A Google Duo video call can now be launched by a Google Assistant command.
Now if a user says “Hey Google, video call Mom," up pops Google Duo -- as long as the app is installed. Google Duo, first announced in 2016, is a video chat app -- much like Apple's FaceTime -- however it's available for both Android and iOS. It has a few features that can't be found on its rival's app, such as the ability to leave video messages rather than voicemails, preview the caller's live camera before answering and it's also not necessary for both parties to have the app.
But one feature that Apple introduced ahead of Google is the ability to use the ‘virtual assistant' -- in its case Siri -- to place a video call.
Now Google Duo has just rolled out a similar feature to some of its users. The new ability was spotted by Android Police who detailed their experience when playing with the feature.
In their experience “If you don't have the app installed or if the contact doesn't have Duo, you may see Hangouts being invoked instead,” and Google's Support page mentions if both users have a carrier video-call feature then “the call will automatically use the carrier's video service.” Furthermore, Google Assistant has added a section named “Voice and Video calls” where Google Duo can be linked and Google Smart Displays can be used.
It's not known exactly how recently Google started the rollout or how long it will take to complete.
