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Introducing Hello

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Re: Introducing Hello

#92
post #57
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if I don't install it then the people I call still get my information without my knowledge, don't they?

Only if you're connected with them on Facebook. (As I understand it.)

They can easily upload their contact lists with your number included when finding friends. So yeah, our numbers are already on FB thanks to our friends.

Re: Introducing Hello

#93
post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two thoughts: a. Regarding millennials: If they can younger users to use their dialer in 2015, they might stay with them for life. b. The average age for facebook is 40.5 [1]. I'm a Gen Xer myself, and I'm 50/50 with calls vs. messaging. I order pizza, call my mechanic, etc. all via the phone. [1] http://smallbusiness.chron.com/breakdown-facebook-users-age-...

>I order pizza, call my mechanic, etc. all via the phone By choice, or by necessity?

For me, it's both. I don't trust J. Random Food Service handling payments (and adding fees) for local restaurants when ordering via the web. (Most are too small to set up their own service, so they use crap like "GrubHub" or whatever.) I can just call them and pay them directly - costs less they get more. Also, now those payment companies can't track me since I'm not using them. I do use one or two large chains' phone apps because they seem trust-worthy enough and appear to be handling the payments themselves.

My mechanics (well, mine and my wife's) have web pages, but when you set up one appointment on them, they auto-add routine maintenance for you. While that could be convenient, neither of us drives like a normal person (I did ~4,000 miles per year the last 4 years, my wife even less), so it's really just a pain to have to cancel an appointment every time I make one. It's also scummy of them to set one up for me without even asking if it's what I want. It's a dark pattern of adding things to your basket without asking you, essentially.

Re: Introducing Hello

#94
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know where their data comes from, but after putting my number, all I get is the city it's in (which the area code makes obvious anyway).

When you install it, it takes data from your address book. That's how it gathers data.

Sounds horrible! I shouldn't have to give them my address book to find out if whomever is calling me is a spammer. I wonder what they're doing with the data? Also, phone numbers change hands. What happens when my friend John Doe changes his number and it goes to a spammer? Do I suddenly get marked somehow as being associated with spammers?

Re: Introducing Hello

#95
post #12

I think the biggest challenge to this is Facebook itself (and other messaging/social apps). How many millennials make phone calls frequently to more than 5-10 close people any more? Everyone just uses messaging or social apps to stay in touch. I don't need this to give me social context to my wife or my parents etc. calling me. The value of this is really to people that are not that close, where Facebook can surface…

Two thoughts: a. Regarding millennials: If they can younger users to use their dialer in 2015, they might stay with them for life. b. The average age for facebook is 40.5 [1]. I'm a Gen Xer myself, and I'm 50/50 with calls vs. messaging. I order pizza, call my mechanic, etc. all via the phone. [1] http://smallbusiness.chron.com/breakdown-facebook-users-age-...

b. Anecdotes are not data. I'm a Gen Xer as well, and avoid both voice and SMS as much as possible - I communicate via IM and email, and use the web for things like "ordering pizza".

If the phone rings with the sound I've chosen for my mother and my SOs, it gets picked up. Otherwise it goes to voicemail. I skim Google's transcription of it and consider calling back.

Re: Introducing Hello

#96
post #94
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you install it, it takes data from your address book. That's how it gathers data.

Sounds horrible! I shouldn't have to give them my address book to find out if whomever is calling me is a spammer. I wonder what they're doing with the data? Also, phone numbers change hands. What happens when my friend John Doe changes his number and it goes to a spammer? Do I suddenly get marked somehow as being associated with spammers?

And I wonder how vulnerable it is to consensus abuse like search engines are. If a few people name someone "Douchebag", what comes up on other phones?

Re: Introducing Hello

#97

Strange that this is coming to Android first, given that most Android devices have this feature built in, making this app nearly useless. http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/11/04/google-does-caller-i...

The feature to auto-block "commonly blocked numbers" is something most Android phones don't have built in. It's basically a spam filter for phone calls. (Although there are other apps that do this.)

I had to change my phone number a couple years back because I was getting several robocalls per day from credit card scammers, and a normal blacklist was useless because they changed their numbers so often.

Re: Introducing Hello

#99
> Billions of calls are made everyday on mobile phones and people often have very little information about who’s calling them.

I don't find this to be the case. Caller ID tells me what I need to know the lion's share of the time.

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