The theme for Google I/O this years seems to be focused more on the real world implementations of Google's proprietary technologies. Allo and Duo is Google's two new messaging app that is the first to take advantage of what Google Assistant has to offer. These two applications, one being a text based messaging app and another being a video calling app.

Unlike Google Hangouts, Allo and Duo will not be tied to your Google account, rather it will be relying on your phone number like WhatsApp. The app which will be available in the coming weeks will be on both Android and iOS.



What makes Allo (the messaging app) unique is that Google has baked in a couple of new features that revolve around Google's Assistant. The biggest feature is called smart reply which suggests replies for your conversation, Google says that Allo will learn how you reply to messages and over time, it will provide you with replies based on your personal style.

In addition to that, Allo is also deeply integrated with Google's search functionality just like the Gboard keyboard for iOS. What this means is that you will be able to directly utilize Google search quries in your messaging app. But that's not all, Google also included some cool features like being able to interact with the Google Assistant to play games or ask questions.

And last but not least, Google says that Allo is built with security in mind and messages are end to end encrypted. There is also a cool incognito mode that works like the incognito mode on Chrome. Once you close a chat in incognito mode, it will be gone forever.


The second messaging app is called Duo and Google says that they built the app to create a unique one to one video experience. Just like Allo, Duo is also based on your phone number and will be available for both iOS and Android phones in the coming weeks.

What differentiates Duo from other video calling apps is that Google says they have streamlined the video calling experience to works smoothly even with a slow network. There is also this feature on Duo called Knock Knock that gives you a live stream of the caller before you decide to answer it. Check out the video below to see what I'm saying.


ORIGINAL SOURCE: GOOGLE