[Open Thread] Are Google apps still great, or just getting in their own way?

Andy Walker / Android Authority 🗣️ This is an open thread. We want to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments and vote in the poll below — your take might be featured in a future roundup. Over the weekend, my colleague Rita El Khoury published an article detailing how a stripped-down version of a Google app is better than the full-fat thing. In particular, she argued that Google Maps Go trumps Google Maps, especially for doing the one thing the main app should be good at: navigation. Earlier this month, our Joe Maring also posted a detailed look at Google Gallery, a threadbare offline alternative to Google Photos, and declared it a far smarter way to browse photos stored on your phone than, well…Photos! This begs the question: Have Google’s mainline apps grown too bloated, too cumbersome, and lost track of their core reason for existing? To offer a nickel, I feel that some have been stuffed to the brim with AI features and other fluff, while others remain ripe for furthe ... Read full article.