opened up to mobile developers. I downloaded a copy to take it for a spin.

I was excited about the new version of Yahoo Go! since I wanted to know if my wishes were granted. After downloading Yahoo Go! 3.0 beta and installing it on my mobile phone, I quickly started it up. The very first thing that’s noticeable — a new look!

Yahoo Go! v3.0 new looks has I would say brighter colors. The carousel interface is still available and is still the main method of navigating Yahoo Go! With version 3.0 Yahoo is focusing on a widget type of modularity. Although there is not much information about the Yahoo Go! widgets on their web site apart from developers will be able to expand Yahoo Go! through the use of gadgets widgets.

One thing I noticed is that now I have to click several times to get to where I wanna navigate to. Unlike in Yahoo Go! version 2.0 where you are quickly brought to the carousel interface, you’ll have to do one additional key press. Also if you need to go to Yahoo Mail for instance, you’ll have to navigate to the vertical menu and click on Yahoo Mail.

Unlike in Yahoo Go 2.0, you can just do a left or right on your d-pad or mobile phone joystick and the widget immediately gets displayed. Also Yahoo Mail is just one left key press from the center of the carousel.

Yahoo Go v3.0 seems a bit faster to respond than v2.0 though and since I was trying a beta copy I’m hoping that it will still improve in speed.The one thing that saddens me though is that Yahoo Messenger is still not available in Yahoo Go! 3.0 beta. I wonder what if it will ever be back, I loved using Y! Messenger when I was still using Yahoo Go! v1.5 several months back. And how about including VoIP on my wish list.

Overall, Yahoo Go 3.0 is a just a preparation of more things to come. Once developers start creating widgets, we should see more functions and use for the Yahoo Go! environment.