Both Google Duo and Allo are in their early stages, but it looks like Duo is already making its way to more devices. In fact, Micromax Informatics, an Indian electronics company, will be shipping as many as four new smartphones with Duo pre-installed, all of which will be released in the near future.
We do not know too much about the new smartphones but according to Micromax, they will be LTE-capable and will cost under $100.
It is not known at this point if this will be a trend going forward and if Google will work with other smartphone manufacturers to ship Duo pre-installed on smartphones. Duo probably does not need much help at this point — in one month of being available to download, the app has been downloaded 10 million times. The U.S. and India are the top places for downloading the app.
The app could also become one of the required apps that are bundled with the Google Play Store.
Interestingly enough, Allo, Google’s messaging app, does not appear as part of the announcement. That does not bode well for the new app, which was launch this week but has received mixed reviews, especially considering it does not really support SMS the way many were expecting it to.
“Video calling is perceived to be a very urban phenomenon and niche but at Micromax, we believe that there is a huge potential to massify the service by taking it beyond the tier 1 markets where Micromax has an unmatched edge,” said Micromax co-founder Vikas Jain in an interview with the Press Trust of India.
Duo is an app that can be used without the need for a separate username or account and it introduces a number of interesting features to video calling. For example, it has ‘Knock Knock’ which allows users to see a video feed of the person on the other end of the call before they answer the phone. You can download Duo for yourself from the Google Play Store.
