Google Video Chat Review

Many of you probably saw the news this week at Google launched a new video chat feature within the GChat portion of its Gmail service.

I’ve been a long time user of Gmail and fan of just about every Google product.  And I’ve used Apple’s iChat to talk with friends before, so I thought I’d try out the new service to see how it compares.

After a quick install from within my Gmail, the video function was up and running.  I was able to connect with good buddy Michael Eller from within the normal chat window.  We were able to talk uninterrupted for an hour - from 3000 miles apart!  The picture is a bit grainier than with iChat, and I did experience a slight echo when talking, but all in all it was a fantastic first try.  We never lost the connection and were both pleasantly surprised with how easy everything was.

The verdict - this is a great hardware agnostic way to engage in video chat with family and friends.  If you have a Mac with built in cam or a PC with a webcam, I’d definitely recommend trying it out - Google strikes again!