Google Messenger Fails to Gain Much Mainstream Appeal

Google is at it again. It has come out with yet another app for messaging for smart phones and it is intriguing why it would seek to confuse its users by doing so.  You already have the Hangouts app as well as the Android default app for messaging doing duty and certainly did not need a new app for the same purpose, surely? What is more frustrating is the release of such apps with redundant features and nothing exciting or new to show off.

Google Messenger – Restricted In Its Appeal

The new Google Messenger definitely will not excite users considering you cannot send messages using the internet. Its rivals, the WhatsApp as well as Face book Messenger do a better job. Google’s own Hangouts app accomplishes this purpose. The only thing you can do is receive and send texts messages and MMS with this app which is an updated one of the default Android messaging app. Google in releasing this one is indicating it wants to slowly do away with the apps it has already placed on the Android OS. There seems no other logic to it. This conscious and deliberate uncoupling can be a good thing in the long run as it would allow both Google and other players to carry out updates to core apps residing on the Android device through Google Play store. There will be no need to wait for such updates to flow from the operating system. However, it must be said that Google appears to be confused with its Android strategy as there is no benefit served to anybody by releasing duplicate versions. Perhaps it is doing too many things at the same time and that is resulting in such chaos?

A Plethora Of Google Offerings

Readers will recall that Google started it all with its Messaging app that was installed by default into every Android phone. Then it introduced the Google Voice which US customers could avail of through a single universal number that they could use for multiple gadgets for texting and calling. Then we saw Google Chat which was essentially a mobile avatar of the Gmail messaging app, which had also morphed into an app called the Hangouts. Initially though you could not use the Hangouts to send and receive text messages unless you had the internet connectivity. But from April this year, you could use the Hangouts too to send SMS, but since Android smart phones already had the default messaging app, this proved to be redundant. When you add the messaging apps from third parties to all this, you can imagine the confusion you are causing for the user. It is a case of too many apps for one purpose and many users would not know which to use and which to disable. They would also want to know if there is proper syncing across apps. The scenario is similar with the Android Gallery and the Google Photos apps. They perform the same functions and end up duplicating each other.