Now we can find Hangouts pre-installed on our mobile devices, and hidden in the sidebar of Gmail and Google+.
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Google has given Hangouts a brand new home on the web.
Last week, Google updated the Hangouts App for Android to version 4.0.
Users will be able to get direct access to the chat service for instant messaging, voice calls as well as video chats.
The new Hangouts website takes on Facebook’s Messenger service, which has a standalone app, a dedicated website and does not require Facebook credentials to login. Google’s Hangouts will be competing with tis rivals – WhatsApp, WeChat and Viber. The Settings menu can be found there allowing users to configure their status, notifications and manage some contacts.
Announcing the new website for Hangouts, Google’s Software Engineer Jordanna Chord said, “We are launching another way to use Hangouts today”. A full list of Google Hangouts conversations is shown at the left-side of the screen. With Hangouts becoming a product that extends to messages, phone calls, video conferences, and even the default SMS app on many Android devices, it really felt odd that its web presence seemed so neglected, and felt confined to just being a sidebar on other Google sites. There is also an option at the left of the conversations tab to switch over to the contacts and phone calls tabs.
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Google Hangouts will continue in the same way on Gmail accounts of Google users.
