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Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

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11–20 of 110 posts

Re: Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

#11
It looks like some of the user experience ideas from Google Messenger have made their way to Google Hangouts. How long does Google plan on supporting two Android SMS/MMS apps?

I've been using Messenger and it's pretty nice. I especially like the ability to search through my messages, something that the Hangouts v4 screenshot doesn't show.

Re: Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

#12
I just wish Hangouts would auto-archive Hangouts that I leave. The interface for "Archiving" all the hangouts that I left on the web, or via the browser extension is terrible, 4-5 clicks to archive each one. I keep the Android app installed only so that I can use it's multi-select and archive-all functionality.

Re: Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

#13
post #8

* It's about time. My wife complains about getting random SMS messages that turn out to be replies to group texts. She started giving out her direct cell number instead of her Google Voice number because of this problem. Hopefully with this she'll be able to use Voice exclusively.

I've been dogfooding this for a couple weeks, and I am very happy to be able to say that that feature (finally!) works, at least for me. Used to drive me nuts.

Re: Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

#14
I personally have moved on to Google Messenger for MMS. It's simpler and faster. I like the feature of being able to color-code my contacts in conversations too. It just makes it a lot easier to read through a group text that way.

Hangouts is cool and all, but I wish Google would just decide which app they are going to push and get on with it.

Re: Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

#15
post #7

Of course, I still have to run Chrome just for a slow and terrible browser interface on the desktop. Which was a major annoyance (especially since for some reason using Safari extends battery life for a huge amount) that caused me to switch to Telegram.

I ache for the old GTalk windows application. Tiny, lightweight, standalone, and simple. Very Unix, really.

Re: Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

#17
post #7

Of course, I still have to run Chrome just for a slow and terrible browser interface on the desktop. Which was a major annoyance (especially since for some reason using Safari extends battery life for a huge amount) that caused me to switch to Telegram.

Why not use Pidgin or Adium?

Re: Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

#20
post #7

Of course, I still have to run Chrome just for a slow and terrible browser interface on the desktop. Which was a major annoyance (especially since for some reason using Safari extends battery life for a huge amount) that caused me to switch to Telegram.

I ache for the old GTalk windows application. Tiny, lightweight, standalone, and simple. Very Unix, really.

I ache for the old GTalk Android application too. Also very Unix, then Google had to go and be all walled-garden. I hate how I have to have three separate IM clients, each with its own half-baked implementation on at least one platform, just so I can talk to all my friends.

Too bad corporate interests are against openness. I really would have liked it if all services were interoperable with one another.

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