#plusupdates

#plusupdates

via Bradley Horowitz​

Originally shared by Rhett Robinson

Hangouts: now smarter, faster, and a lot more fun

If you’re like me, you want to stay connected with friends and family without technology getting in the way. Hangouts lets you focus on the people you love talking to, so your conversations feel as in-the-moment and natural as they do in real life.

Today we’re updating the Hangouts app for Android to make it easier to express yourself, and have more fun along the way:
    - Like the saying goes, a sticker is worth a thousand words. From penguins to pirates, koalas to cats, 16 new sticker packs (and more to come!) have tons of ways to say what’s on your mind.
    - Give your video calls some extra flair with video filters including sepia, vignette, black & white, and more. Just swipe during a video call to try these new styles. 

We’re also making it easier to start conversations with friends and family:
    - Confirm your phone number so your friends who already have your digits can more easily find and message you in Hangouts.
    - Know when your friends are ready to chat right now with “last seen” timestamps, so you never have to type, “You there?”

Hangouts is also introducing the start of something new -- smart suggestions right in your conversations:
    - When you’re trying to meet up with friends in real life and someone asks, “Where are you?”, Hangouts can now understand what you need and offer to help.  You’ll see a one-tap option to share your location right in the conversation, without you needing to hunt around in a map, drop a pin and send your position. 

Try all the new features by updating the Hangouts app on your Android device  (http://goo.gl/v7FTL - rolling out to the Play Store over the next few hours). Note that “last seen” timestamps will roll out in waves over the next few weeks, so you may not see this feature for all your contacts right away. Today’s updates will also be available on the Hangouts iOS app soon. 

P.S. We’ve added a few other surprises to this Hangouts update, but we’ll let you find them on your own. Woot!



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