Google Launches Lightweight Gmail Go for Smartphones

By Roy Sotelo, Christian Post Contributor Monday, February 19, 2018

Google on Thursday has launched Gmail Go, a new addition to its line of "Go" edition apps. Gmail Go is a lightweight version of the regular Android Gmail app.

Gmail Go is aimed to give more breathing space for entry-level smartphones with limited random access memory (RAM). Its 9.51 megabyte (MB) android application package (apk) size is a big space difference from the regular Gmail app with the apk size of 20.66 MB. The Gmail Go app expands to 25 MB once installed on smartphones, while the latter expands to 47 MB.

According to the Android Community, Gmail Go is a lot like the regular Gmail app in terms of appearance and basic features. Gmail Go also still blocks spam messages, separates social, promotional and important emails, enables email attachments and the conversation view, and features multiple account support.

However, according to Techcrunch, some users have reviewed that Gmail Go responds slower than the regular Gmail app. It was also reported that images are not automatically loaded in the app.

Gmail Go is not available for all users. The app is so far only available for Android Go smartphone users, or users with the Android 8.1 Oreo Go OS which already have Gmail Go and other "Go" edition apps pre-installed.

Google announced its plans to release Android Go, a lightweight operating system (OS) built for entry-level smartphones in emerging markets, in May last year. Android Go was officially launched last December. The system is designed to run on smartphones with at most 1 gigabyte (GB) of random access memory (RAM). The internal storage space of the OS takes up only around half of that of Android Nougat's.

With the launch of Android Go, many other lightweight apps have also been introduced to users, including Google Go, Google Assistant Go, Files Go, Youtube Go, Google Maps Go, and Google Search Lite Go. These apps are reportedly all preinstalled on Android Go devices.