Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

blog.google

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 165 posts

Re: Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

#101

Post by EpicEng »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #46

There was a time when I really thought Google was going to shake things up. Nexus Phones, Google Fiber, Google Fi, etc all sounded awesome. I bought a Nexus 5, switched to Fi, went through the super fun process of mixing around my google voice numbers, (breaking all kinds of stuff) but eventually I was mostly setup and functional. I'd lost some core parts of gVoice, but I figured it was just a matter of time before i…

Not to mention the fact that the pixel 4 looks to be a big disappointment for the money. I was planning on getting a pixel as I don't want another Samsung (vendor crap-ware and bixby drives me insane), but now that I've seen it... looks like I'll be going back to Apple again after five years of Android.

Re: Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

#102

Post by gnomewascool »

superturkey650 wrote: post #71
beisner wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's almost certainly the carriers imposing this restriction. The reason these features took so long is because, as they did for SMS, every single carrier across the world has to get on board with this. , so I'm sure that's the reason it's not encrypted. The Messages app might be a Google product, but the underlying transport has to be implemented by carriers, and I'm sure there are many, many carriers who aren't int…

Is there any reason someone couldn't make an sms client that gives the option of encryption assuming the person you are conversing with was using a client following the same encryption protocol? It would require a few automated texts to exchange keys but would allow encrypted communication over sms easily. I'm guessing there just isn't a big enough market for it given that people are willing to create an account with…

That's exactly what TextSecure (now Signal) used to do[0]. Since the code is open-source, somebody has forked the SMS code and apparently kept it alive[1]. (It's even on both F-Droid and Google Play.)

[0] https://lwn.net/Articles/638621/

[1] https://git.silence.dev/Silence/Silence-Android/

Re: Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

#103

Post by basch »

OnlineGladiator wrote: post #56
OkGoDoIt wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly my experience. I finally bit the bullet and switched to the Apple side. There are things I miss from android but I trust Apple not to self sabotage much more than I trust Google these days. Which is weird, and exactly the opposite of the feeling I had 5 years ago.

I'm in this situation right now - was just debating buying an iPhone yesterday after never owning anything from Apple. How do you like it so far?

For some context, I switched the other way, and still use both, and ever so slightly prefer the Pixel 2XL to an iPhone XS. It's probably more the integration of google services than anything, and google has taken some major steps backwards, but theres a ton of little silly features that I enjoy about the Goog.

Like it telling me what song is playing from lock screen, while offline. Certain maps and local features are just better.

Re: Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

#104

Post by logjammin »

sorenjan wrote: post #85
hocuspocus wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I owned several Nexus phones (the ones that were properly priced) and overall it was clear that Google never cared to launch a finished product, all of them showing some serious software bugs, and sometimes even hardware issues. I assumed it was part of the deal, and Google has pretty generous customer service policies at least. Sadly the situation hasn't really improved with the Pixels and I can't justify buying suc…

Oneplus is probably your best option.

I've owned a number of OnePlus phones - 3 or 4 at this point - and am tapping this post out on a new OP7 Pro. I really like the hardware, and no device has ever felt poorly made or unfinished, nor have they broken down on me. OS updates are relatively fast for a non-Google manufacturer, too, though they could be faster. The price has been creeping up as the rest of the market gets more premium, but even this new flagship phone is significantly cheaper than an equivalent iPhone.

I'm resigned to OP beaming everything I do to PLA military intelligence or whatever, but frankly I don't do much on my phone anyway besides surf and YouTube.

Customer service has been great whenever I've needed it, which hasn't been much.

Re: Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

#105

Post by zamadatix »

AcerbicZero wrote: post #46

There was a time when I really thought Google was going to shake things up. Nexus Phones, Google Fiber, Google Fi, etc all sounded awesome. I bought a Nexus 5, switched to Fi, went through the super fun process of mixing around my google voice numbers, (breaking all kinds of stuff) but eventually I was mostly setup and functional. I'd lost some core parts of gVoice, but I figured it was just a matter of time before i…

I went the Hangouts+pure data plan route, 10 bucks per month and I've had spam filtering and a single and/IM/video call/voice call/phone call account available on any device I sign into regardless if my phone was turned off 3 states over or not.

It sucks they are dropping it and there is nothing like this experience available. Even Apple requires pairing to a phone (that is actively online) to send SMS.

Re: Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

#106

Post by JohnFen »

nullwarp wrote: post #68
flattone wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very similar experience here. I'm gathering energy to try leaving Google/Android all together for whatever awaits me with a pinephone (not yet available afaik). https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/ Thinking that I much prefer an interesting "how to do x thing I want to add to my experience" over an "oh I'm being corralled into undesired xyz by Google again, how to maintain / return to normal functions"

pinephone will be my next phone, ubports on nexus 5 has been pretty good too. That said I feel like we're going into this weird place where you have to have a cell phone even though every day i feel like wanting to have one less and less.

> That said I feel like we're going into this weird place where you have to have a cell phone even though every day i feel like wanting to have one less and less.

I hear you. I reached that place a couple of years ago.

My current smartphone probably has 2 or 3 years of life left in it, so I'm considering that as a deadline for coming up with an alternate plan. In thinking about it, the main thing I like about having a smartphone is having a personal computer in my pocket. So...

First, I badly want out of the Android ecosystem, so I going to carry a real pocket computer that runs real Linux. That will be my primary device.

I'll supplement that with the dumbest feature phone that I can find that will allow tethering data connections, and use that for texting, backup internet access, and emergency phone calls.

It's not going phoneless, but it's as close to that as I can get without missing out on functionality that matters to me.

Re: Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

#107

Post by 0b0001 »

what_ever wrote: post #99
superturkey650 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the parent, but I recently switched to an iPhone and I'm liking it. On Android, I was constantly using new Apps, looking at /r/android for release announcements, and getting excited about all the new releases. Then, at some point, I realized I just wanted a phone that works. That's when I switched to Apple. That's not to say my Pixel didn't do everything my iPhone does. It could do it all and in many cases it cou…

Couldn't you use your Android phone as you are using your iPhone? It was your choice after all to go to /r/Android and try out new apps. I am pretty sure you are using the same 90% of apps on iPhone now that you used on your Android. And for the other 10% you could very well have settled on something and be done with it. I bet you will be looking at /r/Apple in a few months.

I’ve used non-Google devices most of the time, now trying out an iPhone.

Just did a factory reset and restore via iCloud. My fear of loosing my phone, incomplete backups and messed up restore is gone. Works.

Might be possible with Google phones, too. For all the others it’s just messy.

(I‘d agree with you, until I tried it three weeks ago. Working with computers all day, I need others to take care of my personal and pocket computers...)

Re: Upgrading Messaging on Android in the U.S. with RCS

#109

Post by phh »

notyourday wrote: post #36
pathartl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's an industry agreed standard of an implementation similar to iMessage without end to end encryption. It was created by many of the carriers as an upgrade to SMS.

Without Apple supporting it this is not a messaging standard, rather it is another Google's fumble at creating a messaging app.

It definitely is a standard, defined by 3GPP. Apple alone doesn't get to decide what is a standard.

Google's Messaging app is just one implementation of the protocol. There are other implementations, that are actually used. Samsung have their own, some carriers have their own. It really is an ecosystem.

Post reply on HN