Google’s latest attempt at making a mark in the crowded messaging apps’ space with Allo followed a predicted trend signature to its previous and existing messaging apps. Usually, such attempts incorporate a lot of media coverage due to the company’s stance in the smartphone space.
Allo received mostly negative reviews, which was followed by a drop in Play Store rankings. I barely know early adopters of the app who have remained faithful to it, and those who did stay with were rather intrigued by the Google Assistant, which has been rolling out to non-Pixel phones. This undermines users who use the app to interact with the Assistant.
However, Google has not given up on it, probably because there is a niche of people who actively use it.
A file-sharing update is rolling out, so you will be able to share documents and other files including apks (application files), zip files, mp3s and so forth. Coincidentally, you cannot attach Google’s Docs, Sheets and Slides (probably to discourage users from abandoning their respective apps). The update also bumps performance, which includes faster access to emojis and stickers.
Similarly, the same performance improvements have extended to the Photos app for Android and iOS. Photo and video uploads and sharing will be faster even with spotty connections that enable light-weight previews. Once a robust connection is established, the light-weight previews will be replaced with high-quality versions.
Lastly, Google’s video-calling app Duo is going to incorporate a voice only call feature as found in its other messaging app, Hangouts. This is a neat feature if video calling is not your forte.
