Google Hangouts will replace the Duo in the list necessarily for Android iXBT.com

according to the source, in the email sent by Google partners program, Google Mobile Services, was marked by certain changes in the composition of the basic package of applications that must be installed together with Android OS.

From 1 December 2016 to Google Duo will officially replace Hangouts as a mandatory application. The last program will be optional, and its installation remains at the discretion of the partners. Google also says that it will continue to support Hangouts, so no reason to refuse this application.

Google Duo, recall, was presented in may at the event Google I/O, and later became available to everyone. Curiously, the Duo is an application for video calls and only for them. The ability to send text messages allocated to a separate app — Google Allo, what many do not understand. For this reason, it is

not clear why Hangouts replace it on your Duo and not on Allo, because Hangouts is a text messenger. Apparently, Google believes that it is time to move the industry to communicate through video. Although it is worth remembering recent studies, which argue that today’s youth in Western countries became uncomfortable to even communicate by voice (with normal calls), and a large part of communication takes place in the format of text messages.

Source: Android Police