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Google Hangouts 4.0: now simpler, faster, more beautiful

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

#101

Post by jeena »

Lx1oG-AWb6h_ZG0 wrote: post #10
Zikes wrote: post #5

The only features I want are setting availability status and getting online notifications for contacts. IMs have had those features for decades, and contrary to Google's narrow worldview not everybody is online and available 24/7.

This post is about the android app. How do you define "online" when you're on a phone with a data connection, an extremely common use case for this scenario? (Or rather, what makes someone "offline" here?) Maybe it's better to track whether the user is busy or free-to-interrupt, which I think is what Google is already doing. (I believe there is also an option to broadcast if you're on your phone or your desktop, alth…

I'm only online abroad when I have a WiFi connection which is only a couple of times a day.

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

#102

Post by barrkel »

Someone1234 wrote: post #100
bazzargh wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were a pile of power management fixes coming in Chrome 45 - see https://plus.google.com/+PeterKasting/posts/GpL63A1K2TF ...currently out there in the beta update stream, shouldn't be far off now.

That's odd, the renderers fix seems to be Mac only. Is it already fixed on other platforms or is that simply not a priority? Chrome seems to have a higher than IE battery drain on Windows also.

On Linux, I regularly observe Chrome continuously consuming one whole core. Typically anything with a nice CSS animation seems to be implemented game-loop style: while (true) { render(update(delta)); }. Disabling things like spinner animations on a web page causes CPU load to plummet.

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

#103

Post by endtime »

Navarr wrote: post #24
endtime wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Downloaded the APK - won't let me create MMS when set to always send from my Google Voice, and when set to send from "Last number" group MMS is created with my actual #. I'm praying that it's a server side flag and not a case of Google Apps Free users getting skewered somehow.

I use Google Apps Free for my personal account, so I doubt that's your issue.

But I don't think I've initiated any group MMSes, just received them (and subsequently replied, which worked). You might be hitting a bug that I didn't. :/

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

#105

Post by Nullabillity »

shmerl wrote: post #80
Nullabillity wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? I'm 99% sure that it's been using WebRTC for about a year now.

It might be using it partially, but it still relies on that plugin blob. No idea why they can't use a pure WebRTC solution.

According to what I can find it doesn't use a blob under Chrome. Perhaps it's using a browser whitelist?

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

#106

Post by shmerl »

Nullabillity wrote: post #105
shmerl wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be using it partially, but it still relies on that plugin blob. No idea why they can't use a pure WebRTC solution.

According to what I can find it doesn't use a blob under Chrome. Perhaps it's using a browser whitelist?

I'm using Firefox.

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

#107

Post by rcarmo »

yoasif_ wrote: post #58
rcarmo wrote: post #43

I wish they'd stop guzzling battery on iOS. On my iPhone, the two top background activity apps are Facebook and Hangouts, neither of which (sadly) I can actually get rid of since I use the first for work (seriously...) and the second to be reachable to Android users.

XMPP continues to work for Google Chat, so there may be better iOS Google Chat clients. Sorry, I haven't used any, so I can't offer any recommendations. ChatSecure seems to offer OTR compatibility, so that may be a decent option: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chatsecure-encrypted-secure/... and should be compatible with OTR Jabber clients on Android like Conversations.

XMPP works for Google Chat in the sense that you can talk to other people who use Google Chat, but not Hangouts - at least not in my roster... So Hangouts is effectively a segregated quasi-XMPP thing that follows its own rules.

So far, there are no real alternatives to Hangouts if you want to talk to people using Hangouts, and that's it. And the XMPP third-party client "ecosystem" is pretty much fossilised...

As to ChatSecure and other alternatives, they all seem somewhat iffy. Before moving back to iOS, I wrote this: http://taoofmac.com/space/blog/2014/11/13/0830

...and it's still all mostly valid.

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

#108

Post by monksy »

barrkel wrote: post #102
Someone1234 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's odd, the renderers fix seems to be Mac only. Is it already fixed on other platforms or is that simply not a priority? Chrome seems to have a higher than IE battery drain on Windows also.

On Linux, I regularly observe Chrome continuously consuming one whole core. Typically anything with a nice CSS animation seems to be implemented game-loop style: while (true) { render(update(delta)); }. Disabling things like spinner animations on a web page causes CPU load to plummet.

At least a single core and most of your memory.

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

#109

Post by Navarr »

endtime wrote: post #103
Navarr wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Downloaded the APK - won't let me create MMS when set to always send from my Google Voice, and when set to send from "Last number" group MMS is created with my actual #. I'm praying that it's a server side flag and not a case of Google Apps Free users getting skewered somehow.

I use Google Apps Free for my personal account, so I doubt that's your issue. But I don't think I've initiated any group MMSes, just received them (and subsequently replied, which worked). You might be hitting a bug that I didn't. :/

Google recently confirmed that it's a server-side switch, so I'm guessing for me it's just not enabled yet. They're waiting for the rollout to switch it on.

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

#110

Post by justlurkin »

pbreit wrote: post #68
justlurkin wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I for one wish Slack was the new standard messaging app for everything and everyone.

At $5/person/month I don't think so.

I just like the way it works, it doesn't have to be Slack specifically.
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