Gmail users will soon get a taste of the same video chat technology found on Google+, the search giant's social network, as Google is ditching the current Gmail video chat function and replacing it with Hangouts. The company began rolling out the newer Google+ Hangouts functionality to Gmail on Monday, July 30.

"Unlike the old video chat, which was based on peer-to-peer technology, Hangouts utilize the power of Google's network to deliver higher reliability and enhanced quality," wrote Fred Brewin, Google's product manager, in a blog post on Monday. "You'll be able to chat with all the same people you did before and with Hangouts you'll now be able to reach them not only when they are using Gmail but also if they are on Google+ in the browser or on their Android or iOS devices."

Basically, this change is designed to improve the quality and performance of Gmail video chats, and users who have Google+ accounts as well will be able to communicate to up to nine people at the same time, provided all the participants have Google+ accounts. Gmail's video chat feature has allowed only for one-to-one sessions so far, but the new functionality aims to change that.

"All Gmail users will benefit from this upgrade, but if you and the person you're chatting with also use Google+, you'll get even more from the Hangouts experience," touted Google. "You'll be able to video chat with up to nine people at once, watch YouTube videos together, collaborate on Google documents and share your screen. Plus, Hangouts has a bunch of fun effects that you can try out...because any conversation is better when you're wearing a virtual mustache or pirate hat."

Google has already started to push the Hangouts video chat feature to Gmail, and will gradually roll it out over the coming weeks. The company started the roll out with personal Google Accounts and will then move to Google Apps, the cloud-based service and email suite for organizations.