Updates to our Google Voice apps • Hacker News Board

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#171

Post by rspeer » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:45 PM UTC

nighthawk454 wrote: post #151

erikpukinskis wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple doesn't care if you can communicate with non Apple users. They have their iMessage population hostage. Those people can never switch to Android because they'll be left out of group texts. It's vendor lock-in of the highest order. Spectacular play by Apple, really. They guarantee switching to Android is painful, you risk losing business deals and messages from friends. I doubt it's legal, but for now they are ge…

Why would Android users be left out of group texts? I regularly message a group that has a mix of iMessage/SMS users and it's worked pretty well.

When you switch from an iPhone to an Android phone, other people's iPhones will continue to send you messages over iMessage, which your Android phone will never see.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#172

Post by megablast » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:45 PM UTC

nextos wrote: post #106

baggachipz wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a die-hard Google user/fanboy until about a year and a half ago. I was a Fi user, Voice user (before Fi), Hangouts, Nexus buyer, you name it (I even had a Google TV and almost bought an OnHub). I bailed on it all when I realized that Google has absolutely no long-term vision or desire to support what they produce. I went to an iPhone and despite Apple's warts, it's a night-and-day experience. I'll never again t…

Frankly, I can't understand how Google is so chaotic. Perhaps it's the organization, which looks more like a conglomerate than a cohesive corporation with a clear vision. They release products, only to abandon many of them without a clear reason (like Google Talk). Or they release two products that should be one instead (Android & ChromeOS, or Allo & Duo). The Google Talk fiasco got me particularly disenchanted. A be…

Stupid theory: It is fun working on projects, it is not fun supporting projects.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#173

Post by johansch » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:45 PM UTC

st3v3r wrote: post #162

johansch wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never worked at Google, but... didn't Larry Page announce a full-blown program to fight that like 3-4 years ago? Work on features/depth rather than new products?

He can launch programs all he wants, but unless that trickles down to management, and the incentives are aligned to at least reward iterative development as much as launching new products, it's not going to change anything.

Seems like he should be in the power of defining the reward structure at Google though.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#174

Post by rspeer » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:48 PM UTC

losvedir wrote: post #165

knz wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't Hangouts do all of the above? The icons in Gmail are video chat, add user, voice chat, and send SMS. Hangouts on my Nexus 6 has the same options. Imgur link to screenshot -> http://imgur.com/a/vTlqO

Hangouts does, but it's impossible to know if we're "supposed" to be using Hangouts. A year or so ago I received a pop-up in my Hangouts app that Google recommended I check out Messenger [0]. It also seems to be the currently recommended option [1] although I don't know why since, as you say, Hangouts can handle all those scenarios. This has understandably led to no end of confusion among Fi/Voice users, including my…

Hangouts can't receive MMS without special support from your mobile operator. Operators such as T-Mobile and... Google Voice... have been known to insufficiently provide that support.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#175

Post by zyxzkz » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:48 PM UTC

baggachipz wrote: post #95

wlesieutre wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's about where I am with this. I got started with GV back when carriers were charging $0.25/each to send or receive texts, and eventually paid Google $20 to port my old AT&T number into their system. Then Google stopped developing the GV app and I switched from iOS to Android to get the Hangouts Dialer integration. With the Hangouts integration instead of a real GV app, they apparently threw away the spam reporti…

I was a die-hard Google user/fanboy until about a year and a half ago. I was a Fi user, Voice user (before Fi), Hangouts, Nexus buyer, you name it (I even had a Google TV and almost bought an OnHub). I bailed on it all when I realized that Google has absolutely no long-term vision or desire to support what they produce. I went to an iPhone and despite Apple's warts, it's a night-and-day experience. I'll never again t…

I have a similar story.

Google really had momentum. They bungled it terribly. I just use an iPhone now. It works, no bloatware, no bullshit, no need for useless tweaks.

I should have switched years ago.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#176

Post by zyxzkz » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:48 PM UTC

baggachipz wrote: post #95

wlesieutre wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's about where I am with this. I got started with GV back when carriers were charging $0.25/each to send or receive texts, and eventually paid Google $20 to port my old AT&T number into their system. Then Google stopped developing the GV app and I switched from iOS to Android to get the Hangouts Dialer integration. With the Hangouts integration instead of a real GV app, they apparently threw away the spam reporti…

I was a die-hard Google user/fanboy until about a year and a half ago. I was a Fi user, Voice user (before Fi), Hangouts, Nexus buyer, you name it (I even had a Google TV and almost bought an OnHub). I bailed on it all when I realized that Google has absolutely no long-term vision or desire to support what they produce. I went to an iPhone and despite Apple's warts, it's a night-and-day experience. I'll never again t…

I have a similar story.

Google really had momentum. They bungled it terribly. I just use an iPhone now. It works, no bloatware, no bullshit, no need for useless tweaks.

I should have switched years ago.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#177

Post by legohead » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:49 PM UTC

jitl wrote: post #14

I used to use my Google Voice number as my primary contact number, but when development of the product seemingly died for three years without addressing outstanding issues with group MMS or picture messages, I migrated back to my regular cell number. I've already told all my friends to forget my Google Voice number. I've changed my preferences in every service I use to contact my regular cell number. Now Google is so…

Close to how I feel about most Google products or APIs.

"Hey, that's cool! But remember when they randomly killed X, Y, Z," etc...

At least Voice has lasted, I guess.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#178

Post by CodeSheikh » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:49 PM UTC

Long time coming! I use Google voice very often to make international calls (I was a Grand Central subscriber before Google acquired them). Their iOS app was just a design nightmare (ios 6 UI aesthetics). Functionality of the app was also limited. Setting section of the app was just passive, you can't change much and you have to login ona desktop version.

I am not going to lie but as a Google Voice customer for a long time, I am very disappointed with this update. It is just a design change and I hope they will roll out several new features slowly.

For example I still would like them to add a feature where I can add credit to my Google Voice account through the phone app.

Among the top three features they have listed as new in the blog post, I feel like that those functionalities already exist on the current iOs app. Lets see.

1: Easily check messages, calls and voicemail(s)

Already there. Using the same top left corner main menu.

2: Keep in touch with group messages

This already exists as well. You can start message threads with multiple people. Except the media support I guess.

3: Save time with transcribed voicemail

This feature is already available. In current version, go to Menu -> Voicemail and you will see transcribed messages in your inbox.

I am honestly very confused if this just a teaser in to what is about to become a major project within Google or just a marketing team being busy.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#179

Post by JustSomeNobody » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:52 PM UTC

cva wrote: post #119

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #24

If anyone has received the update on their iPhone, can you say whether or not it now supports CallKit?

The Google Voice app is not a VOIP app (it just makes and receives regular phone calls), so I'm not sure how it would integrate with CallKit

Oh, well, that's disappointing. Was hoping it could take advantage of CallKit.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#180

Post by jdeibele » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 9:56 PM UTC

Google Voice has been awesome for us with a little Obihai box. I use it every day to check on my mom (who has medical issues) and we have glitches occasionally but they are almost always cleared up by re-dialing.

It let us replace our $40/month CenturyLink landline (including taxes and caller ID) with a one-time purchase of the Obihai box ($40 on special) and the $20 porting fee to make the number permanent with Google Voice.

Our school district uses automated phone calls. Having Google Voice answer them, transcribe them, and send them to both me and my wife has been awesome.