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Google Software

Gmail Go, a Lightweight Version of Google's Email App, Launched on Android (techcrunch.com) 55

Posted by msmash from the for-the-emerging-markets dept.
Google has added a notable addition to its line of "Go" edition apps -- the lightweight apps designed primarily for emerging markets -- with the launch of Gmail Go. From a report: The app, like others in the Go line, takes up less storage space on users' smartphones and makes better use of mobile data compared with the regular version of Gmail. The app also offers standard Gmail features like multiple account support, conversation view, attachments, and push notifications for new messages. It also prioritizes messages from friends and family first, while categorizing promotional and social emails in separate tabs, as Gmail does. But like other Go apps, Gmail Go doesn't consume as much storage space on the device. In fact, according to numerous reports, Gmail Go clocked in at a 9.51 MB download, and takes up roughly 25 MB of space on a device, compared with Gmail's 20.66 MB download, and 47 MB storage space.
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Gmail Go, a Lightweight Version of Google's Email App, Launched on Android More

Gmail Go, a Lightweight Version of Google's Email App, Launched on Android

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  • Years ago my library had 2 "internet" computers on the DSL and 3-4 other computers that were a telnet client only.

    You bet I taught my 15/16 year old self to check (POP3) and send (STMP) e-mail and chat (IRC) all from telnet.

    Not sure how much "Lighter" you could get. I think a Pi3 has more computing power per core than those machines had total.

    How heavy would a minimalistic POP3/STMP client with SSL support be?

  • Lightweight gmail sounds horrid. Gmail is already devoid of features and barely functional. Honestly I thought it was already very lightweight. In fact I would have said that was Gmail's only strength as a client.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      You should wait --or not -- for the next upcoming/outgoing version called Gmail GoAway which clocks in at zero MB, with data storage limited to 640K, which should be enough for everybody.

    • Re:Lightweight gmail? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by nashv ( 1479253 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @02:35PM (#56130338) Homepage

      What features do you feel are missing from Gmail ? Which other email service (not client) provides these services ?

    • They seem to have just removed the smooth animations and perhaps tablet enhancements. It's janky as heck and I would only run it on the lowest performance handset.

  • So, how does this new app compare to the other, Inbox by Gmail?

    • Re:Go Inbox (Score:5, Funny)

      by T.E.D. ( 34228 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @02:47PM (#56130450)

      So, how does this new app compare to the other, Inbox by Gmail?

      See, originally there was just Gmail. Its interface was kind of dated though, so a dude at Google on one of those Friday coding sabbaticals they are famous for created something new and fresh; Inbox.

      The problem is now that means my Android devices all have two email apps installed on them. Since I have two Android devices I carry with me, that means each email I receive now gives me four notifications. The vast majority of that email is spam of course. The two email tools are good at different things, so even if I could delete the older gmail (I can't), I probably wouldn't want to.

      Google has analyzed this situation and come up with the perfect solution: A third email app for my Android devices.

    • Google needs 4 messaging apps, so why not 4 email apps?

      I don't understand why Google is so fucking idiotic and scattered. Just make GMail not suck. Just update encryption and codecs in Hangouts. I'm never going to download Allo or Duo. I'm only using a separate SMS app because they removed SMS integration from Hangouts (for no good reason). I was on an old version of Hangouts up until last week, when they forced me to update (they time bombed old versions of Hangouts sometime last week).

      • Google needs 4 messaging apps, so why not 4 email apps?

        Email client #4, “Flotsam”, is currently being dogfooded at Google with a soft-scheduled external launch date just before Memorial Day.

  • Somehow I'm reminded of "Pokemon Go" and their goofball "Gotta Catch'em All" phrase. :)

  • Ah, lightweight thirty-year old apps (Score:5, Insightful)

    by holophrastic ( 221104 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @02:34PM (#56130332)

    E-mail in only 25MB? Wow! That's amazing!

    You know, that would have really helped about thirty years ago when my drive was only 500MB.

    Actually, that would have sucked thirty years ago, because thirty years ago, e-mail was easily under 5MB of total disk space. I do believe it was often under 3MB, and I'm pretty sure it was possible under 1MB.

    It's e-mail. It needn't be complicated.

    (oooooh, fancy sorting, that probably needs another 50 KB)

  • I've been using the "lite" version of Facebook for some time and I don't miss the huge bloated "good" version.
    I'm a pretty lightweight user so I don't notice the omissions the lite app has (probably has) and also has the chat integrated so I don't need to install yet another app just to reply to Facebook messages.
    I don't know much about mobile development but they must be using some huge libraries/frameworks because I don't know how else many apps like Facebook weight over 100 MB in size

  • Google mail (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...just say NO.

    Just friggin' stay in control of your own mail. You owe that to yourself, and to all the others.

  • Why don't they replace the bloated version with the Go version?

    • Re:Why is there a bloated version? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by SumDog ( 466607 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @03:24PM (#56130724) Homepage Journal

      Yea, they could use the version from 2008 .. and while we're at it, lets' go back to the gmail web app from 2005! The one that wasn't garbage.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by g253 ( 855070 )
        I would actually pay to be able to use the old gmail web app.

        I'd pay even more to stop them freaking the fuck out every time I log in from a new device. It's webmail, the whole point is that I can check it on any device! Don't send a damn verification to my phone, if I had it with me I would use it instead you damn fools

  • What's the point? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by viperidaenz ( 2515578 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @03:23PM (#56130706)

    GMail is a system app on a lot (if not all?) of phones, it can't be removed. At best it can have its updates removed and be disabled.

    Installing Gmail Go will only end up using even more storage space.

    • GMail is a system app on a lot (if not all?) of phones, it can't be removed. At best it can have its updates removed and be disabled.

      Installing Gmail Go will only end up using even more storage space.

      Storage is rarely the biggest problem on low and midrange Android devices. Insufficient RAM is what makes things suck. The Go apps use less RAM, that's their real benefit.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jezwel ( 2451108 )
        Storage is a real problem when you only have 16GB for system & apps. Many Google apps only let you remove Updates to their apps, however the base application remains installed and using up precious storage space.
        eg: I can remove Google Home, but not Google Docs (145MB!!).
        Google Play books is wasting 45MB for an app I can't remove. Remove all the updates and it's *only* 9.2MB
        Google Play games - from 33MB down to only 7.8MB yay.
        Movies and TV, from 45MB to 9.2MB.
        Google Play music? 58MB down to 10MB.
      • I used to have a Galaxy s4 with 16 gigs of memory and had storage problems all the time. I did have 20 or 30 apps installed (not an unreasonable number IMO) but no multigigabyte games or something like that but I still had to clean caches/delete Whatsapp images and videos all the time just for being able to install updates.
        Now with a 32 gb LG I have no problems at all.

  • I can't stand their coloring book design with the big dots and wasted screen space. K9 mail and even Samsung's email client provide a better UI.

  • I would be excited but my phone has a ton of apps pre-installed that can't be uninstalled. If I could uninstall GMAIL I would switch to this in a heart beat or just use the web interface.

  • Install another Gmail app? (Score:3)

    by kbg ( 241421 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @05:20PM (#56131222)

    Why would I install a second Gmail app when I can't even uninstall the first one? This would take up even more storage space. Do these idiots at Google not even realise that even if you disable the Gmail app it still takes up storage space?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jezwel ( 2451108 )
      Don't forget their new Inbox app for Gmail! Now with Gmail Go, you can have 3 apps to do the one task!

  • I have facebook lite on my phone and it's vastly superior to the modern facebook app.

    Gmail has never felt too sluggish to me, but if this saves some ram or cpu time. I'll try it

  • Is that like Pokemon Go? Because I have a Gmail account, but I also have a favorite version of Pokemon. That's Pokemon Emerald. Pokemon Go sucks, and I suspect Gmail Go will, too.

  • Use K9 for Android mail (Score:5, Informative)

    by trawg ( 308495 ) on Thursday February 15, 2018 @11:57PM (#56133222) Homepage

    If you're on Android & care about email I strongly recommend K-9 Mail [github.io].

    It is an open source mail client which is more like Thunderbird (i.e., it downloads messages locally) than the Gmail app. So you can open it even when you have no Internet and know that the email it downloaded will actually be available.

    I travel quite a bit and found this ability utterly indispensable after a few times where I had things like boarding passes, hotel registrations, etc in my Gmail and wasn't able to easily load them in the Gmail mobile app. I now have a "Travel" folder in my Gmail which I've set to always download all the contents, so I know when I go to a new city it will have anything I need into it, accessible when I get there, with or without Internet access.

    Maybe it has changed in the last few years but not having access to email that I had previously downloaded (i.e., "viewed on the cloud", which I suspect is what mostly happens with the Gmail app) was a total dealbreaker.

    Supports multiple accounts, IMAP & POP3, even PGP if you care about that. The only thing that doesn't work great is search - it only will search your locally downloaded mail - and even then it seems to be a bit flaky. In these cases I use the Gmail mobile web interface to find things.

    K-9 is a mail client on mobile that works much more like old school nerds would expect!

    • I did look at K9 but ended up with Maildroid (which I paid for after a bit of time on the free app). Likewise, it's way better than the built in crap that phones come with. Like K9 it's got it rough edges, but for the most part I find it pretty decent.

      Either way, I'd really like to be able to remove the google apps from my phone - I'd keep maps, but pretty much everything else can go.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by trawg ( 308495 )

        Nice one! Haven't heard of that before but it looks nice. I'm a bit paranoid about email so feel like I have to stick with an open source client for as long as I can.

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