Google Gallery Go is now just Gallery and makes us doubt the future of Android Go

In one of those movements that Google has accustomed us to, its simple photo gallery application, Gallery Go, It is now called Gallery to dry. The news is especially relevant as it was just a few weeks after Google announced the closure of YouTube Go as a simple app of the style was “no longer necessary”.

Another Go app is gone, but in truth it is staying and what is going is its name. It is not something unprecedented because in the past Google Files was also Go, until it ceased to be. While Android 13 Go is still pending, the disappearance of the “Go” in apps makes us doubt if Google keeps its commitment to Android Go.

The Go of Gallery Go is gone

Android Go was born in 2017 as a minimal and light version of Android with an eye on emerging countries, capable of running on terminals with very little RAM and storage space. In addition to being a lightweight system, it comes with light applications pre-installedusually surnamed Go.

We have Google Go, Gmail Go, Maps Go and YouTube Go, at least until it goes away in August. Mobile phones with Android Go they do not come with Google Photos pre-installed as a gallery application, but in its place they installed Gallery Go, a “lifelong” gallery. Gallery Go is one of the Go applications that you can install on any Android mobile without problems, from Google Play.

Now, for some reason Google has decided rename Gallery Go to simply Gallery, which may be an indication of two things. For one thing, Google may have seen interest in simple gallery apps as alternatives to Google Photos and “graduated” to Gallery, just as it did with Google Files.

The another possibility is that Google is dismantling Android Go little by little, while entry-level mobiles are raising the bar in specifications and the existence of a separate version with applications other than Android no longer makes much sense. After all, Google said that YouTube Go was no longer necessary as the regular YouTube app had already adopted some of its features.

We will have to wait to see if Android 13 Go arrives after the launch of standard Android 13. Curiously, while Google pays less and less attention to Android Go (its emulator has been pending for years and new versions arrive without an announcement itself), launches with Android Go have grown. According to the GSMArena search engine, some 35 mobile phones with Android Go were launched in 2019, 37 in 2020, 50 in 2022 and in 2022 we already have 15.

Via | 9to5Google