Google is updating its video calling app with four new features. <br>Image source: Google
With the increase usage of video calling apps during the Covid-19 pandemic, Google sees the opportunity to add more features to its video calling product to improve the user experience.
Dave Citron, the Group Product Manager of Google Duo, shared in a blog post that the company will be rolling out a new video codec technology (AOMedia Video 1 or AV1) in the coming week to enhance video call quality and reliability, even on very low bandwidth connections. This is made possible thanks to the higher data compression rates of AV1.
Starting today, Google Duo allows you to quickly take a photo with the other person in the call and automatically share it with him/her. This feature will be coming soon to group calls and more devices.
Google Duo will also increase the group call size from 12 participants to even more in the coming weeks. Currently, Skype and Facebook Messenger can support up to 50 participants at the same time while Apple FaceTime can support up to 32 people. Hence, this is a much-needed upgrade for Google Duo if it wants to take on the competition.
Personalised video and voice messages can soon be saved in Google Duo instead of them expiring after 24 hours. This policy change is to allow users to preserve their meaningful messages.
Source: Google
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