There are a million email clients out there. There is zero reason for people to use Gmail (the app) at all if they want this kind of functionality.
I use Gmail because it intergrates with Google Calendar.
That's unfortunately not how it works. Computers being 100X faster just allows apps to be 100X slower. Which in turns enables companies to add crap to be more profitable (like tracking, ads) or to make their devs more productive (by using frameworks that make them quicker at developing slower apps).
> I use Gmail because it intergrates with Google Calendar.
And by doing that, you support the model above. If you want a fast and minimal email service, you should use one. Not wish that GMail becomes one.
On that note, I use CalDAV to synchronize my Google Calendar, and it works quite well.
Or you can just use basic HTML with a custom stylesheet that makes it look more 21st century and you have a lightning-fast, sleek experience.
Make faster hardware, and companies will build slower software. The goal of companies is just to produce as much software as possible, it doesn't have to be good (software is mostly pretty bad nowadays). And that's good for hardware companies, because it forces users to buy newer hardware.
It is some kind of systemic programmed obsolescence. It's just bad for the consumers, because they haven't gained much in 20 years, other than an obligation to buy new hardware regularly if they want their experience to stay bearable.