Like most things Google, their new video-calling app is free and easy. But what’s so special about a new video app?

Sneak preview

Well, for one thing, Duo starts its video capture of the caller as soon as the call is placed: it displays that live video to the receiver, before they have even answered. Interesting, right?

It’s a nice little addition to the video call process, but ultimately it’s little more than a live-streaming video version of caller ID. A gimmick like this is hardly enough to depose the established giants of video calling.

Stacking up to the competition

So how has it fared? Officially launched mid-August, it’s only took it four weeks to be downloaded more than 10 million times.

Google Duo has earned a rating of 4.4 out of 5 from Android users. This compares very favourably to the once monolithic Skype (which rates 4.1) and Google’s own Hangouts (which rates 3.9).

So far, iOS users haven’t been rating it so highly, but they still score it well above Skype.

So, what is it that makes Google Duo special?

The simplest answer is that it works. It works well. People seem to be pretty comfortable relying on it.

Time will tell

Reliability is the cornerstone of mainstream calling apps. Something that works now is good. Back that up with a brand like Google and a forecast of regular updates and people are already saying its great.

The test for Duo may well be how snappy it support team can be as updates and patches require recodes and bug-fixes.

If they can stay ahead of the game and keep on providing a simple video-calling service that works, then Duo might well be a genuine keeper.