Google Duo brings video call to more Chromebooks



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The Google video call app, Duo, now benefits from support on a wider variety of Chrome OS devices, based on the user reports spotted on Reddit. Users indicate that the app is running on the 2016 R13 Chromebook and the Google Pixelbook. Android Titles has been able to verify that Duo installs and also works on the original Samsung Chromebook Plus. It seems to be usable on any Chrome OS tablet or laptop with Google Play Store enabled, although changes to the app list may take a while before reaching all users. For starters, the Google Duo app must be installed from the Play Store and users must associate a Google account with the app for phone. To do this, tap the three-dot menu of Duo's phone version, followed by "Settings" and a tap on the "Google Account" option.

Context: The Duo app was originally launched at Google I / O 2016 as a direct competitor of Skype. At the same time, a text-based online discussion application, called Allow, has been launched. This pair was to replace the Hangouts app user. This follows the decision to move hangouts in a business-centric direction as part of Google's G Suite tools. Duo differentiates itself from other apps with a "punch" feature that shows the recipient of a call a real-time caller preview and works with both phone numbers and Google accounts. Since its launch, it has received several stability updates, but remains a less popular option due to the lack of Web client and cross-platform compatibility features found in Skype, Hangouts and other alternatives.

Support for selected Chromebooks has been added this summer. Duo apps compatibility has been added for the Samsung Chromebook Plus V2, HP Chromebook x2 and Acer Chromebook Tab 10. According to the list of changes to the latest Duo update, Android tablets are also supported from # 39; aujourd & # 39; hui. This was made possible by the changes that allow the app to work as closely with a Google account as with a phone number. In addition, the Duo's chief engineer, Justin Uberti, recently revealed that the additional missing features were about to be added and will be included in an upcoming update. Group calls would be one of these features and, speculatively, support for Google's Smart Display platform will be one of the supported platforms in the future. The integration with Google Assistant would probably result, because the platform depended enormously on the voice commands of the AI.

Impact: The ability to make calls with a solution built by Google outside of Hangouts may help make Chrome OS a much more complete platform. This should in turn help make the service and application more popular. Duo currently has more than 500 million "downloads" on the Play Store, but many of those provided with the devices shipped with Duo are preinstalled and the figure does not indicate how many people actually use it. The addition of support for a larger number of platforms will expand both the available audience of Duo and the diversity of situations in which the free service can be used. As a result, users who have the application from a pre-installation and those who do not have one will probably be more likely to use it. Future updates, which will add more features, a Web client, and better call quality, should only strengthen this growing user base.

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