Google's messaging and video chat application has been given independence and now has its very own website. It's no longer an add-on feature to Gmail or Google+. Users now have the option to go straight to hangouts.google.com and download the service for free without the need to activate a Google account.
In a report from theverge.com, Google's new site lists three key features that will be the highlight of Hangouts; instant messages, voice, and video chats. Each one of them will get big buttons which will be used to start the service. It's an excellent move that people who are not always on Gmail will surely appreciate.
Google has been tinkering with Hangouts in the last couple of months and it's been getting a lot of love from the search giant. The app has been rebooted in iOS and Android to bring it up to par with updates on Google's Material Design. This move makes Hangouts a lot easier to use.
Hangouts has been getting a lot of attention from Google over the past couple months. The Hangouts app has been overhauled on both iOS and Android, bringing it up to date with Google's Material Design style and making the service a bit easier to use.
According to techcrunch.com the product has not fully detached from the Google domain which is very interesting. It hasn't even bought the name Hangouts.com yet but this seems a par for the course for Google.
This is part of the rebranding that Google is currently undergoing to bring better products and make the brands they own more powerful. This is clearly a shot at Facebook and Snapchat that are companies rolling out micro-products successfully. The entries are in and the race is about to begin; Google will field Photos and Hangouts against Facebook's Instagram and Messenger. Snapchat is trying to upset the balance with Stories. With so many choices now, users are clearly winning.
