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Why didn't they just update hangouts? I actually use hangouts for video calls with relative frequency, and I wish it was better adapted to changes in network sp
by dzmien 10y ago
Why didn't they just update hangouts? I actually use hangouts for video calls with relative frequency, and I wish it was better adapted to changes in network speed like they say Duo is. I think it would be better if "Duo" was just integrated into hangouts as an update. I like hangouts because it allows me to use one app for voice, text and video.
- ethanbond 10y agoWell it wouldn't be Google with any fewer than 4 semi-competing apps in their own portfolio.
- perseusprime11 10y agoMy guess is Duo will be like Inbox competing with gmail. I am guessing here but I think Google is on to something around innovation. They are launching innovative future facing apps without the constraints of legacy systems. They will use this approach to figure out which features work and back port them into their legacy apps. Not a bad approach if it works.
- tgb 10y agoThat's fine for an email client, but video chat requires network effect to be useful.
- wayzel 10y agoThe network effect is portable when the identities are preserved across products. For example, Facebook's separating out of FB Messenger was done while preserving the already built-up network effect.
- untog 10y agoBut this requires you and all your friends to sign up to yet another system, with yet another account. "Try this app, at has some features that may or may not make it into Hangouts" is not a great sell for my friends.
- randomguy7788 10y agothankfully looks like this one doesn't need an account
- cylinder 10y agoThere is no signing up or passwords. Just SMS verification code, like WhatsApp.
- exclusiv 10y agoTrue, but with Android's market share, it's pretty compelling to be able to do a "FaceTime" with anyone. That's the larger opportunity. Many people have iPhones because of FaceTime. If Google can show that you can Duo anyone and it works as well, then they may switch, perhaps even to their very own Nexus devices. I'm not sure I personally like this app because I'm on Android and I used to have an excuse to not FaceTime friends and family, haha. If they discover this Duo, I may get pressured.
- untog 10y ago> True, but with Android's market share, it's pretty compelling to be able to do a "FaceTime" with anyone. That's the larger opportunity. Assuming it ends up on all Android phones. Which is a big assumption.
- exclusiv 10y agoI believe Duo will be added to the next Android release. It will take awhile for devices to get of course, but that's a big advantage.
- ethanbond 10y agoA feature coming to maybe a fraction of phones some day in the future several years too late is not "a big advantage." It's as disadvantageous a spot as you can be in, and Google put themselves there by squandering their multiple previous big advantages.
- mkhpalm 10y agoI would argue that its already not working. I remember a time when everybody I knew went to google for communications services. After a few years of domination Google started competing with itself and suddenly those of us who were willing to change found ourselves alone.
- xeniak 10y agoDuo looks like it doesn't require a Google account; just a phone number - think WhatsApp.
- Navarr 10y agoAndroidPolice has an article today[1] that Hangouts has failed as an all-in-one messaging platform. They're going to focus it in on the enterprise - where usage is much more prevalent, apparently - whatever that means. Hangouts is likely to become a Google Apps Slack competitor, I guess. [1]: http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/16/google-planning-focus-hangouts-business-consumers-allo-duo-release/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/16/google-planning-focu...
- junker101 10y agoAlso, the security aspect: Hangouts would get a bunch of backlash in the Enterprise world if they added the Allo type features to it. So they have pretty much to have separate systems for Enterprise vs Consumer if they want to integrate all the Google Now capabilities.
- Eridrus 10y agoMany people/companies use hangouts for video conferencing because all of the solutions in the space suck in one way or another.
- eeeeeeeeeeeee 10y agoSeriously. The entire Google Hangouts experience is extremely unfriendly and difficult to use. It's a great service, but the UX is awful. It's hard to get any non-technical person into a Hangouts call for the first time.
- frankydp 10y agohttp://hangouts.google.com/start http://hangouts.google.com/start That link can actually make it much easier for the use case you described. The url after it loads can be shared.
- cptskippy 10y agoAbsolutely and the experience in mobile is completely disjointed from the desktop experience. When and what it decides to log is also quite arbitrary.
- paulftw 10y agoMy guess it's an independent team inside Google decided "let's make a better facetime" and starting from scratch was easier than wrapping their heads around a several years old codebase.
- amitheonlyone 10y agoI don't understand why they need to have different apps doing the same thing. I am on the same boat as you, using Hangouts for video calls quite frequently. Instead of releasing a new app like Duo, they should have first fixed performance issues with Hangouts and added this as an update. Then there is Allo. Google has weird thinking.
- ehosca 10y agobecause Hangouts is going away ... search the Play store for Allo ...
- findjashua 10y agoThey probably want to focus hangouts on enterprise and Duo on consumer market
- cylinder 10y agoHangouts is so clunky, I avoid using it. I'm excited about Duo because it's so minimalistic and just works. Great for quick video chats with parents.