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Updates to our Google Voice apps

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Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#241

Post by threeseed »

swang wrote: post #231
dpcx wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be interested to hear what issues you have with Apple's cloud services. I, personally, have had no problems, but am definitely curious.

i would not trust any apple service to host/preserve my images. just have had way too many instances where images just disappear. and afaik they still haven't really explained the connection between all the celebrity phones being hacked when they were all using icloud (if someone has a link that'd be nice)

Yes Apple did explain what happened.

http://www.apple.com/pt/pr/library/2014/09/02Apple-Media-Adv...

Whilst there was a security issue in iCloud it wasn't the root cause behind the "fappening" scandal. It was purely social engineering.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#243

Post by hendersoon »

4llan wrote: post #145
fooey wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's amazing that Allo and Duo were 100% clearly DOA and absolutely everyone but Google could recognize it. They killed Google Talk, ignored Google Voice, abandoning Hangouts, and their new apps are wastelands. Throw in the Wave, Buzz, and Plus projects, and it's astonishing just how massively Google is screwing up.

They just don't admit how hard did they failed in communications apps. Clearly priority and focus issues.

Hangouts was a brilliant service and a great set of apps when it launched. Google simply abandoned it.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#244

Post by hendersoon »

chrsstrm wrote: post #228
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 not ship with the Pixel, you have to download it separately. IIRC it was also not easy to find in the Play Store. The Pixel pushes you to use Allo which is based on phone numbers and your phone's contact list, not your Google account contacts. If I want to message someone on Hangouts but I only know their email address (which pops up helpfully if I have corresponded with this person in Gmail), no proble…

Not only are they tied to a single phone number, but my understanding is you can't run the same app on multiple devices. And that's my ENTIRE google voice use case! I want a number that works wherever I am, whatever carrier I use.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#246

Post by hendersoon »

jfoster wrote: post #11
mynameisvlad wrote: post #2

So, is this the death of Hangouts and rebirth of Google Voice then? They had previously been transitioning the UX off of GV and onto Hangouts.

It's absurd that consumers are left guessing which of Google's services are around for the long-haul and which are doomed. There was a time when success was the default outcome for a new Google product/service. Now it's the opposite, and the crazy thing is that Google did it to themselves.

Google needs to focus on the products and services their customers love.

Google Reader is the best example of this. People LOVED it. It was even a successful social network!

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#247

Post by threeseed »

dlandis wrote: post #211
dpcx wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be interested to hear what issues you have with Apple's cloud services. I, personally, have had no problems, but am definitely curious.

One issue is how they nickel and dime you for storage space. I think you only get 5GB free and then have to "upgrade your icloud plan" even after dropping $800+ on a new phone, which you might want to back up.

5GB is actually enough for most people backing up their phones. The OS, Apps, Music, Books etc don't count towards that 5GB number.

The issue is if you take a lot of photos that you will want to upgrade. But it is a small amount.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#248

Post by hendersoon »

MrMetlHed wrote: post #37

Why didn't they just improve Hangouts? I don't know anyone that uses Allo and as far as I know there's no desktop client. I linked Voice to Hangouts so I could get all of my messages in one app on both my phone and within gmail. Now it seems like they want me to split everything up between 3 apps (Voice for SMS, Allo for chat on mobile, and Hangouts for chat on my computer) that fewer and fewer people are using. Why…

I only use Hangouts for google voice, but I would prefer this as well-- I want one unified messaging platform that also handles SMS and POTS phonecalls. That was the promise of Hangouts.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#249

Post by threeseed »

komali2 wrote: post #227
fooey wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opening iMessage to other platforms would cannibalize iOS sales. I hear soo many people say they'd try Android, but they can't lose iMessage

I don't think "desperately force our users to stay in our ecosystem" is a very successful business model.

In what way is Apple desperate ?

Apple doesn't make money through advertising they make it by selling phones. How does opening iMessages up to Android help them to sell more phones ?

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#250

Post by threeseed »

dragonwriter wrote: post #191
johansch wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why did google mess up messaging in the first place? It seemed like this space was ripe for their taking. (Basically, just replicate the gmail concept for messaging. Keep it sorta-open-enough and free enough. Seems like a no-brainer.) I mean, what was the specific root cause?

I think the specific root cause is that messaging is actually a number of different spaces with different ideal solutions, which I think Google is starting to get even though I don't think they've yet actually nailed any of the subspaces (or even necessarily correctly not identified exactly what they are.)

Except that Apple and Facebook managed to largely nail all of the spaces with a single app.
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