When social media and messaging platform have become two of the mostly widely used methods for online communication and information exchange, email has somehow become a thing of the past. But it's here to stay.
While it's presence isn't anymore as powerful as it was, it is still widely used. As an outdated method of communication, email is still here and nevertheless thriving.
Email is probably the one best thing businesses and alike have come to on the web. Using emails, they can send professionally-made and targeted marketing, for example. But in terms of sending files, using email attachment isn't a good option.
While users can certainly use Google Drive and Dropbox, the primary purpose of cloud-based storage isn't for sending files from A to B, and neither is social media or messaging platform. Email is.
Because files are somehow becoming larger and the needs for larger files increase, Google wants to max out its Gmail by upgrading it for a better use.
On March 3rd, 2017, Google announced that it's upgrading its Gmail service so users can receive 50MB attachment, or a double from the previous 25MB. This is certainly a welcome move for users, and a strike to competitors like Outlook and Yahoo! because there is no mainstream email client that offers email attachments beyond 25MB.
Google still recommends users to use Google Drive to store and send large files. But for businesses and alike, the tech giant acknowledges that they are yet to switch from Gmail to its G Suite. Using the previous Gmail 26MB attachment limit, sending large files such as high-resolution photos, PDF presentations or Photoshop files can be a pain. But with 50MB, Google thinks that the increase will suffice.
While the upgrade can be beneficial, it has two drawbacks.
First, the update is just for receiving attachment. Users can receive attachments to up to 50MB at a time, but sending attachment is still capped at 25MB.
Second, users that are uploading files to Drive for safe keeping and sharing, for example, and use Photos as a way to backup their smartphones' gallery (original size setting), the chances are they are already using plenty of storage space. Since it would be easier for users to receive large attachments with the Gmail upgrade, without proper management, their storage space can run out sooner.
This is because Google is still applying its old rule: Google Drive Storage is shared across Drive, Photos and also Gmail. And for most Google users, it's 15GB.