Hangouts On Air shifts to YouTube Live as steady move away from Google+ continues
Well you can’t be surprised, can you?
In what only felt like an inevitability, Google has put out an announcement that Hangouts On Air events will no longer be tied to Google+ and will be completely contained into YouTube Live instead. It’ll be a hard break on September 12, where Google+ will no longer be able to create Hangouts On Air and any events scheduled for the future will have to be manually recreated on YouTube Live.
Just one less reason for big media outlets and personalities to use Google+
It doesn’t take much thought to realize this makes a whole lot of sense from multiple perspectives. Not only has Google+ usage continued to decrease as YouTube continues to be as strong as ever, but the idea of live video streams from your phone and computer being tied to YouTube while live Hangouts were tied to Google+ just made things confusing. With the move to YouTube Live, it will be even easier to keep everything contained into a single platform rather than crossing streams.
If you want to look at things from a bit more cynical (albeit increasingly rational) point of view, you’ll also note that this means businesses and media personalities will no longer have to go anywhere near Google+ in order to have a live show or interview using the Hangouts On Air technology. And considering the notable exposure that provided for Google+ as a platform for discussions and groups, this is a pretty big move away from Google+ in terms of promotion and marketing.
Google’s new video chat app Duo is finally rolling out right now
And its companion app Allo is nowhere to be seen.
Almost exactly three months after announcing Duo back at Google I/O, Google has subtly put up a blog post stating that the new standalone video chat app is rolling out imminently.
If you needed a refresher on the app (it has definitely been a while), Duo is a simple person-to-person video chat app that’s designed to take the fuss and hassle out of making a video call — to make it a more “human” way to communicate. The technology behind Duo is supposed to make calls seamless and fast, even on slower network connections, and a standout feature called “Knock Knock” gives you a glimpse at the other person before you pick up the video call so you know what you’re getting into. It’s also a cross-platform app, with iOS support from Day 1.
At the time of writing the Duo app listing is still listed as a “pre-register” rather than download, but that has been the case off-and-on for months now … but we expect the download links to go live shortly as things propagate. The official Duo website is now live, though, albeit with very sparse information and links back to the Google Play Store. Google’s blog post indicates that in just a few days it’ll be available around the world to let you link up with your friends and family in a more personal way.
Interestingly, Duo’s companion app, the full-featured chat app Allo, is nowhere to be seen as part of this announcement.
Google will shift Hangouts to the enterprise after Allo and Duo release
Hangouts will live on, but perhaps not in the way you expect.
Alongside the announcement of video chat app Duo’s imminent release, and the hint that companion messaging app Allo is just around the corner, Google has announced that its divisive multi-platform Hangouts service will shift its focus away from consumers.
In an interview with Engadget, Nick Fox, Google’s VP of communication products, said that “because Hangouts is built on a Google account, [and] because it’s deeply integrated with Google apps… it’s seen much more success in the enterprise.”
Earlier today, the company announced that Hangouts on Air, Google’s live video conferencing and sometimes podcast solution, would be moving from Google+ to YouTube Live in an attempt to salvage one of Hangouts’ most popular features.
The shift away from Hangouts and Google+ in the consumer space plays into Google’s vision for mobile-first communications
The shift away from Hangouts and Google+ in the consumer space plays into Google’s vision for mobile-first communications, which sees Android and iOS as the primary operating systems people will turn to for sharing their text- and video-based thoughts and feelings with the world. Hangouts, like Google+, will live on in reduced roles within the company, deemphasized within Google’s core product lineup but imperative to a small group of niche, loyal users.
To many people, Hangouts tried to do too much, and failed to do anything best. Allo and Duo are Google’s opportunity to reset the timer and meet the audience where they are: on phones. Unfortunately, they are well behind the competition, with giants like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Line, WeChat, Skype and others already amassing millions, and in some cases billions, of monthly users. It will be interesting to see whether Allo and Duo can have the impact Hangouts never did.
Gears of War 4 in 4K preview: Played on an Nvidia GTX 1070 notebook
Microsoft’s Gears of War 4, developed by in-house team The Coalition, is shaping up to be the best chapter in the series for years. Not only is it the first to be developed specifically for the current generation Xbox One, it offers HDR graphics for Xbox One S owners, giving them a wider colour gamut and a bit more contrast.
However, even that is chicken feed in comparison with the PC version for Windows 10. If you have a machine powerful enough, with top notch graphics card, you can play the long-awaited sequel in 4K, at a minimum of 60fps and with ultra settings.
That’s exactly what we did. And on a notebook to boot.
How? Well, we played a lengthy demo level of the single-player campaign during a special event Nvidia held just outside London, using an EVGA SC17 notebook with a 4K G-Sync capable display and GeForce GTX 1070 graphics running the show.
Pocket-lint
Nvidia announced that this year it wasn’t compromising on its portable graphics processors. Rather than mobile versions of its GPUs, as last time around, OEMs are putting full GeForce GTX 1080, GTX 1070 and GTX 1060 chips in their latest devices. The power management of the Pascal architecture enables them to work in such an environment in the same way they would a desktop, thereby opening up the possibilities for laptop 4K gaming at seriously good levels.
And boy did we see that in action.
There was also a notebook next to ours running the GTX 1080, but had a 120Hz display rather than Ultra HD one. We wanted to play Gears of War 4 in full 4K, so chose the lower spec’ed machine – crazy right?
The game itself is stunning, especially with the added detail afforded by the resolution. Lighting effects make the most of the ultra settings and we didn’t notice a drop in frame rate at all, even during the most chaotic, packed sequences.
We knew we’d be playing as JD Fenix, son of original protaganist Marcus, and we knew that his father would feature somehow thanks to an E3 reveal. What we didn’t know is that Marcus Fenix would be part of the squad. He accompanied us in our level, even helping out here and there. We wonder if there’s the possibility of playing as him in co-op? Guess we’ll find out soon.
Pocket-lint
- Gears of War 4 multiplayer preview: Grinding those gears
- Xbox One Gears of War 4 Elite Controller: The best gamepad just got even better
In addition, we also got to see a new, previously unannounced feature: windflares. On the level we played, the team faced new enemies The Swarm, while facing game-changing weather effects.
When caught in a windflare, the typhoon style effects have multiple consequences, that are of a disadvantage or can be used to aid your progress. For example, thanks to the strong winds, we managed to shoot a barrier holding back a massive, metal pipe which then proceeded to rapidly roll over our foes. On the flip side, we found we couldn’t use a Buzzkill effectively as the circular blades went off course as they were fired.
It makes for different strategies and a more tangible fight, we feel. And we loved every second of it.
At the end of that level, giant towers of electricity rained from the skies, which we had to avoid. And then it was over. We survived and cannot wait to play more closer to release.
First Impressions
In essence, our playtime with Gears of War 4 in 4K allowed us to do two things. First, we got to play the game in the best mode possible, which made us gasp on occasion with how amazing it looked.
We also got to see what’s possible on a gaming notebook, one of the fastest growing sectors in the games industry.
Laptops sporting Nvidia’s latest Pascal GPUs will not be cheap – even those with the GTX 1060 will cost £1,000 and up – but they will be a direct equivalent of a desktop. They will be capable of running the latest games at their very best. And what’s more, they will be available very soon.
As for Gears 4, it’s part of the Xbox Play Anywhere deal so if you buy the digital download version for Xbox One, you’ll get the 4K-capable Windows 10 for free, so you can always start playing while you save up for that pukka laptop you’ve got your eye on. Job sorted.
Gears of War 4 will be available from 11 October.
NASA wants some assistance catching an asteroid
If you haven’t heard yet, NASA aims to capture an asteroid, drag it to the orbit between the Earth and the moon and ultimately send people to scour it for samples. While that sounds like a crazy plot from an astronaut movie, it’s very much real. In fact, the agency has just announced that it plans to ask for help from aerospace companies to make it happen. Under the new Asteroid Redirect Mission Umbrella for Partnerships (ARM-UP) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) project, NASA will accept proposals for different aspects of the mission.
Before elaborating on the proposals the agency will accept, you need to know that the mission has two stages. First is the robotic stage slated for launch in 2021 that will send an unmanned vehicle to drag an asteroid to cislunar space. For the second phase scheduled for 2028, NASA plans to send a crew aboard an Orion spacecraft to the captured asteroid to retrieve samples.
Starting in September, the agency will accept proposals for partner-provided payloads, such as scientific instruments, aboard the robotic flight. It will also accept membership applications for an investigation team who will lend their technical expertise to the project for the next three to five years. Finally, NASA will look at proposals from companies seeking to take part in the crewed phase of the mission and from those seeking access to the asteroid after its astronauts are done examining it.
The agency didn’t exactly explain why it’s opening up ARM to private space corporations, but Spaceref notes that the robotic stage’s projected costs went up from $1.25 billion to $1.4 billion. That’s a big issue, seeing as the government already made it quite clear that it doesn’t want to spend money on the mission. We’ll hear more details about the project soon when NASA holds its virtual community forum on September 14th, 2016 .
Via: PopSci, Spaceref
Source: FBO
Thin gaming laptops will run VR with NVIDIA’s new chip
Nvidia has just taken the wraps off a trio of laptop GPUs based on its new “Pascal” chip architecture, the GeForce GTX 1060M, the 1070M and the 1080M. While the 1080M is by far the most impressive, it’s the humble 1060M that could make the biggest impact on the market. Why? Because it facilitates using a virtual reality headset like the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift on a reasonably small laptop.
The 1060M essentially replaces the 970M, insomuch as it’ll fit into the same sort of products as the older chip. All of the technologies launched for the Pascal architecture, including VRWorks and Ansel, are supported on the 1060M, which has 1,280 CUDA cores, 6GB of 192-bit, 8Gbps memory and a base clock speed of 1,404MHz. The end result of these specs is a “VR-ready” chip that’ll fit in laptops as svelte as 18mm, like the Razer Blade.
What exactly “VR ready” means nowadays is a bit of a mystery. Oculus and HTC released their headsets targeting the desktop GTX 980, but both AMD and NVIDIA have since released cheaper cards (the RX 480 and the GTX 1060, respectively) that both claim to play nice with VR.
At a launch event in the UK, NVIDIA showed off the 1060M, 1070M and 1080M paired with various VR games. But while the more powerful chips were demoed with graphically intense games, NVIDIA chose The Thrill of the Fight. It’s a very fun, but relatively undemanding title, requiring only a desktop GTX 970 card. The MSI GS43 (an updated GS40 with a 1060M GPU inside) handled it perfectly. For regular gaming, NVIDIA claims it’ll do just fine. The same MSI GS43 hit 96.4FPS in Doom (1080p, ultra settings), 51.4FPS in The Witcher 3 (1080p, maxed settings, HairWorks disabled), and 71.5FPS in Tomb Raider (1080p, very high). Older games can play nice with higher resolutions, with <em>BioShock Infinite</em> hitting 72.4FPS at 1440p, and <em>Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor</em> hitting 62.1FPS, both with “ultra” settings.
| CUDA cores | 1,280 | 1,280 | 2,048 |
| Base clock | 1,404MHz | 1,506MHz | 1,126MHz |
| Boost clock | 1,670MHz | 1,708MHz | 1,216MHz |
| Memory | 6GB GDDR5* | 6GB GDDR5 | 4GB GDDR5 |
| Memory speed | 8Gbps | 8Gbps | 7Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 192GB/sec | 192GB/sec | 224GB/sec |
*Up to
When pressed, representatives at the event said the 1060M is VR-ready, and agreed that a stable “90 frames-per-second is a must for VR,” but “you might need to play around with the settings, as you would on any PC game, in order to reach that.” That suggests that while, yes, the 1060M has the power to run the current crop of VR games, don’t expect to be playing with Ultra graphics settings. NVIDIA also cautions that the “VR-ready” status is only when you’re plugged into an outlet — when running from the battery it won’t reach the clock speeds necessary. Digging into NVIDIA’s official benchmark sheet (which doesn’t compare the two directly), it seems that the 1060M is basically on par with the GTX 980, which makes the decision to restrict demos to such a forgiving game a strange one.
Putting minutiae to one side, NVIDIA’s new laptop GPUs look like winners. The 1080M almost kills the need for laptops with desktop chips in them (although I’m sure the market will continue). It’ll support SLI, and even on its own, can maintain 60fps in 4K for all but the most-demanding of titles, and 120Hz gaming in 1080p as well. The 1070M will be the go-to option for gamers without $1000s to spare, sliding into any laptop that currently houses a 980M — think something like the Asus ROG G752, the Acer Predator 15, or the Origin EON 15-X. But it’s the 1060M that offers the most exiting proposition, to me at least. Laptops like the Razer Blade, the MSI GS40 Phantom and the Gigabyte Aorus X3 Plus are already combining portability with legitimate gaming chops. Now, newer versions will also be able to support VR.
MSI and Origin PC use NVIDIA’s desktop-grade laptop graphics
PC makers aren’t wasting any time implementing NVIDIA’s GTX 10 series laptop graphics in their lineups. Both MSI and Origin PC have revealed that their higher-end gaming portables will be among the first to pack the much faster, desktop-class graphics. At MSI, the big deal is that it’s not just big, chunky systems that are getting a refresh — even relatively slim laptops like the GS and GE series will have VR-worthy graphics thanks to the GTX 1060M. You’ll have to move up to the GT range to get the 1070M or 1080M (up to two of them in Titan SLI variants like the GT73VR above), but that’s a solid baseline.
The upgraded MSI rigs should be available now, although they won’t come cheap. The experience starts with the $1,599 GS43VR Phantom Pro and its 14-inch 1080p screen, GTX 1060M, 2.6GHz Core i7, 16GB of RAM and 1TB hard drive, and you can spend as much as $5,099 if you want an 18-inch GT83VR Titan SLI with dual GTX 1080Ms, 2.9GHz Core i7, two 512GB SSDs, a 1TB hard drive and 64GB (!) of RAM.
Origin PC, meanwhile, is focused strictly on updating its beefy EON-15 and EON-17 machines. Pricing will vary depending on your configuration, but you can get up to a GTX 1070M in the 15-inch EON15-X (below), a 1080M in the 17-inch EON-17X, and dual 1080Ms in the EON17-SLX. They can all carry up to a 4K display, 64GB of RAM, dual 1TB SSDs and a desktop-level 4GHz Core i7 processor. None of them are svelte, then. However, they might be what you’re looking for if you can’t imagine giving up any significant amount of performance when on the road.
And it’s important to stress that these aren’t the only two vendors lining up. Heavyweights like Acer, ASUS, HP, Lenovo and Razer have also committed to NVIDIA’s new laptop video tech, giving you plenty of choices.
Source: MSI, Origin PC
NVIDIA brings desktop-class graphics to laptops
With the GeForce GTX 1080, NVIDIA pushed the boundaries of what a $600 graphics card can do. That flagship card was joined by the GTX 1070 and GTX 1060, two lower-power cards based on the same 16nm Pascal architecture at a much more affordable price. Now, it’s bringing mobile versions of those cards that match their desktop counterparts in almost every area — including being VR ready.
That’s not hyperbole. The top-of-the-line 1080M has 2,560 CUDA cores and 8GB of 10Gbps GDDR5x memory. The desktop chip has the same. The only difference is clock speed: it’s set at 1,556MHz, while the desktop version is 1,607MHz. The two do share the same boost clock (1,733MHz) though, and both have access to all the new technology introduced for the Pascal architecture. That means simultaneous multi-projection, VRWorks, Ansel and the rest.
If you want an idea what those specs translate to in real-world performance, how’s this: when paired with an i7-6700HQ (a quad-core 2.6GHz chip with 3.5GHz turbo), Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, 126; Overwatch, 147; Doom, 145; Metro Last Light, 130; Rise of the Tomb Raider, 125. Those are the 1080M’s FPS figures when playing at 1080p with “ultra” settings at 120Hz. NVIDIA is really pushing 120Hz gaming, and many of the first crop of Pascal laptops will have 120Hz G-Sync displays.
4K gaming, too, is more than possible. At 4K with “high” settings the same setup can push 89FPS on Overwatch, 70FPS with Doom, and 62FPS with Metro Last Light (according to NVIDIA). Only Mirror’s Edge Catalyst and Rise of the Tomb Raider fall short of 60FPS, both clocking in at a very playable 52FPS. At the chip’s UK unveil, NVIDIA showed the new Gears of War playing in 4K in real-time, and there were absolutely no visible frame drops. With figures like that, it goes without saying that VR will be no problem for the 1080M. The desktop GTX 980 is the benchmark for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, and the 1080M blows it away. If you’re looking for more performance, the 1080M supports overclocking of course — NVIDIA suggests as high as 300MHz — and you can expect laptops sporting two in an SLI configuration soon.
The major drawback for the 1080M is power. We don’t know its exact TDP yet, but given the near-identical desktop version runs at 180W, you’d imagine it’s got to be at least 150W. NVIDIA has tech that counters that heavy power load when you’re not plugged in, of course. Chief among these is BatteryBoost, which allows you to set a framerate (i.e. 30FPS), and downclocks the GPU appropriately to save power — if your card is capable of pushing 147FPS plugged in, that’s going to be a fair amount of power saved. Whatever the battery savings possible, though, it won’t change the fact that the 1080M is only going to slide into big laptops.
That’s fine for those already used to carrying around behemoths on the go, but plenty of gamers prefer something more portable. Enter the 1070M. NVIDIA says this chip will fit into any chassis that currently handles the 980M, which covers a lot of laptops.
Just like the 1080M, the 1070M matches its desktop sibling in many ways. You’ve actually got slightly more in the way of CUDA cores — 2,048 vs. the desktop’s 1,920, but again they’re clocked slower (1,442MHz vs. 1,506MHz). Memory is the same — 8GB 8Gbps GDDR5 — and it too benefits from both the Pascal architecture itself and the new software features that come with it.
| CUDA cores | 2,560 | 2,560 | 1,920 | 2,048 |
| Base clock | 1,607MHz | 1,556MHz | 1,506MHz | 1,442MHz |
| Boost clock | 1,733MHz | 1,733MHz | 1,683MHz | 1,645MHz |
| Memory | 8GB GDDR5X | 8GB GDDR5X | 8GB GDDR5 | 8GB GDDR5 |
| Memory speed | 10Gbps | 10Gbps | 8Gbps | 8Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 320GB/sec | 320GB/sec | 256GB/sec | 256GB/sec |
When faced off against the desktop 1070, the 1070M holds its own. In nearly every test we saw, it got within a couple of percentiles of the desktop card. We’re talking 77FPS in The Witcher 3 (1080p maxed settings, no HairWorks) vs. 79.7FPS on the 1070; 76.2FPS in The Division (1080p ultra) vs. 76.6FPS; and 64.4FPS in Crysis 3 (1080p very high) vs. 66.4FPS. The one outlier was Grand Theft Auto V, which dropped down to 65.3FPS vs. 73.7FPS on the desktop 1070. 4K gaming is a stretch on the desktop 1070, and that carries over here, but this card is more-than VR ready. NVIDIA says that it’ll support factory overclocking on the 1070M soon, so you may see laptops offering a little more grunt “in a couple of months.”
Rounding off the lineup is the 1060M, the mobile version of NVIDIA’s $249 “budget” VR-ready card. It’s something of the exception to the rule here. Yes, it offers 1,280 CUDA cores and 6GB 8Gbps GDDR5 memory, which is equal to the desktop 1060. But at the lower end of the range the fact that they’re clocked lower (1,404MHz vs. 1,506MHz) hurts performance quite a bit more. In side-by-side comparisons, NVIDIA’s benchmarks suggest you’ll get within ten percent or so of the desktop card. That’s not to say that the 1060M is a slouch. For traditional gaming, you’re not going to hit 60FPS at 1080P in every game without thinking about settings, but if you can play it on a desktop GTX 980, it’s probably a safe bet that the 1060M can handle it. That’s insanely impressive when you consider that the 1060M will fit into the same chassis as the 970M — think “ultra portable” gaming laptops.
| CUDA cores | 1,280 | 1,280 | 2,048 |
| Base clock | 1,404MHz | 1,506MHz | 1,126MHz |
| Boost clock | 1,670MHz | 1,708MHz | 1,216MHz |
| Memory | 6GB GDDR5* | 6GB GDDR5 | 4GB GDDR5 |
| Memory speed | 8Gbps | 8Gbps | 7Gbps |
| Memory Bandwidth | 192GB/sec | 192GB/sec | 224GB/sec |
*Up to
In reality, the 10-percent gap between the 1060 and the 1060M probably makes it slightly slower than the GTX 980, but the difference is almost negligible. I wasn’t able to push the 1060M too hard on the “VR ready” promise — you can read about the demo and why the 1060M matters in a separate article — but the demo I had was solid. And really, being able to plug an Oculus into something as slim as a Razer Blade was unthinkable a few months ago, so it’s probably best not to complain.
Acer, Alienware, Asus, Clevo, EVGA, HP, Gigabyte, Lenovo, MSI, Origin, Razer, Sager and XMG are just some of the OEMs signed up to make laptops with the new Pascal chips. Many will announce updated and all-new models today, while some might hold off a while. But expect lots of super-powerful, VR-ready gaming laptops very soon.
Google will ‘increasingly focus’ Hangouts on business customers
It’s been more than three years since Google formally launched Hangouts. It was an effort to take the popular Google Talk IM app into the mobile age, but it came late to the party. Lots of competitors like Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and iMessage were firmly entrenched in mobile chat by the time Hangouts came to life. Despite finally getting a chat and video-calling platform out for every platform, Google announced at its I/O developer conference earlier this year that it was trying again. A new video chat app, Duo, is now available, and a radical new text-based messaging app called Allo is coming soon. Ever since they were announced in May, Google users have wondered: What’s to become of Hangouts?
Google’s VP of communication products, Nick Fox, was willing to talk about that when he gave me an early demo of Duo last week. As Google said earlier this year, Hangouts isn’t going away — but the company will now focus Hangouts on its business users. Going forward, Allo and Duo will be the company’s main consumer chat plays.
“Because Hangouts is built on a Google account, because it’s deeply integrated with Google apps, the Apps suite [things like Drive, Docs, etc.], Gmail, Calendar and so on, it’s seen much more success in the enterprise,” Fox told me. “It will increasingly focus on that kind of group collaboration enterprise productivity space.”
Duo’s focus is extreme simplicity, and anyone who’s used Hangouts for any length of time will admit it’s not the simplest of services. For example, you can do video calls with multiple participants in Hangouts, while Duo allows only one-to-one video calling. That need to make things easier is likely why Google wanted a clean break with the rollout of Allo and Duo — they aren’t tied to your Google account or any of its previous communication services.
Fox also said Google recognized that it didn’t make sense to have one app do everything, something we’ve seen from companies like Facebook, which controversially broke messaging out of its main app. “We’ve historically tried to do a lot in a single app, but the reality is that are pretty different types of communication,” Fox says. “We see them differently, and we think we’ll be able to build the best experiences by building focused experiences that do what they’re intended to do really, really well.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be consumer confusion going forward, however. Hangouts will continue to exist, and many consumers will certainly still use “Gchat” when looking at their email in a browser. But when they go mobile, Allo and Duo are entirely separate experiences with no desktop equivalent. Google may be focusing Hangouts on the enterprise crowd going forward, but there isn’t a clear path to moving consumers from Hangouts to Allo and Duo.
Of course, for lots of users, that likely won’t matter. Google is right to make mobile its focus because that’s clearly where consumers are. If Duo and Allo are successful, Hangouts will simply fade into memory, used by people who need its more-robust feature set. It’s not what Google had in mind when the product launched three years ago, but sometimes a reboot is necessary.
Duo, Google’s supersimple video chat app, arrives today
Back in May at its I/O developer conference, Google introduced a pair of new communication apps: Allo for text-based communication and Duo for video calling. Allo is the more interesting of the two, with its deep usage of the intelligent Google Assistant bot — but Duo is the one we’ll get to try first. Google hopes it’ll stand out among a bevy of other communications apps thanks to a laser focus on providing a high-quality mobile experience. It’s available today for both the iPhone and Android phones.
“The genesis of Duo was we really saw a gap when it came to video calling,” Nick Fox, Google VP of communications products, said. “We heard lots of [user] frustration, which led to lack of use — but we also heard a lot of desire and interest as well.” That frustration came in the form of wondering who among your contacts you could have video calls with, wondering whether it would work over the wireless connection you had available and wondering if you needed to be calling people with the same type of phone or OS as yours.
To battle that, Google made Duo cross-platform and dead simple to use. You can only call one person at a time, and there’s barely any UI or features to speak of. But from a technology standpoint, it’s meant to work for anyone with a smartphone. “It shouldn’t just work on high-end devices,” said Fox. “It should work on high-end devices and on $50 Android phones in India.”
Google designed it to work across a variety of network connections as well. The app is built to provide HD video when on good networks and to gracefully and seamless adjust quality if things get worse. You can even drop down to a 2G connection and have video pause but have the audio continue. “We’re always prioritizing audio to make sure that you don’t drop communications entirely,” Fox said.
All of this is meant to work in the background, leaving the user with a clutter-free UI and basically no buttons or settings to mess with. Once you sign into the Duo app with your phone number (no Google login needed here), you’ll see what your front-facing camera sees. Below that are a handful of circles representing your most recent calls in the lower third of the screen. You can drag that icon list up and scroll through through your full list of contacts; if people in your phonebook don’t have the app, you can tap their number to send an SMS and invite them to Duo.
For those who do have Duo, tapping their number initiates a video call. Once you’re on the call, you just see the person you’re talking to, with your video feed in a small circle, not unlike Apple’s FaceTime. Tapping the screen reveals the only UI elements: a hang-up button, mute button and a way to flip between the front and back cameras.
Duo is even simpler than FaceTime, and far simpler than Google’s own Hangouts app, which the company says will now be more focused on business and enterprise users. In that focus on simplicity, Fox and his team left out a number of features you might find in other video-calling apps. Chief among them is that Duo can’t do group calls; it’s meant only for one-to-one calling. Google also decided against making desktop apps for Duo or Allo.
“We forced ourselves to think exclusively about the phone and design for the phone,” Fox says. “The desktop experience is something we may build over time. But if you look around the world at the billions of people that are connected to the internet, the vast majority have one device, and that device is a phone. So it was critical for us to really nail that use case.”
That’s part of the reason Google is tying Duo to a phone number rather than your Google account: Your phone already has your contacts built in, while many people might not curate or manage their Google contacts list. This way, you can see exactly who in your usual phone book is using Duo (and if they’re not, you can send them an SMS invite).
Perhaps the most clever feature Google included is Knock Knock. If you’re using an Android phone and someone calls, you’ll see a preview of their video feed on the lock screen. The person calling can wave or gesture or make a silly face to try and draw you into the conversation, and Fox says that makes the person on the receiving end a lot more likely to answer with a smile rather than a look of confusion as they wonder if they video is working properly. For the sake of privacy, you’ll only see a video feed from people in your contacts list, and you can turn the feature off entirely if you prefer.
It’s all part of Google’s goal to make the app not just simple but “human” as well. “It’s something that you don’t generally hear from Google when we talk about our apps,” Fox admits, “but video calling is a very human experience, so it’s very important that you feel that in the app as well.”
All of this adds up to a product that is refreshingly uncluttered and has a clear sense of purpose. It doesn’t fundamentally change the video-calling experience, but it is frictionless and very easy to use on a moment’s notice. Under the hood, the app does live up to its promise of updating the call based on changing network conditions — you can even flip between WiFi and cellular networks without dropping a call. There’s not a whole lot to say about the experience, and that’s probably for the best. You can make calls to people in your contacts list easily, not worry too much about dropping them, and then get on with your life.
That ease of use is what Google hopes will pull users into the app. It does indeed feel simpler than most other options out there. But given the huge variety of communication apps available and Google’s strange historical difficulty with the space, it’s not hard to imagine Duo being a niche app. That won’t be for lack of effort — Duo actually does make video chat easier than making a phone call.
AIVAnet 