In my experience, Google is spot on.
The trick seems to be that Google is no longer requiring that phone calls be made within a new Hangouts window – the very cumbersome method previously required an entirely new Hangout to be created. The new method is actually much closer in appearance and functionality to Gmail’s previous phone calling feature, which was replaced once Hangouts was announced two years ago at Google I/O.
The update is live for me, both in Gmail and in the Chrome app, so be sure to check it out, make some test calls, and enjoy the improvement. Now, if only we could get some Material Design love for Hangouts…