This is how ALLO works, Google's WhatsApp

Allo, the new messenger created by Google and featured on the latest Google I / O, was hacked before being available on Google Play, thanks to an independent action by developer Quinny899, who is also a member of XDA Developers. At the moment, the app hack is not functional at all, but it gives us a good idea of ​​what the program looks like. We test the same and give our first impressions.

Simple interface

Allo doesn't have much frills, basically being a list of all your conversations. To start a chat, you just have to press the message icon, which is in the lower right corner of the screen. That way you can choose to create a group chat with your icon and name or a private conversation with any of your contacts.

AndroidPIT allo app 3
This is the Allo / AndroidPIT conversation list

There are two types of chats: normal and private. Visually, each one differs by the background of the conversation. In normal chats, the white background, while private chats bring the gray background and is watermarked the same logo as Chrome's anonymous browsing session.

In the right menu we have some options. From it we can access our profile, archived conversations and blocked contacts. A little further down we have the tweaking option, where you can link an account to a phone number, as well as manage audio and notification behavior

Easy chats and quick attachments

Within a chat we have a bar at the bottom of the screen where we can write a new message, because when we touch it a keyboard pops up. On the bar itself we have left a "+" symbol and right, an emoji attach symbol and another to send.

If we touch the "+" symbol at the bottom of the screen, an interface for attaching conversion files appears. So far, there are four icons: keyboard, camera, gallery and contacts. It is likely that, in the final version, more icons will be added, such as a document appender or geolocation, as in WhatsApp. But the impression I had on Allo that access tends to be faster.

Allo UI 1
Group chats / ANDROIDPIT

When you choose one of the icons (saved on the keyboard), half of the screen becomes an interface for inserting a photo, which can be taken with the phone camera, chosen from the gallery or from a contact. If half the screen is not enough, you can zoom it up and have an interface that grabs the entire screen of the smartphone.

Once the photo is chosen, you can edit them with freehand drawings and insert text centered at the top of the image.

Allo UI 2
Simple and intuitive / ANDROIDPIT

Can Allo end the WhatsApp monopoly?

Allo has some very nice features, such as the way to attach files or take photos – which reminds me a lot of Snapchat – and much more fluid than WhatsApp. Another point in favor is the fact that the messenger uses Google Assistant, the chatbot that helps the user find what he needs in an instant.

But given allo's potential improvements or advantages over WhatsApp, it will be very difficult for Google's new communicator to take the lead in the messenger market. It's a real challenge and changing users' habits has never been easy. Especially because most people don't think they have an Android with apps; They think they have a phone with WhatsApp. This is the rooting level of the app in everyday life.

How to have Allo hack on your smartphone

To get a first impression of Allo, you must have a 64-bit processor device that is rooted with Xposed and has Titanium Backup installed.




Root Backup Titanium
Install on Google Play

The second step is to download some files from the GitHub website with AlloAllo from developer Quinny898. The first is an APK with an Xposed module, which we must install, activate Xposed Installer and restart the device. The second is a TiBkp file, a backup copy of Titanium backup, with the Allo application. To restore it, go to Titanium and from the menu and choose 'Import Backup (.TiBkp) …'. Once that is done, browse for the file and import it.

After this step, you will have Allo installed on your smartphone, but you will not have any chat, as it will not access your contact list or have any communication with the outside world. To simulate some conversations, you will need to modify the SQLite database, which is in data / date / com.google.android.apps.fireball / database and it's called fireball.db.

Here you have the developer's instructions for modifying the database. An application will be required to edit the database file.




aSQLiteManager
Install on Google Play

You can also download and replace the file with another one I have prepared with some conversations myself.

What did you think of these first impressions of Allo? Can he beat WhatsApp?

(tagsToTranslate) Allo (t) Alloallo (t) xposed (t) Hack (t) Update (t) Application (t) messenger (t) WhatsApp (t) Google