A few weeks ago at Google I/O we saw the announcements from Google on Google Allo and Google Duo. For those who may not recall, 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.
A few days after I/O, Google set up Allo and Duo in the Google Play Store so that you could add them to your Wishlist. They moved it up a level now and you can pre-register for both apps in the Store today.
You may remember a few weeks back when I told you about the new pre-release section of the Play Store and the benefits it has for both developers and users. Google, it would see, is taking full advantage of this on Allo and Duo so they can have an idea of just how many people are going to use the new apps once they hit the store later this year.
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 is still no official release date for either Allo or Duo other than later this summer. I would expect that they will launch about the same time that we see Android N hit the market but it could be a bit sooner.
Pre-register for Google Allo here and do the same for Google Duo here.
