Gmail Video Chat evolves to Google+ Hangouts

The Gmail video chat tool (which was originally introduced in 2008) has now been upgraded to a much more modern version, called Google+ Hangouts. This provides significant advantages over the original version and allows your business to easily collaborate with colleagues, wherever they may be.

Gmail video chat used to use peer-to-peer technology, whereas Hangouts improves the reliability and quality of it by utilising Google’s network. So it’s now possible to chat with people not only when they’re using Gmail, but also when they’re on Google’s social network, Google+, either from a PC or from a mobile device.

Another significant advantage of this updated technology is that it’s now possible to chat with up to nine people at once. An interesting feature of this is that there is voice recognition technology, which automatically switches the camera view to the person that is speaking.

The new features also include the ability to watch YouTube videos together, collaborate on Google documents and share your screen. This is another useful function that lets you give other people the ability to see what’s on your computer screen. For example, if there’s a picture open on your computer screen, Hangout participants can look at it without having to download anything.

There are also “Hangouts Apps”, which are programs that you and your contacts can use while in a Google+ Hangout. They let you do things like create documents, play games, and add fun effects to a Hangout, all without having to install complicated software.

Skype has managed to reign supreme in the video chat / conferencing arena up until now. But Google+ Hangouts seems poised to take over Skype as the most popular video chat service in the market with its ease of use, lack of downloads, YouTube integration and great quality video.

If you’d like to know more about how Google+ Hangouts can enhance your business’s communication, contact us now – including by a Hangout if you wish!

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