Google I/O 2016: Allo messaging and Duo video calling apps coming to Android, iOS

tech2 News StaffMay 19, 2016 01:41:40 IST

At Google I/O 2016, Erik Kay, director of engineering, communications products introduced to the developers and the world Google's new messaging app called 'Allo' and a companion video calling app called 'Duo'.

A word commonly used to say 'hello' in French, Allo is Google's (and may be the world's) smartest messenger yet. Apart from letting users chat with one another Allo also connects or is deeply integrated with Google Assistant, or Google's alternative to bots.

https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/732990394493865984

Allo comes with some interesting features like Whisper Shout and more that lets you add more emotion to your chats. With Google's Assistant built right in you get smart replies (smart suggestions) that will not only suggest quick replies to chats and pictures, but also be contextually aware as well.

The replies or "suggestion chips" comes from Google Assistant's machine learning engine that will remember, learn and differentiate (a bit creepy) and then suggest the right information on the chat.

Chats on Allo can also be encrypted and like the incognito mode on Google's Chrome browser you also get an incognito mode in chat with end-to end encryption.

Adding to Allo is Google's Duo video calling app that simply lets you place video calls. It comes with an interesting feature called 'Knock Knock' that lets you preview what's happening at the callers end, before you receive the video call.

So when a call is ringing, you can actually see what's happening on the other end before you place the call and it seems surprisingly natural. Adding to that natual feel are Google's efforts when it comes to optimisations that making handling calls seamless and smooth no matter where you are calling from.

With Hangouts almost dead (and not to mention boring), Allo indeed makes for an interesting alternative that comes to both iOS and Android in the coming months.