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Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

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Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#421

Post by MrMullen »

buro9 wrote: post #357

Does not seem to work with Google Apps account. Which makes the list: * Allo * Google Fi * Google Play Music Family Plan * Google Play Store Family Sharing * Google Spaces * Google Trips * YouTube Red * YouTube Music It's a growing list. I'm always amused by the "One account. All of Google" header on the login pages. Google Apps accounts do not grant access to all of Google as the products do not work for it (it's no…

Allo YouTube Red YouTube Music Spaces

These all can use Google Apps accounts since I use all of these and I use a Google Apps account exclusively.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#422

Post by davidw »

deathanatos wrote: post #416
davidw wrote: post #407

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Performance? Just how fast do you type, anyway? UI? I write things, and they appear in front of someone else. Even my technophobe mom has no problems with it. Tied to Google... well, yeah. But you kind of need some kind of 'account' for chat apps. I remember when 'Whatsapp' came out and people mentioned that it didn't have a web interface. I won't use anything that I can't type into when I'm at a computer - pulling o…

> Performance? Just how fast do you type, anyway? The UI lags hard for me during common operations, such as opening the app, and sending messages; often there's a several second lag between pressing the send button, the entry field blanking, and the message finally showing up in the conversation w/ UI indicating that it's in the process of being sent. And occasionally, yes, I out-type the app & phone's ability to pro…

Weird. I have a Nexus 4, which is several years old at this point, and hangouts runs fine on it. Maybe because the OS itself is fairly up to date?

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#423

Post by MrMullen »

zamalek wrote: post #61
AceJohnny2 wrote: post #11

So. Why make this a separate app? Why isn't this in Hangouts?

Hangouts almost nailed it, to be honest. For the people that I know who have both Hangouts and Whatsapp, we prefer Hangouts consistently - even for just text. The problem is that Google realised the importance of IM far too late and Whatsapp is now entrenched. Google is throwing solutions at the wall to see which sticks. It honestly doesn't seem like a bad attempt. Totally would have preferred it in Hangouts, though,…

Whatsapp won that battle because Hangouts required a Google account, Whatsapp does not, just a phone number.

On a side note, I notice that Google's new services coming out only require a phone number, which I think will help them a lot.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#425

Post by dragonwriter »

calinet6 wrote: post #309
soylentcola wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is exactly why so many of my friends and family use Hangouts née Gmail Chat. We can use it in the browser at work just by keeping Gmail open in a tab. No IM applications to install or concerns about whether we're running Windows, OSX, or whatever. Then the conversations follow when you log off whatever desktop or laptop you're on via the mobile app. About half of us use Android so it either comes standard or you…

My lord, why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? They had an established userbase, a name, a brand, and useful cross-platform tools already. I get the desire to start fresh, but that's a lot of established traction in a very crowded market to just throw away.

> My lord, why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3?

The same reason Duo isn't.

Both are substantial departures from what Hangouts was, with some overlap, and calling either Hangouts would create incorrect expectations.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#426

Post by what_ever »

zeveb wrote: post #406
CoryG89 wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's just me, but I kind of find this a bit creepy. It seems to me that it would be similar if the phone companies allowed you to listen to someone calling you while it was still ringing for them. Maybe it's not quite what I am thinking though. I can't tell if the video preview is live or if it's something recorded before the call is made.

> Maybe it's just me, but I kind of find this a bit creepy. As long as the person on the other end knows that he's on-camera, I think it's NBD. The trick is ensuring that eh really does know that, and isn't picking his teeth, washing his hands &c.

Actually the person calling is on camera and the person on the receiving end sees the preview. Person on the receiving end is not on the camera until they accept the call.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#427

Post by dragonwriter »

janvidar wrote: post #342
Tehnix wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Breaking facebook messenger out into its own app was the best decision facebook ever made! I chat via messenger a lot more than I check my newsfeed, and when I check my newsfeed I don't care about messages. Perfect split for me at least :)

I don't want Facebook Messenger, and the Facebook app cannot be uninstalled on my device since it came preinstalled with the Android OS on it (HTC One - it can however be disabled). Now, if someone uses Facebook Messenger to send me a message, my Facebook app will notify me about unread messages - I've disabled most notifications, but the icon still gets a number increase indicating messages that can be read. These m…

> Using the browser no longer work for reading these messages, since they are pushing the Messenger app.

Well, using the browser works, but you have to use "Request desktop page".

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#428

Post by kbenson »

TuringNYC wrote: post #318
bmaupin wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We can use it in the browser at work just by keeping Gmail open in a tab. There's also https://hangouts.google.com/

Yes, good point -- forgot to mention that. That is a 3rd widely-available option across all three silos (Android/iOS/Desktop).

Yet apparently not business accounts. You can use the integrated hangouts in gmail, and the phone apps, but hangouts.google.com says it's not an enabled app for your account, and I can't seem to find where it's available to enable/add in the admin console (that is, I can find where to enable and add apps, but it isn't listed, and I'm a super admin). The Apps marketplace has third party apps, but that's not what I'm looking for.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#429

Post by redog »

buro9 wrote: post #357

Does not seem to work with Google Apps account. Which makes the list: * Allo * Google Fi * Google Play Music Family Plan * Google Play Store Family Sharing * Google Spaces * Google Trips * YouTube Red * YouTube Music It's a growing list. I'm always amused by the "One account. All of Google" header on the login pages. Google Apps accounts do not grant access to all of Google as the products do not work for it (it's no…

Works for mine.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#430

Post by protomok »

TuringNYC wrote: post #254

Not sure how common this is, but everyone at both school and work these days shifts seamlessly from mobile to dekstop and back. This has been one of the main reasons we tend to use WhatsApp and Slack, even for corporate communications as silly as that sounds -- because you can type long messages on it on the keyboard/desktop but also have access to it on the go. What I don't understand is -- given Allo had a blank sl…

+1

Once they add a Windows or Linux client I'll give Allo a try.

To me it's a bit distracting to abruptly interrupt a coding session and pull out my phone. Lately I've been trying to minimize distractions and stay in a terminal or development IDE as much as possible. I mentally view distractions similar to latency when accessing memory, something like:

  Look up info in terminal or IDE - comments within code, man pages, etc.  register access
  Desktop applications - PDF, Powerpoint slides, IM, etc.                  L1 cache hit
  Google something (often results in reading articles, HN!, etc.)          L2 cache hit
  Phone usage (apps, calls, etc.)                                          Memory access
  In person chat (prone to rants/complaining, tangents, etc.)              Disk access
  Meetings                                                                 Tape based storage :)
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