There were a huge number of announcements yesterday at Google I/O but two of them that are sparking a lot of interest are Google Allo and Duo. Allo is the new messaging app from the company that brings a significant amount of personalization and leverages Google’s machine learning on the back end to allow you to get quick replies that are more personal to you. Duo is the company’s new one-on-one video app that allows you to make video calls seamlessly with other people, even if they are on iOS. While both apps aren’t expected for a few months, you can add both of them to your wishlist in the Google Play Store today.
For Allo, Google is really working on making messaging more personal which, given the flood of apps in the market, is a tough trick to turn. Allo will allow you to make your text big or small (so no
Google Allo
more ALL CAPS to yell) and it leverages Google’s AI and machine learning to give you great contextual information and quick replies. It also has an incognito mode which will destroy messages after a time period you set. This is clearly aimed at taking on Snapchat.
Duo is the personal video app. This app allows you to have an encrypted video call with anyone with the app, whether they are on Android or iOS. It has an inivitive “knock-knock” feature which allows you to see the person who is calling you prior to you picking up your device and answering the video call. Google has also designed Duo to have the call instantly start when you do accept it, leveraging technologies such as WebRTC to make things smooth and fast.
There was no timeline on when exactly we would see these apps released for Android and iOS other than “later this summer”. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get in the virtual queue to download them. Both apps are available in the Google Play Store for adding to your wishlist so when they are released, you will get notified so you can download them to your phone.
To wishlist Google Allo, visit this link.
To wishlist Google Duo, visit this link.
