Google Talk ‘Labs Edition’ Is Launched

Google has launched a new version of Google Talk, dubbed “Labs Edition“, but it’s not clear if it’s a successor to the original, or a new branch of development.

Garett Rogers of ZDNet points out that some new features were added, while some others seemed to have met the hatchet. Among the new one additions is support for true emoticons, notifications for Orkut and Google Calendar, as well as giving you the ability to do group chats. GTalk Labs Edition In cosmetic changes, when you start a chat, a tab shows up in the contacts window instead of a pop-out. This saves you some desktop and start bar real estate, though it is a bit odd feeling.

As for missing features, there is no quick link to your Gmail at the bottom of the window, but you can still get there via the pop-up notifications. Two of the most conspicuous missing items is the lack of voice chat and file transfer. Those would seem to be some fairly large steps back for an IM platform, but you have to ponder if it has something to do with the endless rumors of Google buying Skype.

Cosmetically it is a bit more polished looking than the standard version, but it has an “unfinished” feel in other ways. It still has no support for AIM-integration - something which you do get in the chat window within Gmail. That seems an odd oversight, and one many people expected in the next iteration of this popular platform.

On the whole it’s really a toss up if you should switch. (Remember, it is a Google Labs project.) I’m going to give it a few days to see if it grows on me. The only thing missing that I really love is the quick link to mail, but I really only use that at start up. Also, it’s personally going to take a bit getting used to everything being contained in one window. Otherwise, it’s a fairly decent release, and one worth checking out.

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