Following the announcement of its Assistant digital helper as well as the Amazon Echo‘s competitor Home, Google is now focusing on messaging and videos.
Allo was the first app announced at I/O 2016, and now Duo, a mobile exclusive one to one video service has been unveiled…
It includes a feature called Knock Knock, which lets people see the caller — and the caller’s situation –before answering. The app supports the same end-to-end encryption found in Allo. It relies on WebRTC to power instant video and improve video call quality.
Allo relies on an extremely simple user interface, which aims at simplifying the way we think of apps of this kind. When you open the app, in fact, you’re immediately greeted with a preview of yourself given by your phone’s front facing camera.
Then a card with big circle images of your contacts will appear; tap one, and off you go. You can toggle the microphone on and off, or you can obviously switch cameras — but that’s pretty much it, because Duo does not aim to be anything but a neat, fast and reliable video calling app.
It can seamlessly switch between WiFi and cellular depending on network quality. The UI fades away so people can focus on the video conversation, rather than the controls.
Allo will be available starting this summer as an Android and iOS app only, and will use your phone number as an identifier.
