Google this week is expected to release Allo, an AI-powered app previewed in May at the Google I/O confab that's aimed at adding more pizzazz to text messaging.
Google said back then that it planned to release the app by the end of summer, and that would be this Wednesday, Sept. 21. Reliable mobile news blogger Evan Blass has tweeted "Hello, Allo (launches this week)," and Google watchers have been quick to rehash this.
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You can already pre-register for Allo on the Google Play store, and it's expected to hit the Apple App store before long.
Google introduced Allo alongside a one-to-one video messaging app dubbed Duo and has already released the latter.
Text messaging alternative Google Allo finds contacts via their phone numbers and its features include: Smart Reply (machine-learning powered canned responses to texts that are based on your previous texts; Ink for doodling on photos; Whisper Shout for emphasizing points by text size not by ALL CAPS; Google Assistant for getting answers to questions; and Incognito mode for private, end-to-end encrypted chats. Oh, and fancy/colorful stickers to liven things up.