What is Google Allo?

The challenge is big for Google to implement a new messaging app in our lives because the competition is fierce. Google’s claim for this new app is the functionality of google assistant. A new feature bot that you can have a conversation with or can join in a group in a group conversation with. Beware that it’s preview edition so it’s going to be a bit buggy.  The app can be installed on only Android or IOS and that’s it. It’s tied to your phone number to know who you are so you can’t use it on PC or tablets.

Installation:

It’s available on google play of course and when you first install it, it sends a text message to confirm and you can link it with your google account if you want.

It’s just a messaging app with some little neat tricks and tweaks here and there to make it easier and more enjoyable.

What does it offer?

You can drag up and down on the send button to change the font size of your message. You can have group conversation and tons of stickers whether animated or not. You can quick edit an image before sending it and there’s an option to save it before sending.

The check marks beside the message has many useful color indications.

• White means sent.
• Green means received.
• Green with double check means read.

You can long press a message to see more details about it.

Everything you send on allo is stored on google servers until you delete them from your phone. There’s an option for setting up an incognito chat in which all of your messages are private and encrypted and you can even set an expiration timer for that.

The Assistant. 

There’re two ways to talk to it. The first one being simple messaging or speaking your commands directly to google assistant and it’ll reply and you can ask follow up questions and it’ll follow up with its best answers.

You could also train it by remembering your favorite food, sports team, etc.

For example, you could write ( My favorite team is Barcelona) it’ll then reply ( i’ll remember that) then you can ask about your favorite team and it’ll answer with the latest information about Barcelona.

There’re also suggestions. A bunch of options above the typing box trying to predict what you want to say next.

Another interesting feature is writing (@google) in chat followed up by something like ( @google restaurants) and it’ll bring up all the available restaurants.

There’s also a handy thumbs up and down to evaluate how the assistant is performing during the conversation or when it gives a wrong answer. Should it ever give a wrong answer, you can tap the thumbs down and it’ll ask for additional information and try to feed you back with better answers. So the questions here is; Will the assistant be enough for you to switch to from using your hangouts, Facebook messenger, whats app..? and the list goes on. Leave your suggestions down below.