What do you want in an app? A solution to a genuine problem in life or rather fill a hole that has existed in our lives, for instance. Does Google Allo do this?
When Google introduced Inbox, it helped a lot in managing incoming emails. The story has been the same for Chrome browser, which made life easier when browsing the web, especially for those with multiple devices and platforms. When you have Google Photos and Google Maps installed on your phone, you will never worry about managing your photos or getting lost, respectively. The two apps offer a lot, hence their popularity.
Google has now added to its growing list of apps by making Allo official. The app is a pure messaging platform that aims to put down the likes of WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. It brings to the fold a great number of features, among them Smart Reply and Google Assistant, that make it unique. But does this uniqueness make Google Allo a real problem solver?
Google Allo is like WhatsApp
If you haven’t come across Google Allo yet, be informed that it is simply another version of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber, WeChat, Google Hangouts, and so on. It offers free instant messaging services that include texts, stickers, and photos. You can have a one-on-one chat with another Allo user, chat in a group or even chat with the Google Assistant, just in case there is no one to talk to. This is an AI-based bot that lives within the app and comes to life whenever called upon using the phrase “@google.”
You can ask the Assistant for any info, be it basic facts, news and weather, or even personal info on your email, among others. The platform will give you the same answers you get when using Google Now, but the fact that you can access this functionality when within Google Allo is what makes the app special. In essence, what Google is trying to do is to ensure that you stay in one app while all your needs are catered for.
This, in addition to the Smart Reply feature, is just about what Google Allo brings to the fold. So, the question is are they enough to make you switch? Probably, probably not. For Allo so win over consumers currently using other chat apps, it will have to do something completely outrageous.
One thing that hinders the app’s expansion is that its usage depends on how you can convince your friends and family to make the switch. Furthermore, downloading Google Allo will not mean you get rid of other apps on your phone, instead, you will now have an additional chat app on your phone. For Google alone, there is Hangouts, Messenger and now Allo. Hangouts does everything that is there to be done by a communication app, but Allo sticks to messaging alone. Worse of, it doesn’t support SMS integration like its counterpart.