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Google Duo Video Chat App Arrives On iOS and Android With End-to-end Encryption (betanews.com)

Posted by msmash on from the affinity-for-privacy dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Video chat should be simple, but it is not. The biggest issue is fragmentation. On iOS, for instance, Facetime is a wonderfully easy solution, but there is no Android client. While there are plenty of cross-platform third-party options to solve this, they aren't always elegant. Skype is a good example of an app that should bridge the gap, but ends up being buggy and clunky. Google is aiming to solve this dilemma with its 'Duo' video chat app. With it, the search giant is putting a heavy focus on ease of use. The offering is available for both Android and iOS -- the only two mobile platforms that matter (sorry, Windows 10 Mobile). Announced three months ago, it finally sees release today. There is no news about the Allo chat sister-app, sadly.

3 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Desktop? by StatFiend · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What about desktop applications? Is this planned?

  2. Re:"3 whole buttons to talk to Nana? Bullshit!" by Mark+of+the+North · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Uh. Won't that just mean more fragmentation? And therefore, by your own logic, doesn't that just make the problem worse?

    There isn't yet a decent cross-platform solution. Something as easy to use as Facetime, but covering all important platforms. And until Duo covers Windows, Mac OS, and Linux, it isn't that solution either. But Google would seem to be interested in covering the major platforms. Users definitely want a solution with complete platform coverage. Contrast that with Apple (definitely) and Microsoft's (less so) interests being against having a cross-platform solution.

    I'm tentatively hopeful.

  3. POTS by darkain · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Serious question. POTS systems are pretty much standardized world-wide, except for the numbering schemes between various regions around the globe. But right now, I can simply dial a number for virtually any country in the world, and it'll work.

    Fragmentation within the video space exists BECAUSE of what Google is doing right now. This isn't their first chat system. It isn't their second. It really isn't even their third system. (Chat, Voice, Hangouts, Google+). If they can't even manage decent interoperability between their own services, how the hell are end users supposed to enjoy this?

    Since the POTS networks have been upgraded over the years to include things like CallerID, SMS and HD Audio/VoLTE, why couldn't they just add another universal expansion for a video protocol that can be standardized across the board that any telco and handset manufacturer could get behind? I don't need to worry about having to download an app to be able to call or text someone, why should I have to do the same if the exact same call contains video on top of voice/text?