Rumors about Google's upcoming unified communication service have gained credence with a bunch of leaked images of the service unofficially dubbed Babel.
The screenshots, apparently from a Google employee, reveal that the search engine's revamped chat service apparently uses a more threaded-messaging style with image thumbnails instead of the traditional text-based layout, TechRadar reports. "It will come with a bunch of new emoticons and Google+ is built-in so you can zip from Babel chat to hangout if things get serious. What's more, you'll need to link your Google+ account to send photos through Google Talk." the report says.
The leaked images obtained by TechRadar confirm the service's name as Babel as a hover-over on a Feedback button says "What do you think about Babel in Gmail?" Babel will replace Google chat and will take a new avatar with a more modern design and speech squares. It will be a collaboration of Google's various communication services such as Google+, Gmail, Google Chat and more. It offers a plethora of emoticons or smileys in the form of cats, flags, and other various items, which include new icons not used in Google+'s 'Mood' faces.
The timing of this leak is significant as it comes in the wake of various reports about a possible Google acquisition of popular cross-platform mobile messaging app WhatsApp for $1 billion. Even as the rumors were doing the rounds on the tech media, WhatsApp categorically denied the reports and said the company is not in the process of negotiations with Google for an acquisition or merger.
However, TechRadar still believes there is a possibility of such a deal as its insider has noted some changes in Google's mobile advertising sector. "Unfortunately, the Google employee couldn't tell us anything about the rumoured WhatsApp buyout but did say there are changes afoot in the mobile advertising arena so 'it's probably true'" the report says.
The Babel rebrand might see an official release at the same time as the Google Play redesign, which is expected to happen at Google I/O in May.