Google's mailing service, Gmail, has
received a series of updates this year. Apart from a neater interface
and other important upgrades, Gmail has also been integrated with
Google's social networking website Google+. And now the company has
taken one more step towards deepening Google+ integration with Gmail –
replacing the video chat with Google+ Hangouts.
Google
had brought the video chat feature to Gmail in 2008 and has been an
important part of the mailing service since then. “Unlike the old video
chat, which was based on peer-to-peer technology, Hangouts utilise the
power of Google’s network to deliver higher reliability and enhanced
quality,” says the Google team in a blog post.
“You’ll be able to chat with all the
same people you did before — and, in fact, with Hangouts you’ll now be
able to reach them not only when they are using Gmail, but also if they
are on Google+ in the browser or on their Android or iOS devices.”
Google has previously made various efforts to push its social network, and is trying to inter-link its products
such as Gmail, YouTube Google Maps and other Google services. If you
are logged into any of the Google products, the company says, you are
automatically logged into Google+.
Incorporation of Google Hangouts
will certainly improve video chatting experience on Gmail. The new
feature will compete against Apple's Facetime and Microsoft's Skype.
“All Gmail users will benefit from this upgrade, but if you and the
person you're chatting with also use Google+, you’ll get even more from
the Hangouts experience. You'll be able to video chat with up to nine
people at once, watch YouTube videos together, collaborate on Google
documents and share your screen,” says the Google team while explaining
the advantages of Hangouts.
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