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Updates to our Google Voice apps

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Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#271

Post by wutbrodo »

blakesterz wrote: post #167
nextos wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>> Frankly, I can't understand how Google is so chaotic. I'd love an open and honest answer from someone up high in the org chart at Google on that. Better yet, just an acknowledgement of it and how they're going to stop doing this in the future. If they were a startup with 200 employees under the age of 30 I'd understand it, but they're obviously waaaaay beyond that stage.

People high up are aware of it; nobody seems competent enough (at management) to do anything about it.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#273

Post by shaklee3 »

rspeer wrote: post #174
losvedir wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

All operators have worked fine for over two years. They announced this back then.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#274

Post by shimon »

bjt wrote: post #128
colechristensen wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm assuming what happened is they used Google Voice to jumpstart Google Fi and left Voice around as a neglected old version which they actually kept supporting (whoo). Now Fi is settled they're turning their focus back to Voice.

Except that Fi leaves the really killer Voice features behind. You don't get texts or voice transcriptions emailed to you in Fi.

You do get them in hangouts (on the handset and in gmail on the web). I do get why you might want them via vanilla email, though.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#276

Post by ramses0 »

em3rgent0rdr wrote: post #127
nextos wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

This: "they release two products that should be one instead (Android & ChromeOS)"... I've been thinking the same exact thing. Google basically split the ecosystem in half...devs have to unnecessary build seperate apps for each (unless they are using a cross platform engine).

Not really... chromeos is the bare minimum linux environment to run a chrome browser on laptop hardware. Android is some frankenstein of java IDE to develop phone software.

They might-should-be the same, but they're fundamentally very different roots.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#277

Post by AaronFriel »

tw04 wrote: post #143
djsumdog wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never had an eyePhone and switch to Android from Palm's WebOS. But for years I've always used 3rd party ROMS (Cyanogen mostly). Google has a vested interest in not fixing Android's brokenness. They make a lot of money off phones that needs to be replaced every 2 years. With their strict control over OHA, they can easily mandate PC style platform standards to reduce e-waste, fight planned obsolescence and offer r…

>They make a lot of money off phones that needs to be replaced every 2 years. No... they really don't. They make a lot of money off search traffic and the app store. Android licensing amounts to approximately $0.75 per handset. That's not even a rounding error on their balance sheet, and SURELY not something to "intentionally break android" over. Broken android is a great way to drive people to other platforms. There…

And yet the Pixel is itself a custom skin of Android.

Google Assistant? Not available on my Nexus 5X, which I received less than a year ago. Search button behaves differently, Allo behaves differently, "night mode" removed Nexus 5X build and added to Pixel build.

I'm upset because I thought switching to a Google-designed Android phone would rescue me from fragmentation and give me access to the best, cleanest Android experience.

Then they released the Pixel and removed a feature from my phone and fragmented their own operating system's features to differentiate a new device.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#278

Post by tornadoboy55 »

wutbrodo wrote: post #271
blakesterz wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Frankly, I can't understand how Google is so chaotic. I'd love an open and honest answer from someone up high in the org chart at Google on that. Better yet, just an acknowledgement of it and how they're going to stop doing this in the future. If they were a startup with 200 employees under the age of 30 I'd understand it, but they're obviously waaaaay beyond that stage.

People high up are aware of it; nobody seems competent enough (at management) to do anything about it.

They don't care. You as a user (for Google) ain't a customer, you're the product. This is most starkly clear in their customer service. Most of their free products don't even have one and refer to the Google forums. Meanwhile AdWords, AdSense etc. customer service is top notch.

What pisses me off most is that there is no clear alternative if you want to keep your data portable between multiple brands/devices. Microsoft often works poorly. Apple only works on Apple. The alternative is a hodgepodge of services (SimpleNote, HERE maps, EverNote, etc) that requires tons of accounts.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#279

Post by wutbrodo »

tornadoboy55 wrote: post #278
wutbrodo wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People high up are aware of it; nobody seems competent enough (at management) to do anything about it.

They don't care. You as a user (for Google) ain't a customer, you're the product. This is most starkly clear in their customer service. Most of their free products don't even have one and refer to the Google forums. Meanwhile AdWords, AdSense etc. customer service is top notch. What pisses me off most is that there is no clear alternative if you want to keep your data portable between multiple brands/devices. Microso…

You underestimate how stultifying size can be. When I was at Google, pretty much everyone cared about how the internal incentives were screwed up. There were a lot of attempts at changing structure of promotion and career development, but nobody knows how to do it. To be fair, I'm not aware of any entities of that size who don't have the same problem of with balancing the need for centralization with keeping bright workers motivated and growing.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#280

Post by Infernal »

saurik wrote: post #199
blakesterz wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Frankly, I can't understand how Google is so chaotic. I'd love an open and honest answer from someone up high in the org chart at Google on that. Better yet, just an acknowledgement of it and how they're going to stop doing this in the future. If they were a startup with 200 employees under the age of 30 I'd understand it, but they're obviously waaaaay beyond that stage.

Hell, at this point I would settle for some closure on "what the hell did you mean by 'more wood behind fewer arrows' in 2011 when you began the process of mass project shutdown?!... that's not really how arrows work :/".

More wood = bigger bow. Shoot fewer arrows harder, i.e. more resources behind fewer projects, i.e. quality over quantity.
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