Less is Better! – Google+ Is Winning The Bandwidth Battle

bandwidth usage screenshot_0Yesterday I shared a couple of reason’s Google+ is on the move (Should I Tweet or Share It On Facebook). Today Google+ has rolled out a new feature inside their video share option, Google+ Hangout. Less is better, especially when considering bandwidth! Why is bandwidth important? For rural communities or/and those with unreliable connectivity it’s Christmas come early!

Hangout’s latest features:

  • Bandwidth slider. At the top right of every hangout is a new slider that lets you adjust your bandwidth preferences in real-time. This makes it easier to keep hangouts going, even in areas with poor connectivity.
  • Audio-only mode. Choose this mode to send and receive audio only, and thus, significantly reduce your bandwidth requirements. Other participants will only see your profile picture, but they’ll hear you loud and clear. (Podcast on Steroids)

The updates come about two months after Google introduced a very low frequency version of Hangouts. Once enabled, the users need only about 150 KB of bandwidth (WOW) to participate in a video chat. At the same time, Google updated its social network’s photos, now offering up to 5GB of full-size photo backups, as well as Android profile editing, and an enhanced Events experience. For more, see PCMag’s review of Google+ for iPad.

Google also launched Hangouts in India yesterday, and if you think about how strong Google is with translation software, you can imagine a world where one day you’ll be able to do a Hangout with someone who doesn’t speak your language and have the conversation seamlessly translated for you on the fly!

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