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Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

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Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#511

Post by MrMullen »

coda_ wrote: post #500
MrMullen wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allo YouTube Red YouTube Music Spaces These all can use Google Apps accounts since I use all of these and I use a Google Apps account exclusively.

But, within Allo, can you ask the assistant "What's on my schedule?" and get an answer? I know that's not what you were saying, just curious if that part works for you.

I did that it said it can't link to my account. I have not checked yet (My Admin password is locked up at home), but I think my account might not be configured to allow it.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#512

Post by themacguffinman »

8ytecoder wrote: post #466
TuringNYC wrote: post #254

Not sure how common this is, but everyone at both school and work these days shifts seamlessly from mobile to dekstop and back. This has been one of the main reasons we tend to use WhatsApp and Slack, even for corporate communications as silly as that sounds -- because you can type long messages on it on the keyboard/desktop but also have access to it on the go. What I don't understand is -- given Allo had a blank sl…

Google has been very noticeably anti-desktop for a while now. They sure bet the future would be mobile/chrome OS like devices or they hate desktop development. I love Google Music but there is no desktop client for it and without a desktop client integration with hardware keys or caching/downloading/syncing music like spotify or iTunes is impossible. It's the same story with Google Photos. I love it but they decided…

For Google, the web is the desktop. They have a Google Music desktop client: it's any standards compliant browser (yes, it has access to files and filesystem sync). And because it's the web, it supports Windows, Mac, or Linux.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#513

Post by newscracker »

TuringNYC wrote: post #254

Not sure how common this is, but everyone at both school and work these days shifts seamlessly from mobile to dekstop and back. This has been one of the main reasons we tend to use WhatsApp and Slack, even for corporate communications as silly as that sounds -- because you can type long messages on it on the keyboard/desktop but also have access to it on the go. What I don't understand is -- given Allo had a blank sl…

For better experience across desktop and mobile, I use Telegram. It doesn't need a phone to be around after a one-time activation and also allows a passcode to be set to access messages on the desktop.

I have also started using Wire for the same reason, and even better, since it offers end-to-end encryption by default.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#514

Post by likeclockwork »

baldfat wrote: post #344
tim333 wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also "desktop" is much less stuck on desks than it was. I'm typing this from an 11" macbook air lying on the grass in a park tethered to 4G via the phone so the thing's pretty mobile although it's "desktop" from the software point of view. I think that may be where the futures headed rather than people just using ios/android.

No I 100% mean desktop. I still have never personally bought a laptop (Work gives me them). I prefer the faster machines with dual monitors and awesome mouse and keyboard ready to go all the time.

I agree with you completely. At some point the laptop became 'the default computer'. I went laptop-only for most of the span 2006 - 2011, before adopting a workstation (with dual 1440p monitors, a nice keyboard, a mouse, and my precious Linux) as my primary computing device again.

I couldn't go back for anything. I simply couldn't. I have a fairly light and portable laptop with a 13" screen that I carry around from time to time, and it's a vastly more constrained computing experience.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#515

Post by Gustomaximus »

kuschku wrote: post #239
Gustomaximus wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shouldn't this work both ways, where if someone does harass you, that they have a phone number to sing into systems allows you to easily block them across all channels. Combined with Android spam blocker it could work well. That said I'd like 2 user options on my phone more to separate work/personal so I can turn off one but not the other.

Creating a new phone number to spam people takes about 2$ and 5 minutes at your nearest grocery store to get a prepaid card. Changing your phone number and getting everyone who still has the old to change over can take years.

Creating an email account is cheaper and easier than that, yet Gmail and others do a great job blocking spam. Any reason why similar identifying rules can't be brought to phone numbers?

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#516

Post by Pxtl »

Descon wrote: post #458
Pxtl wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Hangouts has a lot of problems - its performance doesn't impress me, and the UI is confusing in a lot of ways, and splitting SMS/Conversations is something that really disappointed me, but still - it has the full featureset. I mean obviously, it suffers from the fact that it's heavily tied to Google accounts, which isn't ideal for trying to reach outside of the Google sphere. But otherwise, it does everythin…

Not a full feature set - can't share contacts, one of the things that made me switch away

Oof yes, I have noticed that one a couple of times. And it would be nice to be able to send messages and video chat between individual devices that I own (all my kids' tablets are on my account), but I suppose that's out-of-scope.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#517

Post by cja »

bendbro wrote: post #498
davidw wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weird. I have a Nexus 4, which is several years old at this point, and hangouts runs fine on it. Maybe because the OS itself is fairly up to date?

I have a Nexus 5 running the latest Android (excluding N) and have exactly the same problems the commenter above you describes. Not only that, but when I've explained these issues to my friends they respond with the same response you gave, down to the 'weird.'

Hangouts crashes all the time on my Nexus 6P. Video calls are buggy and any interaction with photos is extremely sluggish. This has been going on for months and months.

And the name is stupid. When I used to encourage people to use Hangouts, I always had to explain the name. Talk is a great name and they should have gone back to it for Allo.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#518

Post by kuschku »

Gustomaximus wrote: post #515
kuschku wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Creating a new phone number to spam people takes about 2$ and 5 minutes at your nearest grocery store to get a prepaid card. Changing your phone number and getting everyone who still has the old to change over can take years.

Creating an email account is cheaper and easier than that, yet Gmail and others do a great job blocking spam. Any reason why similar identifying rules can't be brought to phone numbers?

Because GMail actually blocks basically everything.

To ensure your emails actually arrive in GMail, the only sure way is using GMail yourself.

Otherwise, you’ll never be able to be sure they arrive.

That’s like every ISP only allowing people from the same ISP to call them, and then increasing the cost to creating a new phone number.

Sure, now you prevent spam calls, but you also make phones unusable.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#519

Post by corobo »

tw04 wrote: post #440
djsumdog wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

oh I thought this was some new Hangouts interface, but it's not is it? So...Google Buzz. If they want something really innovative, bring back open standards and a federated IM protocol. We went from AIM/Yahoo/MSN to XMPP .. and back to Google/FB. It feels like a regression.

XMPP was just to crack the egg. They had to dangle a big enough carrot to get users to switch. They knew once they had them switched that it would be VERY unlikely users would go back. So... lockdown! And they were right, how many people have switched back to AOL/MSN/Yahoo? I know I haven't.

I switched to FB Messenger because it's on mobile and desktop, and everyone I talk to is there. If MSN wasn't dead I'd probably still be using that.

Edit: Oh and more recently Discord has taken over my friend group's urge to talk with voices.

Re: Say hello to Google Allo: a smarter messaging app

#520

Post by tdkl »

rspeer wrote: post #510
tdkl wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. It's more or less glorified invite message over a service, that also receives replies from SMS. But since it doesn't show as sent from your mobile number, the receiver will have a separate thread in their SMS application. http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/09/20/allo-weird-sms-expla...

...so if I used Google Allo, I would still need to also use Google Messenger for MMS conversations and Facebook Messenger for conversations with less-nerdy people. The only thing Allo seems to have going for it is that it's not another blue speech bubble icon labeled "Messenger".

Basically, yeah. If we overlook everything, all that Allo offers is the Google Assistant and that's probably what they wanted - fresh set of data.
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