THE GOOGLE+
APP for the iPad is finally here. Aside from adding a bit of Flipboard-esque
flash to the way you surf updates from your social network, the app also turns
Google+ into a solid business tool with the inclusion of Hangouts, the Google+
video-chat capability.
One of the
crucial pieces missing for Google+ has been an iPad app. Sure, the iPhone app
works—in a technical sense—on an iPad, but only in a small, iPhone-size window
or in a grainy, magnified version that doesn't take advantage of the display
size or capabilities of the tablet.
The new
iPad-specific app delivers Google+ in stunning, crisp Retina resolution. That
fact alone makes Google+ users exponentially more likely to engage the social
network at all from an iPad. But when you combine Google+ Circles with
Hangouts, and make everything available from a versatile mobile device like the
iPad, it opens new options for productivity on the go.
Although the
Hangouts feature has been an option on Android smartphones and tablets since
December 2011, until now the iPad has been hobbled with the Hangout-less iPhone
version of the Google+ app.
Since the iPad
is by far the dominant tablet among consumers and business users, however,
expanding Hangouts to the iPad provides a much broader audience of possible
Hangouts participants.
Google+ makes
it easy to create Circles dedicated to specific work projects, devoted to
customers, partners, or vendors, or limited to a department within the company.
And you can easily start a Hangout with any Circle you’ve set up in your social
network, or simply select the individuals you wish to engage in a video chat.
Granted,
Google+ Hangouts aren't the only game in town. Business users on the go and
armed with iPads could use FaceTime, but it's limited to other iOS or Mac OS X
users.
Skype's
service enables you to video-chat with other Skype users from an iPad, and you
can also turn to more-robust videoconferencing services such as FuzeMeeting,
GoToMeeting, or WebEx. The drawback: Although the iPad apps for GoToMeeting and
WebEx are free, the services themselves have associated costs. Besides, they
tend to be more complex and cumbersome than Google+ Hangouts.
Of course,
while Google+ has a solid user base, Facebook remains the biggest player in the
social networking arena. As of this writing, Facebook is rumored to be working
on a new version of the iPhone Facebook Messenger app that will include
Skype-like video-chat functionality, but we've heard no news about an iPad
version coming anytime soon.
In the meantime, for free, simple video chats on the go, Hangouts are
hard to beat. If you have an iPad, you should give the new Google+ app a try.
0 comments:
Post a Comment