That said, if you happen to be
an Allo user, there are a few things you should know about using the Assistant.
Demonstrating this feature, Kay showed an image of a text message thread in which
an Allo user receives a friend's dog photo.
Allo is also based on your phone number, so you can use it to send text messages to anyone in your phonebook - not just other
Allo users.
Now
Allo users who use Android Auto in their cars will be able to hear and respond to Allo messages just as if they were coming in from Hangouts or Android Messages.
Sure, regular
Allo users will appreciate the hands - free support, but it's certainly not going to drive any more users to the app.
This sounds awfully similar to what Google introduced last August with Allo's web - based client, and while that may alienate dedicate
Allo users, this is a huge upgrade for out - of - the - box texting on Android.
There is also a feature known as Smart Reply which will let
Allo users respond to messages quickly with no need for typing.
Not exact matches
The software came as two apps,
Allo and Duo, both of which are now available for all Android
users — running Android 4.4 KitKat and above — to download and try out.
Google
Allo can be termed as a WhatsApp rival because the service offered by search giant provides End - to - End Encryption by default to
users for keeping data safe.
In order to enable Assistant inside
Allo, it requires being able to access the data in
user's messages.
Allo provides pre-written choices of potential responses to texts and allows the
user to use AI assistant.
To load the desktop version,
users will have to open
Allo on their phone and scan the QR code displayed on the web page.
The big upside there being not that you can send SMS messages, but that it would allow Google to integrate
Allo into the core Android
user experience and quickly build up an enormous
user base which would actually give
Allo some legs to stand on, because right now it's a pretty ghost town that sees little attention paid to it.
However, Google began pushing
users to the dedicated Messenger SMS app and is introducing a new messaging app called
Allo to replace the messaging parts of Hangouts and Duo for video.
Currently in development is an
Allo - like web client that would allow
users to check and reply to messages on the web.
Google describes
Allo as a messaging app for Android and iPhone
users.
While
Allo allows you to share photos, locations, and stickers, it doesn't allow
users to share documents.
However, the
users will not be able to utilize the features that
Allo offers for its Assistant and for Smart Reply, while in the Incognito mode.
Though this move of keeping the messaging app less private is going to improve Google's machine learning, still the privacy of the
users while using
Allo is very much questionable.
This means that the
users who are more concerned about their privacy will have no obvious reasons to use
Allo since the app's biggest USP is its smart features, which will be compromised in the Incognito mode.
The
users may not flock to
Allo given how the instant messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp are directing themselves towards full end - to - end encryption.
But if
Allo matures,
users will probably want to ditch the Hangouts app.
Google already owns a number of different apps featured on our Index, including Google
Allo, Google Now, and Google Home, which have all enjoyed modest growth in monthly unique
users and engagement over the past year.
To use Google Assistant, Android
users have to install and set up
Allo chat app on their phones.
The highlight of Google
Allo is its integration with Google Assistant, the smart search service from the company that is based on its AI software, allowing
users to interact with it at any given moment.
For the time being, only Android
users with Chrome installed on their personal computer can access
Allo's new web client.
Google
Allo for the web is now available for iOS device
users, along with people who use Opera and Mozilla's Firefox browsers.
Because the
user needs to use their phone to register on the
Allo website, we can presume that chats are still tied to a phone number and not centrally backed up like Google Hangouts, which is similar to the way WhatsApp approaches its web client, too.
Just like Google Assistant inside
Allo (the messaging app that didn't really take off), Cortana will give
users restaurant options, movie reviews based on the context of the chat.
Allo already lets you message through SMS with non-
Allo Android
users and even chat via app preview messages through notifications, so just add Messenger's RCS functionality, and you're good to go.
Apple
users were introduced to iMessage, Facebook has Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, BlackBerry Messenger for BlackBerry
users and now Google has just introduced
Allo and Duo.
Inside
Allo, the new Google Assistant allows
users to fetch or rather ask for any kind of information without leaving the app.
Despite being adopted by at least some
users, Google's
Allo chat app hasn't exactly been the resounding success.
Allo also has a Smart Reply feature that works with Google to learn
users» chatting patterns to make correct suggestions overtime.
Android Messages is the default text messaging app on many Android phones, but bringing
Allo's Smart Reply feature only to Project Fi
users means only a small group of people will be able to use it.
Allo doesn't just allow you to send message to other
users, it goes above and beyond — way beyond.
«Depending on the infrastructure, feature - set, and the
user - base, sometimes it is just better to build a separate service — as Google did with
Allo as opposed to improving Hangouts,» he said.
In actual sense, this is where Hangouts beats both
Allo and Duo — these two are only meant for the mobile world, but Hangouts allows
users to transfer conversations from one device to another — in real time.
Anyone who's played around with Google's
Allo will be familiar with Google Assistant, a voice - activated assistant that scours the phone's screen for search terms and responds to
user questions, similar to previously launched Now on Tap.
One of the few remaining obstacles is, of course, iMessages and other Apple - specific apps; although when (not if) Google launches
Allo for Android Wear 2.0, that will be a good option for cross-communication between iOS and Android
users.
The company's other app
Allo already supports a web version and in the past, they experimented by merging SMS messages with hangouts to let
users receive it on their desktop PC.
Although Google
Allo may not have a
user base as large as Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, it has some of my favorite features of any messaging platform — one of which is Smart Replies.
Google earlier this year announced two new Hangouts offerings geared towards enterprise
users — Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat — but there was quickly confusion as to whether the consumer version of Hangouts would stick around or, as was suggested, the newer Duo and
Allo apps would take the place of average -
user chat services.
We've seen the entry of chatbots into the Google
Allo app and apparently, the search engine giant is also making use of this technology to give
users of the app the ability to make polls from within the app.
On Monday — World Emoji Day — Google took to its blog to officially say goodbye to the old Android emoji while reassuring
users blob emoji - themed stickers will be available in Google
Allo.
To make letting go of the traditional gumdrop smileys a bit easier,
users can still access them in the form of stickers via
Allo — one of Google's messaging apps.
It is believed that the upcoming Google
Allo app will be used to exchange SMS messages, just like Google Hangouts lets
users do so.
Android 7.0 Nougat brings a slew of neat features to the table, including an enhanced
user interface, a better notification system, Instant Apps, power saving with Doze on the Go, seamless updates, lower system requirements, Google
Allo and Duo, and much more.
Similar to the likes of WhatsApp and iMessage, Google
Allo allows
users to send images, voice recordings, videos as well as a bunch of stickers.
Google Meet,
Allo, YouTube TV, Google Earth, and YouTube Studio Beta all block Windows 10's default browser, Microsoft Edge, from accessing them and they all point
users to download Chrome instead.