I see your point, but I am not sure I agree. My behavior may be atypical, but I tend to read new mail sequentially. Only when I am looking for a particular mes

I see your point, but I am not sure I agree. My behavior may be atypical, but I tend to read new mail sequentially. Only when I am looking for a particular message do I scan the email listing. It is in this case that I would prefer to have increased contrast. Furthermore, I find it jarring to have such a dramatic difference in read vs. unread mail when scanning a list that contains both. Whether my experience and preferences match Gmail users as a whole is unknown.