Google Duo went live a few days ago and even though not everyone has already had the new app installed on their iOS or Android devices, questions about the functionality of the app have already started cropping up.
When it was launched about three months ago, Google touted Duo as a simple and easy to use app that is focused on giving users the best video calling experience. During the same Google I/O 2016 event, the search engine giant also came in with Google Allo. Unlike Duo, this app’s main focus is on messaging and nothing more. With messaging and video calling covered in the new apps’ services, where does it leave voice-only calling services?
Well, this question was posed to Google’s product lead of communication, Amit Fulay, and to respond to it, he gave out a very interesting answer. Apparently, the video-only Google Duo app will at some point get feature updates. As a result, users will ”soon” be able to make voice-only calls via the same app, just like they’d do with video calls, which of course, are accompanied by audio.
Don’t be too excited, however, as a Google “soon” could mean anything from one week to several months. With this in mind, we could possibly see this feature come in later this year. On the contrary, a recent Engadget publication revealed that Google has different plans for Hangouts, which currently offers messaging, voice and video calling services. According to the report, this application will now shift its focus to the business world, leaving the mainstream market to Google Allo and Duo. With the former taking care of the messaging aspect, the latter’s video calling service had to be supplemented with a voice calling service to make the new offering complete.
The addition of a voice-only calling service on Google Duo will be a much-welcomed move by those looking to adopt the app for the communication services. It has been noted that the app will still be capable of delivering high-quality video calls even when using the slowest available internet connections, among them EDGE, 2G, and 2.5G. This should get even better when it comes to voice calling.
Update:
Last year, Google’s Amit Fulay, who is the company’s product lead for communication, said that Google Duo will get support for voice calling “soon.” As we pointed out, “soon” could be unpredictable and as it turns out, it indeed was. The good side of the story is that the feature appears to be ready to roll out, but at the moment, it will be available in Brazil first before rolling out to the rest of the world in the coming weeks. This means that you will now be able to place audio-only calls via Google Duo.