Google hangouts has been growing in popularity since its introduction, but the company revealed its plans to integrate different forms of messaging into one platform.
Thereby hangouts would be the destination for all text messaging and Internet conversations. Even though Internet chatting has grown steadily in popularity over the last decade, text messaging still occupies a major role in communication. This posed a unique problem since users have to go back and forth between text messaging and Internet conversations.
Hangouts has decided to eliminate this problem by offering a unique one-stop platform for both aspects. This will now be integrating text messaging and Internet conversations from the same contact into one place.
Similar to Apple’s Philosophy
Apple recently came out with a similar strategy for its iMessages. This has proven to be a popular move and it has not been long before Google has come out with this merger. The hangouts app for both android phones and tablets will now feature the ability to support text messaging as well. Google engineer, Mike Dodd says that users will not be confused by the two aspects since they can be told apart easily by differences in the user interface.
Color coding will be the major difference separating the text messaging and Internet conversations.
Users Can Opt Out As Well
Those who are not happy with the integration can always choose to unmerge hangouts from text messages. The provision of this option is a welcome move for many, who have not taken to all of the services from Google in the past. The latest version of hangouts also comes with the ability to find contacts much more easily than before. The company also claims that they have improved the quality of the video calling while also improving the readability aspect of MMS and SMS.
Google Can Do Better Than Apple
Some experts have claimed that Google will now be able to take Internet messaging to another level following this update. Even though Apple was one of the first to introduce it on the iMessages, they say that Google will be much better at making this technology more user friendly because they work on several platforms at the same time. Google will be able to support different platforms on mobile phones, desktops and tablet PCs.
Apple, on the other hand, only works on devices running on the Mac operating system.
iMessages came out with support for the desktops and tablet PCs and this has been a major reason towards its popularity. This enabled users to communicate using the computer, which is an aspect most people still prefer nowadays, rather than the much smaller mobile phones.
Google has claimed that it will be rolling out the new update to the Hangouts in this week. Users from around the world will be able to download it using the Play Store. Hangouts is one of the popular apps for Internet messaging. The video calling facility of this app can be a suitable replacement for a premium video conferencing facility since it can support up to 10 people at a time.
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