Google Headquarters (Photo : Twitter)
Google is planning to take on the booming mobile video market as they are reportedly rolling out an update for their Hangouts app for Android that will add video messaging to the list of its features.
Facebook already knows the value of video on social network and it is evident with all the new features on the website and its Messenger app. The search engine giant seems to be starting to catch up with their Hangouts app.
The feature is already available for iOS users of Hangouts. Google has not yet released the update officially through the Google Play Store but the Hangouts APK is available to download, PC Magazine has learned. Users who have already tried out the new feature report it as a straightforward feature as all they have to do is to tap the camera icon on the app and to record their video.
Messenger has pretty much the same process as users have to tap the camera icon and long-press the capture button if they want to send a video instead of a photo. After recording, the video would instantly send and it would be a similar method in Google Hangouts.
The problem is that Hangouts is only used by a niche market. Google initially planned to have the video messaging feature for Hangouts Android a long time ago and it was delayed due to unknown reasons, Android Headline reported.
It is now known whether the video messaging feature will extend to the desktop version on Gmail. Google has not yet revealed a release date for the Android rollout of the Hangouts update.
Another highlight in the Hangouts 11 update is that it will now erase the conversation merging feature. The search engine giant said that it only caused "user confusion" and that the feature was not really used by a significant number of its users.
Google Hangouts will also need an external app to playback the videos sent and received through the messaging app. Messenger already has the option to playback video and audio on the app itself without having to exit and it could be something that Hangouts 11 needs.
