Tough love | What Google gets wrong and should change

I will preface this by saying I am not a programmer but I am a fan of Google and will also mention that they get so many things right. However, they're not perfect and get things wrong too, which is why I am writing this blog. Google is great at building platforms such as Android, Chromium and among others which are awesome. But Google falls short when taking care of their own homegrown apps and services, and devices at times to their own detriment. There are many examples I can use but will stick to just a few. 

The first one that comes to mind is the feature Bubbles. It was announced way back in 2020 around IO but did not roll out until recently which is several months after Android 11 was released. Why announce it to take months to roll it out. Another issue I found as of late is app-related. Google has done a brilliant thing by placing all of their apps in the Play Store to be updated easily and without the need for a full system update. Good, right? So, why are apps with bugs taking so long to get fixed? I reported an issue with an app over a month ago now and received a response back from Google seemingly acknowledging the problem but the same issue persists. So I send feedback and wait. I don’t expect app issues to be resolved in a matter of days but more than a month for bugs to linger in an app can be infuriating some people. I included.

So this is not intended to bash Google but a way to hold them accountable. None of the issues I mentioned are deal-breakers at all but is a call to possible issues in the future. What I mean is that Google is looking for users to pay for what used to be free services. I'm not opposed to that, however, the apps and services must work as designed and bugs in the software should be resolved quickly. It seems like Google is stretching itself thin by dabbling in other platforms.

What I would like to see moving forward with Google is for them to be a bit more selfish and prioritize their platform, apps, services and devices over everything else for their user-base best interest. Get things working on your own platforms and devices before moving on to supporting other OSs belonging to another company. Android, Pixel and the like should be at the top of the list for support and new features. So again, I'm not a programmer and have no knowledge of the internal workings at Google. These are my thoughts on what I see, read and hear in the media. Google can do better and I am pulling for them.