A few days ago, I opened the mobile version of Google Voice on my iPhone so I could send an SMS message. While I was there, I noticed that Buzz was available from the list of mobile apps I could utilize while logged in. I popped on over and checked it out. I posted a status message, checked some of the posts that had been made within my geographical area and found a couple of people to follow.
Later, I logged into my Google account on my home computer and headed on over to Buzz in my browser. I was confronted with a button that said “Try Buzz in Gmail.” I don’t have Gmail enabled in the Google account I normally use, but I decided to click the button and see where it took me anyway. As I suspected, I was eventually (after logging in again) taken to a page asking me to sign up for a Gmail account.
Why am I able to “Buzz” from my iPhone without having Gmail enabled in my Google account but I can’t do so through my browser? The bottom line is, I really don’t want to sign up for Gmail with my main Google account, as it would just end up being one more e-mail account I’d never check (similar to my original Gmail account, which I login to about once a year).
Is this a bug in Buzz? Am I not supposed to be able to use Buzz on my iPhone? Am I supposed to to be able to use Buzz without Gmail on my computer? Is this duplicity really the way Buzz is supposed to be? What do you think?