Video Chat on Your Android Phone

Thursday, April 28, 2011 | 1:49 PM

Sometimes, the expressions on a person's face can mean much more than what they say. To help you stay in touch with your friends and family, we’re launching Google Talk with video and voice chat for Android phones.

You can now video or voice chat with your friends, family and colleagues right from your Android phone, whether they’re on their compatible Android tablet or phone, or using Gmail with Google Talk on their computer. You can make calls over a 3G or 4G data network (if your carrier supports it) or over Wi-Fi.


  

























In your Google Talk friends list, a video or voice chat button will appear next to your contacts and you can simply touch the button to connect with them. Any text chats from the person you’re talking with will be overlaid on your phone’s screen so you can read them without having to leave the video. And, if you need to check something else, the video pauses automatically so you can go back to your phone’s home screen or another app. The audio will keep going even though the video has paused. Check out how this works:




Google Talk with video and voice chat will gradually roll out to Nexus S devices in the next few weeks as part of the Android 2.3.4 over-the-air update and will launch on other Android 2.3+ devices in the future. To learn more about using video and voice chat, check out our Help Center.


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71 comments:

Ted said...

When will T-Mobile G2 users (and everyone else) get the 2.3 update?

chr1st3nd0 said...

The Nexus series is a developer phone. They will see all updates first. You won't see this on anything else for at least 3 months or more.

RobAymett said...

When the manufacturer updates them.

Andrew Meyer said...

Thanks. I love you.

dattasmoon said...

Why don't they make this gtalk update available via the Market like they do for maps and such?

Unknown said...

Will this feature be released to like other devices, say iPhone users?

Scott R. Frost said...

Extremely lame to push this as part of firmware instead of via Market. Everyone with Froyo or even older versions of Gingerbread is left out!

derkling said...

What about support for Nexus One?... I'll be more than happy to use a mirror! ;-)

Andrew said...

Just keep an eye on XDA, folks. No doubt they'll have this ported to other 2.3 phones within a week or so.

RONIN said...

it looks like Google is in race with Skype/QIK and Fring :) for video calls...

stk said...

I'm with @derkling on the Nexus one idea.

Lox said...

Is it finally supporting multiple Gtalk accounts? I use fring instead because gtalk app is tied to my main phone account,witch is corporate, whereas all my buddies are on my personal Gmail account.

Alan Nudi said...

Google doesn't publicly admit that Nexus S is really meant for developers. You all need to hang tight, and let the pros work out the kinks first. THEN you get to complain :)

Chancy said...

Where is Gingerbread for the G2?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Nikolay said...

The fragmentation sucks. All these pieces should be on Android Market at not put customer at the mercy of the lazy manufacturers and carriers. Also, CyanogenMod exists not because people want to root their phones - it's because people are tired of waiting! So, you should partially at least fix this problem by putting all core pieces on the Market - just like it is the case with Gmail, etc.

Android Europe said...

Presumably this is not for us mere Europeans?

Thomas said...

My Nexus S is still on version 2.3.1
I don't use a carrier at this point, I only use it over WiFi. Will I still get this update? (I'm in the US)
Thanks a lot!

Derrick said...

One more vote for Gingerbread on the G2...

aa said...

Will be good to be able to make/receive Google voice phone calls as well, using wifi or 3G, from android tablet or smartphone directly

Krathos said...

it work on Nexus One?

Mr. Spontaneous said...

The reason you need Gingerbread is for the front-facing camera API's. Google's not going to hack in support for nonstandard features baked in by phone manufacturers.

Wesley said...

I hope we get voice chat over Gtalk on the Nexus One at least even though we can't video chat.

Mike Rich said...

Once again, I am thrilled that I raced out and purchased an Eris. Sadly, after hockey season ends I won't be able to rent it out to anyone as a puck.

Anonymous said...

Hey Google we want it for iPhone too!

Anonymous said...

Google! please update Gtalk for Windows and also bring it to iPhone!

tomv said...

i upgraded the s from 2.3.1 to 2.3.3 using some sites. even nexus one can go to 2.3.3. happy upgrading

lensovet said...

To all of you saying that it should be in Market — it WILL be! It just requires OS 2.3+. From the post:
«Google Talk with video and voice chat … will launch on other Android 2.3+ devices in the future»
of course, since fragmentation doesn't exist, that should be no problem.

Amar Shah said...

It's so painful everytime you only make updates available for only a small portion of Android phones. You should put the OS version in the title blog, so that we don't get excited unnnecesarily for folks who have ancient 2.2 OS and still can't update.

Marcus Wellington said...

You might have left the building, but you can still keep your conversations going, with Yahoo! Messenger on your Android phone. Stay in touch with your IM friends with a brand new version of Yahoo! Messenger that will keep you connected and available.

muthukumaran said...

Thanks Google for this. Could you please make sure that this application has access to bluetooth devices? I am tired of Fring as it is not forwarding the voice to my bluetooth headset

muthukumaran said...

So when are you planning to provide support for Indic languages?

SDsc_rch said...

sweet! Google is doing great work!

PS... update the G2
:)

Mike said...

Is there no way to bring this to 2.2 phones via the Market? I really like to use Google Talk for overseas calls since the rates are so good.

Yobif said...

Nice to get updates from Google

Kyle said...

Every time that I try to start a video call over 3g it says "You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network to start a video chat". What am I doing wrong? The post states "You can make calls over a 3G or 4G data network (if your carrier supports it)..." Does T-mobile not support this feature?

Anonymous said...

I just updated my T-Mobile Nexus S to 2.3.4 and the video and voice calls work great over Wi-Fi, but once I'm on 3G, I get an error dialog saying "You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network to start a video/voice chat." If a voice or video invitation comes in when on 3G, a notification comes on saying I missed the call because I wasn't on Wi-Fi. I see no settings in Talk or the System relating to accepting or denying calls when on various network types. What gives?

Nasser said...

Video chat doesn't work over T-Mobile 3G. What's up with that??

bnetty said...

Getting the same "You must be connected to a Wi-Fi network to start a video chat." comment. Has anyone confirmed that T-Mobile 3G doesn't support video chat via Google Talk?

K Bharath said...

thanks for sharing this great news but is there any news that when this update comes for the other android devices.

WR
www.techntricksonline.com

Anonymous said...

Very Good !
In the EU Market, make sure a full set of tools goes with it : TEXT TRANSLATION and while video-chatting, this is very helpful for businesses , corporations, stores, factories , hospitals , professionals and students ,etc.,

If Google and partners market this wisely and cheap to start, they will achieve huge penetration in many markets where there is room to grow, so go for it !

( to break any complains in the EU and other markets , you may consider fring and skype on the side too ) SET A HIGH STANDARD OF QUALITY AND WIN THE MINDS.

Unknown said...

Well we will not see this on the Samsung Galaxy S as samsung are not giving us gingerbread thanks android new i should of got APPLE stop this fragmentation

Unknown said...

waah, Waah, Waah...

Joel S said...

This is sweet!

I wonder if users will be able to send video or voice messages to contacts similar to what can be done with the current google talk features. I for instance would like to send short voice messages without beeing connected to the counterpart, i currently use the app heytell for the voice messages now but it would be Awsome if Android would support this functionality out-of-the-box.

The main thing is that I can send voice messages to both online and offline contacts and that the can listen to these messages when they choose to.

Unknown said...

This is very nice to hear. Android is developing faster than I thought. I also heard in a website that android phones are preffered more than iphone right now. gamesoftwa.blogspot.com

Nedzork said...

wow nice bro, i cant wait to have Android

柚子 said...

I am using Nexus S,i9023,which is running GRI54,KB3.

And I haven't received OTA.

Vijay said...

ATTN: GOOGLE, VERY IMP: I have been using my Nexus S for past couple of months, I have noticed the android stock keyboard has crashed numerous times. It is really frustrating as sometimes you need to restart the phone to get it working fine again. Kindly look in to it..

Unknown said...

I made a voice call to my friend but could not use the phone's internal speaker. Only Speakerphone? Come on!

Unknown said...

To be honest, unless gtalk@android supports multiple accounts other than the main one, any function is useless to me (and I believe to many others, too)

VirtualBlackFox said...

Beautiful, one more time a feature that no one can use but 1% of the user base.

It's one of the reasons i'll never get or suggest an android phone when non geek persons ask me what they should use : Too much maintenance if rooted, too few updates if not rooted. An iPhone is a vastly better and more secure choice.

KHAIRU DHANANI said...

wow , nice , interesting

http://informationbd.info/ said...

Just keep an eye on XDA, folks. No doubt they'll have this ported to other 2.3 phones within a week or so
attractive.
visit http://informationbd.info/
http://onlinesolution.info/

Unknown said...

Simply I can say this website is the World of Entertainment and Technology applications and many more..... It has hundreds of gaming and other mobile applications and still they are adding new apps.

柚子 said...

Nexus S(i9023):Android 2.3.3

Baseband:KB3
Build:GRI54

Someone who has the same version as me received OTA,but they can't finish updating successfully.

Arshath said...

Recieved OTA and got it installed. Working good. :-)

Unknown said...

I have a similar problem, doesn't support video chat over 3G ? Why is that ?does anyone know why ?

Just Friends said...

it work on Nexus One? I Love this Blog.
3D ultrasounds | 4d Ultrasounds

Jacque le Temps said...

Where can I get this for my Nexus S?

Unknown said...

Yesterday I've tried it to call gmail <=> nexus s - it's sucks.
There no any way initiate just a voice call. UI is too poor yet...

Unknown said...

I don't really use Google Talk now but I have used it on my computer before and tried it when I 1st got my EVO. I was told the EVO 4G will get GB 2.3 soon but who knows if it's true and when. The EVO 3D will be out soon. But I have been using the new Fring Video Chat and it keeps disconnecting me in the middle of a chat.

Unknown said...

I hope we'll se at least voice chat coming to the N1. Personally I'm more interested in that than video anyway. I don't want to fix my hair etc when answering the phone.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm, on 2.3.4 and no video chat option :(

willam said...

BlackBerry Mobile Phones comes in various models based on the different features so that large number of population should be covered.

Unknown said...

we are into mobile apps development


Blackberry application developers

Unknown said...

On 2.3.4 now and for those who are waiting for OTA on Nexus S ....register your phone on Samsung website, you will receive OTA in an hour.

Sundar said...

Wi-Fi only? way to kowtow to the terrorists (verizon/at&t) Google. do no evil, huh?

EYEAMFRESH said...

Funny thing is I'm running that very app on my gingerbread HTC evo right now and its working great.

Jacque le Temps said...

got it 2.3.4 Nexus S In Germany....nice, it works great.

Tiến Nguyễn said...

Wifi only on TMobile?

Unknown said...

Wow what a nice mobiles blog...
i have never seen such a nice blog...
i like it...
Thanks for sharing..
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JN said...

Hey,
Does anyone know if you can use the front facing and rear facing camera on a nexus s 4g with the the build in video chat? I have heard you can only use the front facing camera?