I'm disappointed to see that this change was more significant than it initially appeared. Removing the usability of the search bar in favor of achieving feature parity feels like the wrong decision. There were so many other alternatives, such as intr...
Adding to the comments. It seems like an odd choice to remove this from an accessible point of view. Typing Gmail into the url bar is more clicking than the single click for a blank search to google home page to get to ones email. This brings good us...