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Updates to our Google Voice apps

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Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#61

Post by johansch »

throwthisawayt wrote: post #26

As an xoogler, this tells me that the voice team is now staffed again. It also tells me that the executive team is thinking about reducing headcount and focus on hangouts, but still are uncertain. Finally, it tells me that google still has no idea how to crack the messaging space, and has so no team internally that is taking charge but a bunch of teams with different approaches, all jockeying for executive support. G…

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?

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#62

Post by rch »

tgb wrote: post #49

Just to add a counterpoint, I've been using Google Voice for, I think, 7 years. I've never had any issues with it and the lack of updates always felt like "don't fix what isn't broken." It's gotten slowly better and better with the Hangouts app. I never really needed anything more complicated than texts and voice, but the transcribed voicemail is a godsend.

I had the same positive experience until I got a Nexus 6P and decided to try Fi (living in a remote area w/ only wi-fi). The new phone and services were outright hostile to Voice, so I created a new number and left voice alone. Really glad I did, but it will probably be a year before I start handing out the voice number again.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#63

Post by hamandcheese »

izacus wrote: post #41
27182818284 wrote: post #19

I like how this story has shot up immediately to the top of Hacker News. Google Voice is beloved by its users, but Google hasn't shown love for it for (as they point out) five years. I'm glad to see the update! So that's lovely, though overall the PMs and VPs need to reconcile all the apps with each other. A friend recently bought a Pixel Phone and was lost as to what to use. I mean, I can't blame him... * Phone's ge…

I don't understand what's there to be lost about? Those are separate chat services? Or is 2017 the year when understanding that e.g. Facebook Messenger, Duo (video chat), SMS and Hangouts are different services?

Suppose we're using Facebook.

How do I send a text? Messenger.

How do I make a call? Messenger.

How do I make a video call? Messenger.

Try answering the same question using Google's services.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#64

Post by kchoudhu »

nemesisj wrote: post #17

I've been a Google Voice user for 6-7 years. It became more important to me 5 years ago when I moved to the UK and ported my mobile number to GV. It's not been very pretty. We were thrown a lifeline with the Google Hangouts app taking over for the absolutely-awful Google Voice app. One of the most frustrating things about GV is that for certain SMS providers, it fails the "is this a USA number test" or "can we SMS to…

Does anyone have any idea why certain phone numbers are not able to receive SMS/marked as not US when they are clearly US?

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#65

Post by lutorm »

colechristensen wrote: post #55
lutorm wrote: post #30

"One number for life" ... unless of course you want to use our other service, Google Fi, in which case you will be forced to relinquish it. No improvements on that small problem, it seems.

You can port your number from Voice to Fi, you just can't use both on the same account.

Exactly. But, as I understand it, you can't port your Fi number back to Voice if you decide you don't want Fi.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#66

Post by on_and_off »

27182818284 wrote: post #19

I like how this story has shot up immediately to the top of Hacker News. Google Voice is beloved by its users, but Google hasn't shown love for it for (as they point out) five years. I'm glad to see the update! So that's lovely, though overall the PMs and VPs need to reconcile all the apps with each other. A friend recently bought a Pixel Phone and was lost as to what to use. I mean, I can't blame him... * Phone's ge…

I can understand some of these different apps :

- Duo : here is an app in order to make video calls. I am ok to have a different icon on my launcher for this specific task. Especially since it comes with great perfs. I just miss a camera icon in places like the contacts app allowing to call the person with either Duo or another equivalent video call app (skype)

- Spaces : ok it is not going to work out but I can see this kind of semi public topical conversations as an usecase needing its own app.

- SMS Hangouts Allo -> this is where I have an issue. Anecdote : my mom calls SMS 'mails'. Casual users have a hard time following the different ways to send a text. And it is not their fault. all these apps serve the same purpose : send texts. I hope that some day we will have a single app in order to do it.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#67

Post by jotux »

colechristensen wrote: post #55
lutorm wrote: post #30

"One number for life" ... unless of course you want to use our other service, Google Fi, in which case you will be forced to relinquish it. No improvements on that small problem, it seems.

You can port your number from Voice to Fi, you just can't use both on the same account.

>you just can't use both on the same account.

But that was the whole reason I wanted a voice number. I had my regular number I only gave to my close friends and family and would give my voice number to anyone who asked. After I got Fi I could no longer make or receive calls on my voice number.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#68

Post by Karunamon »

izacus wrote: post #41
27182818284 wrote: post #19

I like how this story has shot up immediately to the top of Hacker News. Google Voice is beloved by its users, but Google hasn't shown love for it for (as they point out) five years. I'm glad to see the update! So that's lovely, though overall the PMs and VPs need to reconcile all the apps with each other. A friend recently bought a Pixel Phone and was lost as to what to use. I mean, I can't blame him... * Phone's ge…

I don't understand what's there to be lost about? Those are separate chat services? Or is 2017 the year when understanding that e.g. Facebook Messenger, Duo (video chat), SMS and Hangouts are different services?

They're all separate chat services, yes, but the problem is the use case and differentiating features for each one isn't clear.

As I understood it, Voice was dying on the vine, and then google pushed everyone to Hangouts (to replace the built in SMS app on the phone anyways), but now Hangouts is suggesting to use other apps for SMS (but it still can anyways), so do I use GVoice or the built in one (answer: depends on the phone number you want the recipient to see). But now Allo came out, and that's somehow kinda like Hangouts but not? It has not-SMS chats like Hangouts, so it's just a hangouts replacement. But wait, Hangouts also does video chat - how's that different from Duo?

Google's product messaging is probably the most confusing in the entire technology industry.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#69

Post by wlesieutre »

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…

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 reporting/filtering (on voice and text) that had been one of its greatest features.

Eventually I got fed up with the poor service. Third parties would refuse to accept my phone number, or would accept it but couldn't actually send me messages. Group MMS didn't work properly. As of late 2013, they "integrated" MMS support with T-Mobile and Sprint. When one of them tried to send you a picture, you'd receive it as an email attachment on your gmail account. MMS from AT&T and Verizon users, as far as I can tell, continue to disappear into the ether.

I have no idea how many missed social calls I had from people in college organizing social lives via group texts that I never got, and they never knew I didn't get because there was zero indication on either end that it wasn't delivered.

As far as I'm concerned, Google Voice is dead. Maybe this reincarnation lasts two years before management decides to refocus on Duo/Allo, or maybe it's six months. Maybe they throw it out and go all-in on a new Project-Fi based VOIP/messaging system. Either way, I'm staying out of it.

My number's been ported to T-Mobile on the $30 prepaid unlimited plan, and I switched back to an iPhone. Voicemail transcriptions work just as well as GV's did, and my text messages don't just vanish anymore. Everything's great.

Re: Updates to our Google Voice apps

#70

Post by JshWright »

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.

As a Project Fi user, that makes heavy use of Hangouts, I sure hope not (as Voice and Fi are incompatible).
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