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Hangouts for iOS

itunes.apple.com

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Re: Hangouts for iOS

#31

Post by Hurdy »

codev wrote: post #20

I'm getting "Hangouts has not been enabled for your account". I'm guessing this is because my work account has Google+ disabled. So are you going to have to be on Google+ to use their messaging product now? Will they shut off Google Talk for regular gmail users?

Hangouts on Android does not need a Google+ account as far as I know. Not sure about iOS. On Gmail, you can definitely use it without a G+ account, but photo sharing and group video calls will not work. Also, Google Talk will not be shut down, you have to opt in to the Hangouts experience in Gmail.

Re: Hangouts for iOS

#33

Post by mey »

codev wrote: post #23
icesoldier wrote: post #18

Is there a relation to Google Talk for those outside of Android/Gmail web? I was under the impression that every XMPP app on iOS just stopped working properly a year or so ago. (In fact, this was a primary reason my sister went from iPhone 4 -> GSIII last year, since she uses Talk extensively with her friends.)

I still use Trillian on iOS for Google Talk and it works fine.

I'm trying to find out info on how long that will be true.

Having trouble finding a crediable source, but various news outlets are saying Nikhyl Singhal says xmpp is going away. That will screw over Trillian as well as several other clients.

Edit: Removing info that isn't accurate.

Re: Hangouts for iOS

#35

Post by mcintyre1994 »

masnick wrote: post #30
6thSigma wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are comparing a company launching on its own platform to a company launching on someone else's closed platform.

I understand this; that's what I meant by "I understand that Google Apps is a different beast". Regardless, to the average end user this distinction doesn't matter. I think users will gravitate to what works well and what their friends use. I really hope this is Google Hangouts instead of Facebook Messages (ugggh). iMessages has problems of its own (TERRIBLE sync between devices), but it has the huge advantage of wor…

Other than number 3, this seems to match hangouts, assuming it works as they say (in a way iMessage doesn't seem to for you). The killer missing feature for me is SMS though, a vast majority of people cannot use Hangouts for the vast majority of their conversations because of the Google+ requirement.

Re: Hangouts for iOS

#36

Post by farhanpatel »

I know this is a nit-picky thing but why does this app require 6.1 or later? Thats a funny move. 6.0 I can understand.

What functionality could they have in 6.1 that made them have to require it?

Re: Hangouts for iOS

#38

Post by zefhous »

Not a great first experience on the iPad for me.

1. Launch app in landscape. Oh, I guess they don't support landscape orientation for signing it. That's annoying.

2. Change orientation to portrait and sign in.

3. A dialog requesting to send push notifications appears — in landscape orientation (http://cl.ly/image/2t2P0X3f2H2Z) — but I'm still holding it in portrait and the rest of the UI is in portrait as well.

4. I have to step through a bunch of screens that I just went through when I signed in on my iPhone. These are not related to local settings, but to my Google account. Why do I have to go through these again?

Re: Hangouts for iOS

#39

Post by evilduck »

masnick wrote: post #22

Like most new Google things, it doesn't seem to be enabled for my Google Apps account. There's no clear indication of how to do this (if it's possible at this point). Say what you want about Apple, but onboarding for iMessages and Facetime did not require navigating a byzantine admin panel. I understand that Google Apps is a different beast, but there's something to be said for a chat service _just working_ in the wa…

I just tried it, it works for my Google Apps account. Maybe it's a rollout process?

Though the web version seems to have problems with multiple accounts signed in at once.

Re: Hangouts for iOS

#40

Post by masnick »

mcintyre1994 wrote: post #35
masnick wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand this; that's what I meant by "I understand that Google Apps is a different beast". Regardless, to the average end user this distinction doesn't matter. I think users will gravitate to what works well and what their friends use. I really hope this is Google Hangouts instead of Facebook Messages (ugggh). iMessages has problems of its own (TERRIBLE sync between devices), but it has the huge advantage of wor…

Other than number 3, this seems to match hangouts, assuming it works as they say (in a way iMessage doesn't seem to for you). The killer missing feature for me is SMS though, a vast majority of people cannot use Hangouts for the vast majority of their conversations because of the Google+ requirement.

You're saying you'd like SMS integration? So if you add your friend with a dumb phone to your Hangout, they can participate via SMS?

That would be awesome. I have a few friends with dumb phones that are constantly left out of iMessage conversations. I feel bad about it, but not bad enough to inconvenience myself (or pay for an SMS plan; yes I'm a terrible person).

Edit: The federation thing is probably a pipe dream. No one has an incentive for supporting a federated protocol -- at this point it's either existing platforms going for lock-in (the iOS lock-in caused by iMessages is huge; it's the biggest reason I don't consider Android). I guess what I really want is iMessages that works on Android and over SMS, and doesn't suck at syncing between devices.

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