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Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

googleblog.blogspot.com

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Re: Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

#11
post #7

Is there anything currently that works similarly without a google or Facebook account? My dad is so computer/phone illiterate that he cannot/won't register for either of these. It should work across iPhone/Android. I ask because video calling between my son and my dad is no longer as simple as FaceTime after I switched to Android

Some searching yielded https://appear.in/

(I'm not affiliated with that website)

Re: Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

#12
Sounds like Duo has a simple user experience, which is great. But it doesn't solve the eye-contact problem with video calls today.

When you look at the person on the screen whom you're talking to, that person sees you looking away, because you're not looking into the camera, which is somewhere on the edge of the screen. So you don't make eye contact with the person you're talking to.

And for me, that makes video calls feel weird.

Re: Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

#13
post #7

Is there anything currently that works similarly without a google or Facebook account? My dad is so computer/phone illiterate that he cannot/won't register for either of these. It should work across iPhone/Android. I ask because video calling between my son and my dad is no longer as simple as FaceTime after I switched to Android

Duo doesn't require a Google account. From the article:

> Duo is simple from start to finish. To get started, all you need is your phone number and you’ll be able to reach people in your phone’s contacts list. No separate account is required, so you can sign up in just a few steps.

Re: Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

#14
post #7

Is there anything currently that works similarly without a google or Facebook account? My dad is so computer/phone illiterate that he cannot/won't register for either of these. It should work across iPhone/Android. I ask because video calling between my son and my dad is no longer as simple as FaceTime after I switched to Android

[deleted]

Re: Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

#15

Sounds like Duo has a simple user experience, which is great. But it doesn't solve the eye-contact problem with video calls today. When you look at the person on the screen whom you're talking to, that person sees you looking away, because you're not looking into the camera, which is somewhere on the edge of the screen. So you don't make eye contact with the person you're talking to. And for me, that makes video call…

Yup. Can't get over the feeling of looking down at the person you are talking to. If you look at the camera, you can't look at the person :(

Re: Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

#17
post #9

On the same week that they discontinued Hangouts on Air in favor of YouTube? Why is Google always making and closing stuff?

Some things end up in different box than they were in before when you cleaning up your house. Have you never moved your code from one package to another?

Re: Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

#19
post #9

On the same week that they discontinued Hangouts on Air in favor of YouTube? Why is Google always making and closing stuff?

Google culture is hiring the smartest or most motivated college grads, paying them to babysit legacy money printing systems built by the generation before them, then occasionally encouraging them to team up and clone popular services from other companies and startups.

The clones get passed around the campus for dogfooding until enough interest builds up and the project goes up the chain of command until a VP (at the time Marissa) signs off on it with notes on what to improve along with granting the necessary resources to spin it up.

Then if someone decides the project has legs they figure out how to engineer it for Google's audience and launch. If it doesn't work then the team disperse and move on to another project. Or it works and the team gets a moment in the sun.

Every single popular thing on the internet has a Google clone somewhere in the intranet.

Re: Google Duo, a simple 1-to-1 video calling app

#20
I know these will be preinstalled on Android, but many friends and family use iOS and I will feel silly asking them to install Duo and Allo.

Hangouts is able to mix voice, video and text just fine. Why start requiring separate apps?

This is Google at its dumbest. They are squandering the small amount of momentum Hangouts has.

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