14 DAY TRIAL // If somebody would grant awards for the most awaited software launch, then Google Talk would surely be one of the nominees, perhaps even a winner.
Rumors announcing the program's launch for today have been confirmed and as of this day, the already crowded market of IM clients has a new player.
Once we installed Google Talk on the PC we wanted to see what it can do. The core feature of the new IM client is efficiency. Since simplicity is one of Google's key features, Google Talk wants to comeback to the basic principles of IM. There are no emoticons, no online radio windows, games or other services. A talk window which looks like the first versions of AIM, Yahoo or ICQ,and an interface where you can communicate with your friends who have GMail, which can also be used to add new contacts and to quickly check the inbox.
Google Talk is all about communication. "But, so are the others", you might say. The surprise is hidden in the VoIP engine which powers Google Talk.
If you already have a microphone, speakers or a headset, you will be able to initiate a conversation in less than 10 seconds after the application is installed with anyone who also has the application.
The Call button is present in the talk window and the advantage of the voice support is that it works on the slowest Internet connection. We've tested one by one Yahoo Messenger with Voice, the last version of Skype and Google Talk, and Google's application has managed to ensure real time voice communication even on a dial-up connection. The quality of the voice transmission is flawless, with no distortions or background noise.
It doesn't mean that Skype and Yahoo Messenger wouldn't have handled the task, but both of them have delays when transmitting voice: Skype with approximately 1 second and Yahoo Messenger even with 3 seconds. Google Talk doesn't have many of the features present in MSN Messenger or Yahoo Messenger, such as file sending, but these features might be added later.
Google has relied on the integration with GMail to promote the IM client. First of all, all those whose addresses you have in the GMail contact list will also be available in Google Talk, and the talk window has aside from the Call button an e-mail button. When clicked, it will open the GMail account directly in the Compose Mail window, which will close after the message is sent.
At his point, Skype is the one to feel most threatened by Google Talk, but depending on what new features will be added to Google's client, I think that none of the classic IM clients should feel too comfortable.
The configuration options are minimal and you can sort the list and friends or block the contacts that have annoyed you. The volume of the sound cannot be tuned, Google Talk using the settings from Windows.
In a nutshell, if you want a something simple and efficient to communicate with your friends, then Google Talk should be your choice. For emoticons and other features you'll have to wait and it's unclear how and if they will be integrated.
Google Talk is available for download here and it has been certified by Softpedia as being 100% Clean.
