Take a look at Google Duo, the all new one-to-one video-calling app from Google. Does it deserve a spot in your Must-have-apps checklist is for you to decide.
There are plenty of video calling Apps available in the market today including Apple’s Facetime, Microsoft’s Skype, Viber, OoVoo, Tango, Fring and lot more. Google is attempting to challenge all these existing video-calling Apps with its recently launched Duo – a simple, powerful and highly reliable video calling App for both Android and iOS users. In this smart phone era, people like to stay connected always with their family and friends through social media, various messenger and video calling Apps.
The user interface of Google Duo is very simple and promises to be a cake walk for anyone who knows how to use to smart phone. Users have already started to download the Duo App from Google Play and it has become a favorite choice for youngsters. First time users should register themselves in Duo App using their phone number. The registration is much faster as it does not ask for lot of personal information like email id, DOB etc. which is required in Skype and other competitor Apps.
Once you register, you can instantly go to the video calling function by tapping the “Video Call” button. It will take you to the list of contacts where you can scroll down and choose the person whom you want to call. You no need to add any person specifically in order to call them but it requires the other person whom you are calling to have Duo App installed on his/her phone.
The video quality offered by Duo App is much better than other competitors like Viber and Skype. The call does not get disconnected frequently which happens in Skype and the sound quality is also excellent. Also video quality will be really good if you are on a Wi-Fi connection, but if are using a slow Mobile-data connection to make video calls, then video quality might be blurry.
Also the App is cross-platform which means you can make video calls from an Android phone to your friend who is using an iPhone. Duo has an admirable way to notify you when you receive a video call which they have codenamed as “knock knock”. You will get a video preview of the caller and an option to “Accept” or “Reject” the call.
But there are some important features which are missing with Google Duo App. It does not have any option for sending text messages and does not have support for emoticons, GIFs or Stickers. The App only supports one-to-one video calling and there is no option for group calls as well. Also it does not have any filters or effects which can be added to your videos.
Overall the App’s simple user interface and exceptional video quality makes it a decent choice for users who just want to do one-to-one video calling. But users who don’t prefer to use separate apps for texting and video calling might not download the Google Duo App since it does not have option for text messaging.