Google has released a new Hangouts app for Windows and Chrome OS. It replaces the older Chrome browser extension while continuing to let you chat or make voice or video calls to contacts whether they’re using a PC or a mobile device.
The new app is also designed to get out of the way when it’s not in use.
Hangouts for Chrome has a user interface that’s reminiscent of Facebook Home’s chat heads. When you start a new conversation an icon for your contact will show up and it’ll stay visible until you end the chat. You can hover your mouse pointer over an icon to view the latest updates in that window.
You can drag the icons for your contacts anywhere on your screen or tap the Hangouts icon to close the app. The chat windows will automatically minimize when they’re not active.
Hangouts works as a native app which can run in the background. If you’re using a Windows computer you can launch the app from the Start Menu, pin it to your taskbar, or switch between Hangouts and other apps using Alt+Tab.
Using on Chromium with Ubuntu.
There is an intrusive white background around the pictures. It isn’t clear as the image above shows.
It also sits above all the other windows by default unlike the previous version which gets out of the way on start.
The old one produced new windows side by side for all chats by default. This one just replaces one window with another.
Visually and use wise, it’s not an improvement and I’ll stick with hangouts extension for as long as Google lets me.