Google Hangouts Chrome app could be in line for a redesign

Google’s Hangouts app for Chrome, aka Ultraviolet, has been out for a little while now, but its little floating user interface hasn’t been a hit with everyone. According to an image spotted in Google’s issue tracker and reported by Caschy’s Blog, Google may be testing out a new interface for the app, see the image above.

The issue report has since been deleted, but the screenshot gives us a look at what we might expect in a future update. Although the color scheme remains traditional, there’s now two distinct panes. One for the current conversion and one for previous messages, as well as the now customary material design FAB for starting a new conversation. The “chat heads” style looks to be completely replaced by a more standard windowed interface. The redesign looks much more like its Android counterpart, although the call and message options have been moved to the bottom left of the screen.

Of course, we have no way of knowing if or when Google is planning to release an update for its Chrome Hangouts app. We might learn more at Google I/O, which is taking place at the end of the month.

Thoughts?