Google has told that it is working on an RCS based messaging service called Chat. This will for the first time bring rich messaging interface for the Android phones and users will be getting additional features over the standard SMS.
After testing its fortunes with the Google Hangouts, Voice, Google Talk, and Google+, the company is back with yet another messaging product. Google has been trying to churn out a compelling alternative to the Apple iMessage and this quest seems to have witnessed more failure than success. Google has now announced that it will be pausing the work on Allo and instead focus on “Chat”, a new RCS based messaging standard.
As part of an exclusive interview with The Verge, Google says that the Chat will be based on Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services. The company has already been working on bringing the RCS support by partnering with OEMs and offering Jibe RCS Cloud Platform. The Chat shows how serious Google is when it comes to pushing its own messaging service.
RCS or Rich Communication Services is an enhancement layer based on SMS or MMS. In order to get the RCS your device, the carrier, and the operating system should support it. With the RCS you can see when others are typing and the platform will also allow users to send photos and videos of up to 10MB. RCS also offers other advanced options like private chats and uses data connection as opposed to the traditional SMS that users carrier signaling system.
Google will be offloading all of its resources from the Allo to the Android Messaging project. Despite being backward compatible with SMS, the Chat will not support end-to-end encryption. As of now, Samsung will support the RCS via their own messaging app. Additionally, Google will also be integrating certain Allo features like the Google Assistant and the GIF search to the Chat messaging service. At last, it seems like Google has developed a rich messaging service for its Android phones, one that could rival the iMessage on the iOS.
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