Allo messenger can forward your search history to your interlocutor. Google Allo is here! First review of the new Hello Google messenger I need a husband for cars

You can endlessly look at three things: a burning fire, running water, and how Google is trying to make a successful social service. Google Allo is the American company's number three attempt in the social messaging market.

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

Google Product Graveyard

But first things first. Google Allo was announced in the summer at the Google I/O developer conference. The application will be available for iOS and Android. Its appearance in the Apple App Store and Google Play catalogs around the world is expected in the near future, while the application is only available in the USA. To try Allo on Android right here and now, without waiting for a global release, you can use the installation file that 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 although the entire message history is stored in the cloud, it will not be available if you change the device. If you log into the messenger using your account from another smartphone, you will see a white screen in front of you. It's very nice to see this from a company that is trying hard to promote cloud storage.

The application has already been translated into Russian, although it is not yet officially available in Russia. I was angry that when I initially set up my account, I couldn’t upload a cover photo for my profile from the smartphone gallery, so I had to take a photo from the camera. I attribute this to the peculiarities of Meizu smartphones, since others did not have similar problems, but the bug is still unpleasant.

What does Google Allo offer to the user:

– Traditional chats with each other. Regular and secret.
– Group chats between multiple users.
– Chat with 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 the new Google messenger, then you can send him an SMS with an offer to do so. Speaking of SMS, Allo does not replace the standard classic text messaging app. Even Facebook Messenger has already learned to do this on Android, and Google still offers us two separate applications.

Now about the correspondence itself. Google has unveiled several sticker collections for the launch of Google Allo. 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?

The messenger provides a standard set of information exchange: sending voice messages, photos and videos, geolocation. Features that others don’t include include the ability to draw something directly on the photo you send to your interlocutor, as well as resizable message text, which allows you to convey intonation.

The main distinguishing feature of Allo is the text assistant, which can be accessed in any chat by writing “@” or by contacting it directly in a separate correspondence. It can “Google” without leaving the Google Allo interface, show the weather, results of sports matches, and also search for places on Google Maps. Thus, in a chat with a person, you can choose a restaurant or cinema together 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. This is an intelligent system that, based on machine learning, will constantly improve its abilities. For example, an assistant can already translate text from one language to another. The more people use this functionality, the more accurate the translation will be. One day this could completely break down all boundaries on the Internet. Imagine being able to calmly communicate with any person on Earth at any time, regardless of what language they speak offline.

But this is the distant future, and for now the only useful thing 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 that’s not why you open a text messenger.

The bottom line is that Google has made another messenger that there is no reason to use. Yes, the company has created a very beautiful application, but the Google+ client also looks just great, does anyone have it on their phone? Well, at least anyone? No? That's what I'm talking about.

Google Assistant looks interesting, but it clearly has no place in general correspondence. Often when communicating with another person, you need to go back through the chat to find an important message. Communication with Google Assistant requires a lot of clarifying explanations, which is why the volume of correspondence increases significantly. Moreover, working with him together is problematic, and most often it is still done by one person. How this differs from opening a browser and simply Googling is not clear to me. I'm glad that Google at least remembered to add a normal app search that can search by name and keywords.

At Google I/O they promised that Allo would become one of the most secure instant messengers on the market, which would use special encryption algorithms, but 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 stop automatically deleting data because it would prevent Google Assistant from analyzing it. When choosing between intelligent systems and user data privacy, Google chose the former. Even incognito mode will save your data. The correspondence will still be stored on Google servers, but in a form 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 existing competitors' products, and in many ways is even inferior to them. It’s hard for me to imagine asking someone to install Google Allo for correspondence, arguing that this application has an intelligent bot from Google that will read everything we write and send it to the servers of an American company, so that... What what? Looking for a restaurant together? No thanks, Google. Keep this app for yourself.

Allo is one of the most anticipated programs this fall. Numerous insiders fueled interest in this messenger with rumors about its extraordinary functions and artificial intelligence, which is one of the key components of Allo.

Let's see what this looks like in practice.

After installing the program, you will need to register. This is done using a verification SMS message. This way, Allo is tied to your phone number, and not to your Google account. During the registration process, you must select a nickname and avatar.

After this, we get to the main screen of the program, where all our dialogs should be displayed. So far, of course, there is nothing there, except for a few tips on using Allo.

When you click the button to create a new message, quite predictably, you are prompted to select a contact. We draw attention here to the possibility of conducting group and secret chats.

But the most interesting feature of the new messenger is Google Assistant - a special bot that is designed to answer any of your questions. He understands messages in both English and Russian.

This bot's answers are, of course, based on Google's search engine, which retrieves information from the Web and presents it directly in the messenger in a simple and convenient form. Looks extremely cool and promising. It seems to me that this particular function will become the killer feature of Allo.

You will be able to download the new Allo messenger very soon in the application catalogs for iOS and Android. Although the world premiere took place today, the program may become available a little later in some regions. Users of Apple gadgets just need to wait, while Android owners go

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

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

The assistant also analyzes the conversation and can itself provide useful links on the topic. And it will even suggest how to respond to your interlocutor in your style, so that you don't have to type.

Allo also has a dark side, which has led some users to criticize the app.

1. End-to-end encryption is disabled by default in the messenger, so messages are accessible to law enforcement agencies. In addition, Google will store chat histories on its servers.
2. Those who were underwhelmed by Hangouts don't expect Google to make a quality messaging app. And those who like Hangouts believe that Allo still has a long way to go. And both sides propose to upgrade the old messenger, instead of producing new useless software.
3. Allo is a text-only chat. Along with it, Google Duo video calling service was launched last year, which caused confusion: why separately.
4. On a small note: it does not support SMS and saving correspondence in the cloud. Runs only on one device. And you can only send one photo at a time.
5. The main function for which Allo is chosen is Google Assistant with those very smart answers and recommendations. But the assistant does not yet support the Russian language. Google Play promises that it will be available soon.
6. When Google Assistant appears in Russian, its shortcomings, which users of the English version have already encountered, will come out. He may give off-topic advice and, moreover, violate privacy.

Google Assistant misses

A 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?”, was going well until the assistant said: “This is what I found.” And he found an unrelated link to a resource that the user had visited a few days ago. And it’s good that it was a site about Harry Potter, but there could have been something compromising.

The assistant should also 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 the interlocutor an image from Google Maps with an address, without specifying whether it could be shared.

These may just be bugs, but they could be a serious privacy issue, in addition to the aforementioned lack of end-to-end encryption by default.

Let us know in the comments what you think about Allo and take the poll.

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

1. The name is clearly better than Hangouts.

2. Pulling the send key up and down can change the font size. Well, instead of shouting in caps, now we’ll shout in a chat more civilly!

3. This is a smart messenger. You can communicate with Google Assistant in this chat and ask him, for example, to book a table in a restaurant. How soon we will have this is not clear. You can ask to show a picture, find out the course and generally ask any question. Cool, like a chat when speaking out loud is inconvenient or impossible. You can even play a mini-game with him, like “Guess the movie.”

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

5. Google Duo service – video calls – is also presented. Competitor to 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.

Google's new text messaging app was first announced at the annual Google I/O 2016 conference. With the new Google Assistant virtual assistant and many other interesting features, it 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

Registration in the Allo application exactly repeats similar actions in another messenger from Google -. All you need to do is provide your phone number, which will receive a registration confirmation code. The next step is to configure Allo. This is a standard procedure where you will be asked to enter a username and take a profile photo. Please note that the username is not a login. The only identifier by which your interlocutors will be able to find and contact you is your phone number.

After registering, you can immediately start a conversation. Allo automatically analyzes and sorts your contacts. Priority is given to those who have the application installed. It’s worth saying that Allo’s audience at the start was significantly larger than that of the Duo video messenger. 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, an alert is sent to your phone, which allows you to see some of the text information. Message transfer is supposedly possible through Google Play notifications. To be honest, I personally was not able to 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 up shop”.

Interface

The first actions in the application immediately make it clear that Allo and Duo were developed in pairs. The main emphasis in these two messengers is on minimalism. Both programs have the same details in the interface: bright colors, contacts and search bar. The main screen of the application, which displays the conversation history, contains a single control element - a large button at the bottom of the screen, which opens a list of contacts for conversation. According to its specifics, Allo has slightly more advanced functions. Therefore, a sidebar appeared in the application, providing access to the user profile, blocked contacts and program settings.

Unlike Duo, Allo text messenger automatically links your profile to your Google Account. This is necessary for synchronizing correspondence history, group chats, as well as integrating a virtual assistant, which we will discuss in more detail below. If you don't need synchronization, you can disable your Google account - the program works fine without it. In the application settings you can activate automatic downloading of photos and videos, set your ringtone for 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 delete your phone number from the Allo database.

Key Features

Expectations from the Allo application were so high that it seemed that Google was simply obliged to release some kind of innovative solution. But in practice, Allo is just another messaging application, which in essence is not only no different from other text messengers, but also incorporates existing capabilities. You can communicate with friends in both individual and group chats, send your location, voice and video messages (WhatsApp), use fashionable stickers (Viber), draw on photos (Snapchat), resize messages (iMessage).

Even in small details, Allo most closely copies the popular WhatsApp messenger. Take, for example, the marks under 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 the key features of Allo is the ability to communicate in incognito mode. In a hidden chat, no one except you and your interlocutor has access to messages. Even Google Assistant cannot be used in this mode. To ensure even greater security, each chat participant 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 notification marker will separate your messages. This feature is also available in Snapchat, but in my opinion, it is implemented more conveniently in Allo.

Google Assistant

Even during the presentation of the Allo application, the main emphasis was placed on the new virtual assistant Google Assistant, with which Google associates future developments of its Android operating system. Essentially, this is a more “human” version of Google Now. The assistant is the first one who meets you, starts a conversation and offers you help, telling you about his capabilities. The idea with the virtual assistant was to provide the user with the necessary information as easily as possible, as well as offer various services directly in the application in a more relaxed way.

Allo has a separate chat for the virtual interlocutor. The assistant understands commands (mostly in English for now), searches for information on the Internet and can perform various actions on the device. For example, you can ask him what the weather is like now, what films are showing 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. The virtual assistant can understand what is required of him from one word and this is pleasing, but on the other hand, the assistant inherited from its predecessor a certain straightforwardness and in some places stubbornly shows search results when asked a question or command.

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

The inadequacy of the “smart” concept of the messenger may also be due to the fact that the Google Assistant service is still presented in a preliminary 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

Many popular messaging apps today provide end-to-end encryption. This means that your messages are not saved on the server, only on the devices on which the conversation took place. During the announcement of Allo, a lot of big words were said about the encryption of messages using the open source Signal protocol used in the application of the same name. As it turns out, Google does provide encryption for messages in its messenger, but only in incognito mode. Google later said that all messages will still be stored on the company's servers until Allo users decide to delete them themselves. This need is due to Google Assistant, which uses this data to provide more accurate information. Who knows, maybe this is Google's way of showing targeted ads in the app in the future.

Flaws

Perhaps the main disadvantage of the messenger is the lack of synchronization between devices. You won't be able to use Allo on multiple devices simultaneously with one phone number. In this case, you can specify an additional phone number for registration and install the application on your tablet without any problems.

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 at the very least found a solution to this problem, allowing its users to use the service on a PC.

Voice and video messages, photographs are, of course, great. But why does Google, having colossal cloud technologies, deprive its users of the ability to exchange other types of files. Take Telegram as an example, which not only allows you to attach various files to messages, but also provides each user with a personal cloud space to store them.

Eventually

Clearly, Google's new product has become the most anticipated and most overrated app in recent memory. And it’s not so much the company’s fault as the experts, observers and authors of IT resources, who artificially escalated the situation even before the application was released, which actually caused high expectations among ordinary users.

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

While Apple device owners feel quite comfortable with iMessage pre-installed, 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 ultimately choose Allo?