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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Labels: Mobile Blog
70 comments:
Ted said...
When will T-Mobile G2 users (and everyone else) get the 2.3 update?
April 28, 2011 at 1:53 PM
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.
April 28, 2011 at 1:57 PM
RobAymett said...
When the manufacturer updates them.
April 28, 2011 at 1:57 PM
Andrew Meyer said...
Thanks. I love you.
April 28, 2011 at 1:58 PM
dattasmoon said...
Why don't they make this gtalk update available via the Market like they do for maps and such?
April 28, 2011 at 1:59 PM
Unknown said...
Will this feature be released to like other devices, say iPhone users?
April 28, 2011 at 2:03 PM
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!
April 28, 2011 at 2:04 PM
derkling said...
What about support for Nexus One?... I'll be more than happy to use a mirror! ;-)
April 28, 2011 at 2:04 PM
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.
April 28, 2011 at 2:04 PM
RONIN said...
it looks like Google is in race with Skype/QIK and Fring :) for video calls...
April 28, 2011 at 2:05 PM
stk said...
I'm with @derkling on the Nexus one idea.
April 28, 2011 at 2:08 PM
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.
April 28, 2011 at 2:09 PM
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 :)
April 28, 2011 at 2:10 PM
Chancy said...
Where is Gingerbread for the G2?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
April 28, 2011 at 2:18 PM
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.
April 28, 2011 at 2:24 PM
Android Europe said...
Presumably this is not for us mere Europeans?
April 28, 2011 at 2:38 PM
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!
April 28, 2011 at 2:52 PM
Derrick said...
One more vote for Gingerbread on the G2...
April 28, 2011 at 3:21 PM
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
April 28, 2011 at 3:24 PM
Krathos said...
it work on Nexus One?
April 28, 2011 at 3:24 PM
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.
April 28, 2011 at 3:37 PM
Wesley said...
I hope we get voice chat over Gtalk on the Nexus One at least even though we can't video chat.
April 28, 2011 at 4:31 PM
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.
April 28, 2011 at 4:35 PM
Anonymous said...
Hey Google we want it for iPhone too!
April 28, 2011 at 4:54 PM
Anonymous said...
Google! please update Gtalk for Windows and also bring it to iPhone!
April 28, 2011 at 5:06 PM
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
April 28, 2011 at 7:23 PM
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.
April 28, 2011 at 10:10 PM
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.
April 28, 2011 at 11:19 PM
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.
April 29, 2011 at 2:57 AM
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
April 29, 2011 at 6:16 AM
muthukumaran said...
So when are you planning to provide support for Indic languages?
April 29, 2011 at 6:18 AM
SDsc_rch said...
sweet! Google is doing great work!
PS... update the G2
:)
April 29, 2011 at 6:28 AM
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.
April 29, 2011 at 6:44 AM
Yobif said...
Nice to get updates from Google
April 29, 2011 at 7:23 AM
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?
April 29, 2011 at 8:11 AM
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?
April 29, 2011 at 9:41 AM
Nasser said...
Video chat doesn't work over T-Mobile 3G. What's up with that??
April 29, 2011 at 9:47 AM
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?
April 29, 2011 at 10:01 AM
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
April 29, 2011 at 10:07 AM
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.
April 29, 2011 at 10:49 AM
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
April 29, 2011 at 2:21 PM
Unknown said...
waah, Waah, Waah...
April 29, 2011 at 6:38 PM
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.
April 30, 2011 at 12:04 AM
Nedzork said...
wow nice bro, i cant wait to have Android
April 30, 2011 at 5:17 AM
柚子 said...
I am using Nexus S,i9023,which is running GRI54,KB3.
And I haven't received OTA.
April 30, 2011 at 6:27 PM
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..
April 30, 2011 at 8:38 PM
Unknown said...
I made a voice call to my friend but could not use the phone's internal speaker. Only Speakerphone? Come on!
May 1, 2011 at 12:06 PM
Anonymous 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)
May 2, 2011 at 1:23 AM
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.
May 2, 2011 at 8:12 AM
KHAIRU DHANANI said...
wow , nice , interesting
May 2, 2011 at 12:12 PM
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/
May 2, 2011 at 11:38 PM
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.
May 3, 2011 at 3:26 AM
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.
May 3, 2011 at 3:34 AM
Arshath said...
Recieved OTA and got it installed. Working good. :-)
May 3, 2011 at 6:26 AM
Unknown said...
I have a similar problem, doesn't support video chat over 3G ? Why is that ?does anyone know why ?
May 3, 2011 at 9:40 AM
Just Friends said...
it work on Nexus One? I Love this Blog.
3D ultrasounds | 4d Ultrasounds
May 3, 2011 at 11:17 PM
Jacque le Temps said...
Where can I get this for my Nexus S?
May 4, 2011 at 2:29 AM
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...
May 4, 2011 at 7:42 AM
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.
May 4, 2011 at 9:15 AM
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.
May 4, 2011 at 11:51 AM
Anonymous said...
Hmmm, on 2.3.4 and no video chat option :(
May 4, 2011 at 11:55 AM
willam said...
BlackBerry Mobile Phones comes in various models based on the different features so that large number of population should be covered.
May 4, 2011 at 11:10 PM
Unknown said...
we are into mobile apps development
Blackberry application developers
May 5, 2011 at 2:51 AM
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.
May 5, 2011 at 4:10 AM
Sundar said...
Wi-Fi only? way to kowtow to the terrorists (verizon/at&t) Google. do no evil, huh?
May 5, 2011 at 7:11 AM
EYEAMFRESH said...
Funny thing is I'm running that very app on my gingerbread HTC evo right now and its working great.
May 5, 2011 at 3:50 PM
Jacque le Temps said...
got it 2.3.4 Nexus S In Germany....nice, it works great.
May 7, 2011 at 3:03 AM
Tiến Nguyễn said...
Wifi only on TMobile?
May 7, 2011 at 6:21 AM
Anonymous 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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May 11, 2011 at 3:03 AM
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?
May 12, 2011 at 12:15 PM
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