Android Gets Video Chat Via Google Talk Update For Nexus S Phones

The new Google Talk update on Android 2.3.4 brings impressive new video chat functionality to Nexus S users.

You'll be able to make video and voice calls from within Google Talk over Wi-Fi, 3G and 4G data connections. It looks like a pretty slick implementation: text chats from the person you're talking to will be overlaid on the video, and you'll be able to pause the video while maintaining audio to navigate your phone if needed. Because the voice and video is transmitted over the phone's data connection, Google Talk's video and audio chatting won't count against your cell phone plan's minutes.

iOS users looking to video chat over 3G will need to use Skype or Fring; FaceTime requires users to be on a Wi-Fi network.

Android 2.3.4 will be rolled out as an over-the-air update to Samsung Nexus S users "in the next few weeks." If you're a user of another Android device, Google isn't releasing any timeline for when you'll be able to get the video chat features.

WATCH:

LOOK:

Comments

[markburn]

05:45 PM on 04/30/2011

I remember as the iPhone finally got videochat with "FaceTime" - a feature that's around for many years - I thought: once again the fanboys will claim, that Apple invented it.

Now guess what happens...
HuffPo: "Android Gets A FaceTime Of Its Own"
ROFL!

[JohnTheMac]

06:54 PM on 04/30/2011

uh huh...
I think I was using iChat with 2 or 3 other people back when you were sucking on cotton candy.

[PalletJack]

08:44 PM on 04/30/2011

I remember using an app called CU-SeeMe back in 1995.

[JRonin]

08:28 AM on 05/01/2011

I was just thinking the same thing, I love how Facetime is the standard now when videochat applications have been around of years, and unlike Facetime, work cross-platform. The distortion field in full effect.

[PalletJack]

06:05 PM on 04/29/2011

Does anybody actually "video chat"?

[JohnTheMac]

06:57 PM on 04/30/2011

good point.
For all the gee whiz and 'neat-o' qualities of video chat, a lot of people really feel uncomfortable with it.
It's great to see kids if you're away for work for several days, or on holidays, but most of the time, people feel too self conscious to be seen.

[tsudopnem]

05:51 AM on 05/01/2011

Every day with family back in the states. I've had an android phone that has video chat for over a year now. Up until now, though, it only worked with other Galaxy users in Korea.

[cfern]

02:00 PM on 04/29/2011

EPIC FAIL!

HTC Evo had video chat features well before IPhone 4 and it was usable on 3G/4G or WiFi. The beauty of Android is you can find the right handset to do what you want instead of waiting for a single entity to get around to including it into their OS.

[PhillyKing]

09:30 AM on 05/02/2011

shhh.... you forget the fanbois never use anything else so when their emperor finally releases a model with it, they claim 'it's the first ever!!!'... i see it all the time... iphone was not the first touch screen, not the first with vid calls, not the first tablet etc... but u'd never guess that by the way the media is in full apple hype mode.

[BakoBitz]

12:32 PM on 04/29/2011

So Google updates Talk so it has the save audio/video features as the desktop version, and HuffPo makes the headling "Android gets a Face Time of its own"? The Apple-centrism of this site is still stunning. There was video chat on Android phones before the iPhone got it, but when 'face time' came out, was the headline "iPhone gets a Qik of its own"?

[Mydian01]

01:01 PM on 04/29/2011

what is a Qik? and why should i care? wait, dont answer that, i dont care.

[BakoBitz]

06:14 PM on 04/29/2011

It's what Apple stole the idea of 'face time' from. I'm sure HuffPo will report on that as soon as Hell freezes over.

[lobewan]

01:38 PM on 04/29/2011

I am OS-neutral - but the absurd applefanboyism at HP is never-ending, and *should* be embarrassing to them. Clearly, it's not :)

[666dorado]

01:22 AM on 04/30/2011

at least fanboyism makes sense. it's people being excited about products they own.

the apple hate makes no sense. why waste time and energy commenting on products and a company you hate?

[Mydian01]

12:17 PM on 04/29/2011

"Google isn't releasing any timeline for when you'll be able to get the video chat features."

that sez it all.

[BakoBitz]

12:34 PM on 04/29/2011

Google doesn't control when phone manufacturers and carriers roll out OS updates. Because they're not control freaks.

[Mydian01]

01:00 PM on 04/29/2011

sooo.. they arent even interested in putting out a comparitive technology, only saying they are? because they cant control their product line or market? im confused.. is it because android is an open-source adware OS?

im not convinced we will ever see this vaporware. promises promises.

[blyan]

02:49 PM on 04/29/2011

Which is the #1 thing against their OS that everyone complains about. Why do you think no Android phone can compete with the sales of the iPhones? Current #1 selling phone in America = iPhone 4. #2 selling phone? iPhone 3GS. Everyone else trails way behind.

Contrary to the arguments that most fandroids give, most people don't give a damn about specs. Specs are completely useless if the system is fragmented to hell and you never know when your phone will be updated.

[lobewan]

01:40 PM on 04/29/2011

Though I disagree with what you're implying, I still have to cred a fellow Browncoat.

[Mydian01]

04:17 PM on 04/29/2011

your the first and only person to have even noticed.. that sir makes you just as much as browncoat. cudos.

btw, wait for the micro-bio "two by two, hands of blue."