Babel: What We've Seen and What We Know

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We all desperately want a unified messaging solution across Google's products and services, and we're betting you've heard rumours regarding this in one form or another. Here's what we know:


What We Know

Vic Gundotra, the Senior Vice President, Engineering at Google hints at a better messaging experience coming "shortly", which most likely means that it will be announced at this year's Google I/O conference.

 Vic was mentioned in a post on Google+ yesterday, when he responded regarding some of the feedback. The most intriguing part of the reply was regarding the unification of the messaging systems across Google (Talk, G+ Messenger, Hangouts etc).

Here's a quote straight from the comment:
"On your messenger point... I agree. Expect good progress here shortly... ...The overall momentum continues to surprise us and I'm looking forward to Google IO!" - +Vic Gundotra

What We've Seen

This pretty much almost confirms that we'll see the progress on messaging being announced very soon, most likely at Google I/O 2013, and it could be called Babel, though it may just be a codename.

 So what are some of the features we should expect from the unified messaging service? An alleged leaked memo has been doing the rounds on the interwebs lately, with a nice and tidy bullet list of features and improvements to existing services, with commentary:


  • Brand new UI. We’ve designed a new UI that’s applied across all clients and promotes conversations.
  • Stay in sync.  With just one conversation list and experience across mobile and desktop, everything is always in sync. Install the Chrome app, the Android app, and iOS app.
  • Desktop app.  Stop laying whack a mole across blinking browser tabs. With the new Chrome app your conversations continue outside of the browser.
  • Keep a group conversation going to coordinate with your team, and start a Hangout with a single tap whenever you need to talk face-to-face.
  • Be notified…just once.  Get notifications on your two phones, tablet, laptop, and desktop. Open it on one and watch the others disappear. If you’re actively using your computer or phone we’ll even intelligently notify you on just one of those endpoints. Magic!
  • Message more than just text.  Add a photo to the conversation and/or send some of the 800+ emoji to your coworkers. Kittens and poop are particularly helpful in explaining complex issues.
  • Get nostalgic.  Scroll back in time and relive any (on-the-record) conversation, on any device.
  • More ways to talk.  For the first time we are building a first class iOS experience. Try out our very early preview on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

    • There have also been leaked screenshots of the purported chat client on Gmail, according to TechCrunch:
    Screenshots from an anonymous tipster, but seems legit
    Come on Google, the cat is just about out of the bag. Why not announce the unified messaging solution sooner? 27 days is still too long to wait. ;-)

    Aside from a single way to message across Google, what would you like to see from the new and improved messenger? Speculate away in the comments!

    Sources: Google+ Post