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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

#491

Post by davyjones »

protomok wrote: post #430
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…

    Google something (often results in reading unrelated articles, "link dives", etc.)   Cache miss (?)

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

#492

Post by aji »

croddin wrote: post #453
Pxtl wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Disney has Miramax for films that don't fit under the Disney brand. Toyota has the Scion brand for quirky, weird car designs. Google could have a brand for experimental apps that they're not sure about.

That's what Google Labs was. If they had kept Google Labs and released some of these products under that brand, people might not be as worried about them killing the full-fledged Google projects when experiments are ended.

eh, Google Labs is still very obviously Google though. the idea would be, for each new product, to create an entirely new brand with no obvious connection to Google, that Google could later bring on full time if they decide they're ready to commit

for example, "Google Allo" could have just been released as "Allo", separate website and everything, and if Google feels it's working out and is the future of their messaging platform, eventually officially bring it in to the Google ecosystem. sort of like a buyout

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

#493

Post by JensRex »

reitanqild wrote: post #341
guessmyname wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But forget to touch your phone for a couple of minutes and the web session will automatically disconnect because the phone went to standby mode, which apparently interferes with the sync between the mobile application and the web browser session. My experience is that I can only rely on the web for a short conversation until my phone goes to sleep.

Used to be my main reason to promote Telegram. Of course now that Facebook owns Whatsapp and has decided (again) to show users what fools they where and who is the boss, all the more reasons to promote Telegram, matrix, irc etc ;-)

This is why I use Telegram, and why I don't use Signal. I love the desktop client.

My hands are big, and I've always hated writing on phones. On my computer I can blast away messages on my glorious mechanical keyboard.

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

#494

Post by pier25 »

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.

> why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3?

From what I've read Allo will become the casual messaging app, and Hangouts for work. Google probably wants to compete with Slack and similar offers.

I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Google allows Allo and Hangouts to communicate.

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

#495

Post by ashark »

floopidydoopidy wrote: post #144
77ko wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not quite: - Facebook Messenger combines all the functionality of Allo and Duo. - Whatsapp already has voice calling and is adding video soon (so I read on the internet) - iMessage and Facetime integrate in IOS much better than Google Duo does. In IOS, you go to a contact and press facetime. On Android, you go to a contact... then go back out to Duo and call them. WeChat, of course, does everything that all these app…

I feel like ICQ 98 was the pinnacle of chat applications. Floating contacts and email style messages... brilliance.

Strongly agree. It's still unsurpassed. And it worked well on systems with 64mb of RAM (maybe even less) without stomping all over the rest of the programs you were running. Seems like no-one can even "Hello World" a desktop app these days without a 100mb download and requiring several hundred MB of memory all to itself.

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

#496

Post by soufron »

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…

My thoughts exactly. Also, why did they do it? Don't we have enough messenging apps already?

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

#497

Post by [deleted] »

pier25 wrote: post #494
calinet6 wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? From what I've read Allo will become the casual messaging app, and Hangouts for work. Google probably wants to compete with Slack and similar offers. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Google allows Allo and Hangouts to communicate.

[deleted]

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

#498

Post by bendbro »

davidw wrote: post #422
deathanatos wrote: post #416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

I have a Nexus 5 running the latest Android (excluding N) and have exactly the same problems the commenter above you describes.

Not only that, but when I've explained these issues to my friends they respond with the same response you gave, down to the 'weird.'

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

#500

Post by coda_ »

MrMullen wrote: post #421
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.

But, within Allo, can you ask the assistant "What's on my schedule?" and get an answer?

I know that's not what you were saying, just curious if that part works for you.

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