Google Allo is here! The first review of the new messenger. Hello Google, what the hell? Google Allo messenger review

But first things first. Allo is Google's new text chat for Android and iOS. Just like Viber and other messengers, it is tied to telephone number. And it differs from its competitors in a special feature - support for the smart assistant Google Assistant.

By entering @google in the chat, you can ask the assistant a question right in the conversation and find out necessary information. For example, when discussing with a friend where to go to eat, you can ask Google Assistant to find a restaurant near you.

Another assistant analyzes the conversation and can give out useful links on this topic. And even suggest how to respond to the interlocutor in your style so that you do not have to type text.

Allo has and dark side, due to which some users criticized the application.

1. Messenger has end-to-end encryption disabled by default, so messages are accessible law enforcement. In addition, Google will store chat histories on its servers.
2. Those who were not enthusiastic about Hangouts do not expect that Google can make a quality messenger. And those who like Hangouts believe that Allo still has to grow and grow before him. And both sides offer to upgrade the old messenger, instead of producing new useless software.
3. Allo is a purely text chat. Along with it, a video call service was launched last year. Google Duos, which caused bewilderment: why separately.
4. On trifles: does not support SMS and saving correspondence in the cloud. Runs on only one device. And you can only send one photo at a time.
5. The main feature that Allo is chosen for is the Google Assistant with those very smart answers and recommendations. But the assistant does not yet support the Russian language. IN Google Play promise that it will be soon.
6. When Google Assistant appears in Russian, its flaws will come out that users of the English version have already encountered. He can advise off topic and, moreover, violate privacy.

Google Assistant misses

The journalist who tried Allo decided to test the assistant's abilities. The conversation with the machine, which began with the question "Are you a bot?" Goes well until the assistant gave: "Here's what I found." And he found a link to a resource that was not related to the conversation, on which the user was a few days ago. And it's good that it was a site about Harry Potter, but it could have been something compromising.

Also, the assistant should request permission to send when the interlocutor asks to transfer personal data. But in practice, this does not always work. The same journalist shared that Google Assistant sent an image from Google Maps with the address, without specifying whether it can be shared.

Perhaps these are just bugs, but they can become serious problem privacy, in addition to the aforementioned lack of end-to-end encryption by default.

Write in the comments what you think about Allo and participate in the survey.

A few months ago, at its annual I/O Developers Conference, Google announced for the first time a new messaging app. The new messenger was named Allo. The application has many additional options and is equipped with a security feature, so it is the most anticipated novelty of this year.

What can you expect from Allo? What makes it stand out from other apps in the Play Store?

More than just messenger: Google Assistant

At first glance, Allo seems to be just another standard messenger program. You can constantly chat with friends, share photos and videos, and use funny stickers to spice up your conversation. But if you look deeper, you can find several features that actually distinguish Allo from other applications.

This is very smart assistant. Information about messages can quickly appear in any corner of the screen, so you do not have to specifically open additional windows. Voice assistant Google Assistant gives you the ability to send smart responses. Over time, he will begin to understand you better and independently select answers based on the context. Moreover, there are several other nice bonuses:

• Big set of stickers.
• New text color and size selection feature.
• Direct questions. You can ask him to set an alarm or book tickets.

Icons appear after each question: one with a thumbs up and one with a thumbs down. Thus, you can evaluate Google's work. Through this evaluation, the application will constantly modify its work. To date, the application only supports English, but the manufacturers promise to fix this very soon.

Additional fun options

In addition to direct tasks for Google, you can also take advantage of other fun features that will make your communication with friends original.

This is where Whisper/Shout enters the arena - additional option for Hello. Sometimes you want to say something with an exclamation, but there is no desire to change the layout or font, then Shout comes to the rescue. It is enough to type a message and hold down the Send button, and the pop-up menu at the top will help you choose any font and size.

If you want to say something calmly, then just repeat the procedure, only now use the lower menu. This feature is called Whisper.

Whisper/Shout can be applied to emojis and text messages, which can't be said about stickers and photos.

Speaking of stickers, there are a lot of them in Allo: to add one of them to the dialog, use the "+" button to the left of text field, go to the stickers section and select the appropriate option.

Please note that the menu has not only standard, but also animated stickers. Latest marked special badge playback.

If you want to send a photo, then there is also a wide range of possibilities. Thanks to new feature Ink Google, you can draw directly on the photo or add a caption before sending.

It can be done in the following way: Upload a photo and click on the pencil icon next to the share button. Now you can add some originality to the photo, and then just click "send".

Chat incognito

Another great feature of Allo is incognito communication. This chat allows you to use private messages, all of which will be fully encrypted and closed to unauthorized access.

It should also be said that at the time of the presentation of the application at I / O 2016, Google noted such a moment as new format storing messages on the server. While messages sent via Hangouts and Gmail are stored for a long time on Google servers, information from Allo will be stored only for a while. In this regard, the company has taken a small step back. This feature will not please people who are used to private communication, since messages in incognito mode will also disappear quickly.

Google Hello and SMS

The most popular question from users: will it be possible to send simple sms-messages through Hello? Unfortunately, this feature is not available.

But it's not scary: when you start the application, you can view the list of your contacts and send a message to users who have not yet installed Allo. special code. Such SMS will contain a warning from automated system. The message will inform the recipient that you are trying to communicate with him through Allo. The same message will contain a link to launch the application on Google Play. Although Allo cannot send simple SMS messages, thanks to this move, he can get more users.

About new google app for exchange text messages first revealed at the annual Google I/O 2016 conference. With the new Google Assistant and many more interesting features, could easily be called the most anticipated app of the year. But did the messenger live up to these expectations? More on this later in the article.

First start

After registration, you can immediately start a conversation. Allo automatically analyzes and sorts your contacts. Priority is given to those who have the application installed. It is worth saying that the audience of Allo at the start turned out to be much larger than that of the video messenger Duo. Users who do not have the application can be sent an invitation via SMS. At the same time, many foreign resources wrote that owners of Android devices can receive messages from Allo users, even if they do not have this messenger installed. In this case, a notification is sent to the phone, which allows you to see some part of the text information. The transmission of messages is allegedly possible at the expense of Google notifications play. To be honest, I personally could not perform such a trick - the application completely refuses to send a message if the phone number is not registered in the Allo database. Perhaps this is due to some regional restrictions or Google has simply closed shop already.

Interface

Unlike Duo, text Allo messenger automatically links your profile to Google account. This is necessary to synchronize the history of correspondence, group chats, as well as integration virtual assistant, which will be discussed in more detail below. If you do not need synchronization, you can disable the account Google entry- the program works fine without it. There is an option in the app settings to activate automatic download photos and videos, set your ringtone to alerts and unregister your phone number. By the way, a little advice for those who later decide to completely abandon the messenger - first of all, do not forget to remove your phone number from the Allo database.

Key features

Even in small details Allo copies the most popular messenger Whatsapp. Take at least the marks under the messages (one tick - delivered, two - read), the interface for recording, sending and deleting a voice message, pop-up windows for performing certain actions and much more.

One of key functions Allo is the ability to chat in incognito mode. IN hidden chat no one except you and your interlocutor has access to messages. Even the Google Assistant cannot be used in this mode. To ensure even greater security, each of the chat participants has the right to set a time limit (from 5 seconds to 1 week), after which all messages will be deleted without warning. Moreover, you can turn off the timer or change its duration during the conversation - the corresponding marker with a notification will separate your messages. There is such an opportunity in Snapchat, but in my opinion, in Allo it is implemented more conveniently.

Google Assistant

For a virtual interlocutor in Allo, a separate chat was allocated. The assistant understands commands (mostly while on English language), searches for information on the Internet and can perform various activities on the device. For example, you can ask him what the weather is like now, what films are shown in the cinema, or how CSKA played. Google Assistant can easily translate individual words or phrases, set an alarm, set a timer and even play simple games with you.

In some cases, the understanding between the user and the assistant is much better than with Google Now. A virtual assistant can understand what is required of him in one word and this pleases, but on the other hand, the assistant inherited some straightforwardness from his predecessor and in some places stubbornly shows search results for a question or command.

Another “smart” feature of the Allo messenger is predictive responses or, in other words, response templates for various questions. At the time of testing the application, this feature for Russian-speaking users was also not fully implemented. Answer options only appeared in personal chat with Google Assistant and only in English. Although English-speaking users confirm that predictive answers appear in any chat and even in the notification window in Android 7.0 Nougat.

The imperfection of the "smart" concept of the messenger may also be due to the fact that Google service The assistant is presented so far in pre-release version. In particular, some of its features are not available for our region. For example, the assistant does not yet know how to conduct a conversation in Russian, although he understands many words and commands in Russian. Apparently, he can do this thanks to the built-in translation service.

Confidentiality

disadvantages

Allo also has an issue with the web client. More precisely, it simply does not exist, unlike Telegram, Hangouts, facebook messenger, which have already acquired desktop or web versions. Even WhatsApp has somehow found a solution to this problem by allowing its users to use the service on a PC.

Voice and video messages, photos are, of course, great. But why is Google, having colossal cloud technologies, deprives its users of the ability to share other types of files. Take at least Telegram example, which not only allows you to attach to messages various files, but also provides each user with a personal cloud space for their storage.

Eventually

Allo's main advantage over competitors should be integration with the Google Assistant, and the application itself was supposed to become a smart text messenger. However, for this, Google still needs to “bring to mind” its new virtual assistant and integrate the rest of the company's services to make the app the central messaging service for its ecosystem. In the meantime, this is another application that is difficult to find positioning in the company of other heavyweight messengers.

While Apple device owners are quite comfortable with iMessage preinstalled, most Android users have also already decided on their messaging programs. Even the vice-president of Google himself admitted that he does not yet have a clear strategy for the development of new messengers. So who will choose Allo in the end?

Google has just introduced a new messenger - Allo, which is very different from all the others because Google Assistant is integrated into it. Although, Telegram has bots!

1. The name is clearly better than Hangouts.

2. Drag the send key up and down to change the font size. Well, like, instead of shouting with caps, now we will shout in the chat in a more civilized way!

3. It's a smart messenger. You can chat with Google Assistant in this chat and ask him, for example, to book a table in a restaurant. How soon this will be with us is not clear. You can ask to see a picture, find out the course and generally ask any question. Cool, like chat, when speaking out loud is uncomfortable or impossible. You can even play a mini-game with him, like “Guess the Movie”.

4. All messages are encrypted. E2E reserved. All notifications are also protected. Google is telling you!

5. Google Duo service is also presented - video calls. Competitor of Face Time.

6. Both services will be available for Android and iOS this summer.

Do you think it will fly? Or will it fly, like all Google messengers before it? I don’t understand why they were separated, why not do everything in one application?

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

There are three things you can look at endlessly: burning fire, running water, and how Google is trying to make a successful social service. Google Allo is an attempt American company number three on the market social messengers.

Google's tenacity can only be envied. The company could have bought a conditional Twitter a long time ago (provided that regulatory authorities allow it) and build its own social product on its basis, but instead, Google is trying to come up with its own bicycle over and over again. The result of all these experiments is the same - new graves in the Google virtual cemetery. And something tells me that for Google Allo it is already worth reserving a place there today.

Google Product Graveyard

But first things first. Google Allo was announced in the summer at a conference for Google Developers I/O. The app will be available for iOS and Android. His appearance in the catalogs Apple App Store and Google Play worldwide is expected soon, while the app is only available in the US. To try Allo on Android right here and now, without waiting for a global release, you can use setup file, which enthusiasts have already leaked to the network.

Google Allo can only run on one device at a time. Therefore, you can safely forget about using this messenger if you have several actively used gadgets. It is noteworthy that the entire message history, although stored in the cloud, will not be available when you change the device. If you log into the messenger under your account from another smartphone, you will see in front of you White screen. It's very nice to see this from a company that is trying its best to promote cloud storage data.

The application has already been translated into Russian, although officially it is not yet available in Russia. Annoyed that at initial setup account, I was unable to upload a cover photo for my profile from the smartphone gallery, I had to take a photo from the camera. I chalk it up to features Meizu smartphones, because others similar problems was not, but still an unpleasant bug.

What does Google Allo offer the user:

– Traditional chats with each other. Regular and secret.
– Group chats between multiple users.
– Chat with the Google Assistant bot.

No channels, no general chats, where anyone can join via a link, no third-party bots - Google Allo sends greetings from 2014, when text messengers were used only to communicate with friends. Like the Google Duo app, the service automatically shows all users who have already installed Allo on their devices. If a person has not installed a new Google messenger, then he can be sent an SMS with a proposal to do so. By the way, about SMS - Allo does not replace standard application for classic text messaging. On Android, even Facebook Messenger has already learned to do this, and Google still offers us two individual applications.

Now about the correspondence itself. Google introduced several collections of stickers for Google launch Hello. I really hope that Google will allow third-party authors to publish their sticker builds here, because the standard ones from Google look terrible, but this is a matter of taste. Where are my cats from VKontakte?

Messenger provides standard set for information exchange: sending voice messages, photo and video, geolocation. Features that others do not have include the ability to draw something directly on the photo that you send to the interlocutor, as well as resizable message text that allows you to convey intonation.

home distinguishing feature Allo is a text assistant that can be accessed in any chat by writing "@" or by contacting it directly in separate correspondence. He knows how to "google" without leaving google interface Allo, show the weather, sports scores, and search for places on Google Maps. Thus, in a chat with a person, you can choose a joint restaurant or cinema to visit in the evening. Which, in theory, is probably convenient, but in practice no one will use it.

Potentially Google Assistant looks very promising. It is an intelligent system based on machine learning will constantly improve their abilities. For example, now an assistant can translate text from one language into another. The more people who use this functionality, the more accurately it will translate. One day it may completely break all boundaries on the Internet. Imagine that at any time you can easily communicate with any person on Earth, regardless of what language he speaks offline.

But this is a distant future, but for now, the only useful thing that Google Assistant can do is play tic-tac-toe with you, “guess the movie by emoji” and a number of other simple games. All this is funny, but the text messenger you open is not for this.

Bottom line, Google has made another messenger that there is no reason to use. Yes, the company did very well beautiful application, but also Google client+ looks just great, does anyone have it on their phone? Well, anyone? Not? That's what I'm talking about.

Google Assistant looks interesting, but it clearly has no place in general correspondence. When chatting with another person often, you need to go back through the chat to find important message. Communication with Google Assistant requires a lot of clarifying explanations, which is why the volume of correspondence increases significantly. Moreover, it is problematic to work with him together, and most often it is still done by one person. How this differs from opening a browser and ordinary Google is not clear to me. I am glad that at least Google did not forget to fasten the normal search for the application, which can search by name and keywords.

Google I/O promised that Allo would become one of the most secure messengers in the market that will use special algorithms encryption, but even here something went wrong with Google. According to The Verge, Google Allo will send all your correspondence to Google servers and store it there. Google decided to abandon automatic removal data, as this would prevent Google Assistant from analyzing them. Choosing between intelligent systems and user data privacy, Google chose the former. Even incognito mode will save your data. Correspondence will still be stored on Google servers, but already encrypted with a specific key. This data can always be decrypted if the court orders Google to provide this key, which is a regular practice.

Summarizing all of the above, Google Allo is no better than the existing products of competitors, and in many ways even inferior to them. It’s hard for me to imagine that I ask someone to install Google Allo for correspondence, arguing that this application has an intelligent bot from Google that will read everything that we write and send it to the servers of an American company in order to ... What would what? Looking for a restaurant together? No thanks Google. Keep this app.