Many of you have probably already heard about the exciting new Google+ service. It seems to be very much an attempt to target Facebook users in the same way that Buzz was an a attempt to draw Twitter users further into the Googleverse.
Unlike Buzz, however, Google+ may have a bit more going for it over its rivals – particularly in two areas: privacy and the use of “circles”.
In Facebook, most of the privacy options are disabled by default. The reverse seems to be true of Google+ (or G+ as it shall be known henceforth!). The use of circles also makes it far easer than on either Facebook or Twitter to target your messages to particular users or groups of users.
This is one of the things I have felt missing in Twitter for ages. Many of my followers don’t follow the same sports as me (or, indeed, any sports) and yet they still see all my sports related tweets. In G+ I can target those messages to those who are more likely to be interested by organising them into “circles”.
So we come to the G+ Android app. Most of the features available on the web version of G+ are also available for the Android app. You can view you circles and add people to them – although adding people is much easier on the web.
You can also view your stream – which looks very much like the status updates that you get in Facebook. One of the nice aspects here is that you can also view any messages from near to where you are geographically – as long as those messages have been made public.
There is also an “incoming” stream which lets you see messages and photos that are shared with you from people with whom you have not yet connected. This can help you to spot some of the people who you really should have added as well as allowing you to ignore anyone you don’t want to connect with more easily.
One of the really useful features on the Android app is the photo functionality. You can configure the G+ app to automatically upload any photos that you take on your phone to a private album online (notice that it is private by default!) so that they are then ready for you to share more easily if you want to.
G+ can also be connected to your Picasa account so that you can both view and share pictures from your Picasa albums too.
Huddle is a feature that, for now at least, seems to be unique to the Android app. It is basically a way of starting an IM style chat from within the Android app and can include anyone in your circles. There isn’t, however, any way of continuing this chat online since the website only seems to have Google chat as an option for IM style chatting. The G+ website also allows you to have video chats with other G+ users, but this option is not available on the Android app, which seems like something of a shame given that the newer phones often have a front facing camera. Hopefully this will be included soon.
Overall, the app feels polished, although the “beta” feel isn’t entirely absent from the exerience.
For more information, check out the following video from Google:
