I've been using the mobile version of Google Buzz on my phone and my desktop's Safari browser since the weekend, hardly needing to go into Gmail.

Day two of Google Buzz brought activation of the Buzz link in my Gmail.

So while the mobile version was good, the real thing on my laptop was better.  You wouldn't believe the fun I had once I could Buzz in earnest.

Since I've been on Friendfeed the past year, like a lot of other Friendfeed regulars, I had no problems adapting to Google Buzz.  It was also great to see Robert Scoble starting some great threads, something he'd dropped back a bit from after Friendfeed's founders ended up working for Facebook.

My Gmail inbox only fills up with Buzzes where I've joined a conversation that someone else has started.  In the Buzz section itself, all the people I follow post either short updates, or start a thread.  My Google profile rounds it out in showing me all the Buzzes I've personally done.

Perhaps that's where I've a small complaint...although this is all theoretically integrated, I tend to think it misses a consistent UI.  At the moment I have to have a tab for Reader, a tab for Buzz/Gmail and a tab for my profile to really get the best use.  Sure, I can share anything in Reader TO Buzz, but I'm not seeing it from Reader, so it's not quite the integration I'd feel the most comfortable with.

That's about my only real complaint.  I can still share things from elsewhere any number of ways.  It's that versatile.

Then it really comes into its own when I apply the search box.  We have two search buttons next to the box, one for searching Buzzes, the other for searching the Web.  That's where you get signal instead of noise, searching for just a specific name or topic and watching the Buzzes for that search come into view, whether it be a short update or a bigger thread/discussion.

I've seen a couple of Buzzes earlier today mentioning various search operators which can also be used, not unlike how its done in Friendfeed.

Of course, some new people are scratching their heads on the style of Buzz, but anyone with Friendfeed experience is having the time of their lives.  Since the sale of Friendfeed (or actually the founders) to Facebook, a lot of FF regulars have been wanting something as good.  Now they've found it.

And there's going to be some brilliant jokes or "buzz-words" cropping up any second.

So...and yes, this is going to be a groaner...the Buzz is building.

Google's Buzz is up and running.

The beauty of Buzz is that Friendfeed's fans will feel at home with it.

In essence, if someone like Robert Scoble puts an update out over buzz, as they did over at Friendfeed with him, his contacts can have a whole conversation from that point on.

Where it differs from Friendfeed is that it's integrated into your Gmail account.

So if you've already got some friends via the Gmail address book, you already have a starter group to "buzz."  Not just that, think of the size of the user base.

You can share privately or publicly.  You can use photos with it.  You can import from Picasa, Flickr and Google Reader.  Plus, you already have a spam filter.

At the moment my laptop's access to Google hasn't received the update to buzz, whereas my iPhone can access buzz via the mobile Buzz site.

I have to admit, it's renewed some enthusiasm for Google stuff.  My contacts on Google Reader are small compared to my Twitter account.

And it's faster by far than Google Wave.

While I like Wave, Buzz is a lot closer to where I think Wave should be.  I daresay that will be clearly demonstrated in the next few weeks.  I also think former and current Friendfeed users will be at the forefront of using Buzz to do a better job than Wave.

Perhaps that'll spur the Wave developers to move forward with some much-needed changes.

Of course, Wave and Buzz are both horses in the same Google stable, so it's no real problem.

General verdict on Buzz?  Out of ten?  Very nearly a ten.

At least until I see how much bandwidth it chews up...

It seems to be the week for new changes in online services to be rolled out.  It wasn't more than a few days ago Facebook was bringing out the change to users' Home layout.

Now Google is about to unveil a new module in Gmail.

As this technology article in the Wall Street Journal points out, we can look forward to social media style updates without having to move from our Gmail screen.

This should be quite interesting when you think of all the Google properties which roughly correspond to say, yFrog or Twitvid.   Google already have Google FriendConnect, Picasa, Youtube, just to name a few.  Throw in Google Maps natively there...

According to Techcrunch, what's going to be announced should also make it easier to view media in Gmail.

So will this new form of Google social updates be mainly for all the friends you have in the Googleverse?  Or will it tie into your existing social update sites?

We'll know by 10am U.S. Pacific Time on the 9th of February.  As Mashable points out, tech media have been invited to an event at Google HQ at that time for a big announcement or two.

Now if we could only get Google to announce they've sped up Wave considerably...