Using Hangouts for SMS/Texts/MMS is really going to take some getting used to

[Gekko]

ok i found a use for my SIM card tool. i made a cool necklace out of it. Quake anyone?

 

[Gekko]

two more things i have to get used to -

1. headset jack is now on top. G-Nex it was on bottom. OG EVO it was on top. make up your mind people!!!
2. microUSB port is now U oriented. G-Nex it was upside-down-U oriented. OG EVO was U oriented. make up your mind people!!!

 

[Gekko]

You're welcome. Glad to help

i really didn't like Textra or any of the other ones - save for 8SMS but that one gives me errors sending MMS.

i think i'm just going to suck it up and try Google's way for now and try to like it. because Google knows best, right?

 

[Hungerdunger]

I don't use Hangouts, so please forgive my ignorance. If you send an SMS with Hangouts, does it show on the recipient's phone as a regular SMS or will it appear in their Hangouts? If it's the latter, that could be confusing for them if they also don't use Hangouts.

 

[Aquila]

I don't use Hangouts, so please forgive my ignorance. If you send an SMS with Hangouts, does it show on the recipient's phone as a regular SMS or will it appear in their Hangouts? If it's the latter, that could be confusing for them if they also don't use Hangouts.

They receive it in whatever their primary texting app is. Even if they have hangouts, if you send an SMS, it shows up as an SMS. You can end up with two "hangouts" for each person, one with a Google ID and one that's SMS. If that makes sense.

 

[planoman]

OK - here's a question - being new to GSM - WhereTF do i store my SIM tool without losing it? and are these things a big deal? in the many unboxing videos i watched i saw a lot of oohs and awwws when they saw the SIM toool like it was a 5 carat diamond or big nugget of gold.

Yeah you do not want to lose it. Put it in a safe place. On some phones you can use a paper clip on others that is hard to make work.

Sent from my Nexus 7

 

[pseudoware]

Anyone know how to change the default sms app? In settings, Hangouts is the only selection, although I've installed 3 other sms apps.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Gekko]

Yeah you do not want to lose it. Put it in a safe place. On some phones you can use a paper clip on others that is hard to make work.

Sent from my Nexus 7

i don't think a paper clip will work on the Nexus 5. she has a tiny hole! (which i like BTW).

 

[Gekko]

POSSIBLE ISSUE SMALL WITH HANGOUTS + MIGHTYTEXT -

ok can someone with a Nexus 5 please test out MightyText + Hangouts? it's working great BUT it shows my sent SMS message TWICE on my PC side but fortunately only sends the SMS once. but still it's really annoying to see the message twice.

i'm not sure if this is a Hangouts bug with MightText OR if when i installed other text apps to test it screwed something up. i did delete those apps, cleared Hangouts cache/data, uninstalled/reinstalled MightyText App and Chrome Extension, did a soft reset - and it still happens.

can someone please test this and report back asap?

thanks!!!

 

[gnondpomme]

I really don't see the point in using Hangouts, it's smooth, clear and simple and I was waiting for it to handle SMS and MMS from longtime. I'm totally happy with it the way it actually is !

 

[dvrmstrng]

I really don't see the point in using Hangouts, it's smooth, clear and simple and I was waiting for it to handle SMS and MMS from longtime. I'm totally happy with it the way it actually is !

Same here, however can someone explain what exactly a "hangout" is? My understanding is that you can get group chats of your circles going in a MMS/SMS/video chat format but for someone who doesn't use google+ is there someway to search for hangouts relative to your interests and join those via the app on the phone or do you have to join those circles first? Or am I totally not getting how this works?

 

[dmiller440]

How can I make Hangouts my default SMS tool on my HTC DNA running 4.1.1? Also, cannot seem to find settings area in hangouts to turn on SMS.

Thanks in advance

 

[Gekko]

How can I make Hangouts my default SMS tool on my HTC DNA running 4.1.1? Also, cannot seem to find settings area in hangouts to turn on SMS.

Thanks in advance

you need to sideload the new version apk. use at your own risk, amigo -

APK Download: Hangouts 2.0 With Support For SMS, Animated GIFs, Location Sharing, Moods, And Statuses

 

[6sigma]

I get lots of photos and short videos via SMS/MMS. With Hangouts I have not found a way to save or move those pics/movies. Ideally, I should be able to save them into G+ Photos. Any clues?

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

To the OP and everyone else on this thread, please take this as no more than my personal opinion, but I would highly advise getting used to and using Hangouts for SMS.

Why?

Well, for one, it's a feature many of us have been clamoring for for a while now. It may be a bit "clunky" (I haven't had the chance to actually use it yet with SMS), but it's bound to get more refined as bugs are worked out and updates are released. The iMessage feature of iOS devices is truly one of the few features of that platform that I really miss on Android...if this can be done well, Hangouts has the potential to even better than iMessage (primarily because it isn't limited to Android devices). I'm sure that folks like myself, that already use Hangouts quite a bit, are more excited about this feature and more apt to adopt Hangouts as their sole messaging app than those that don't already use Hangouts; but as someone that uses it quite a bit, I can at least say that it shouldn't take long to get used to is actually quite a decent app.

Second, now that Google has added this feature, there's a good chance that once a larger number of folks are using it in it's full capacity, a lot more folks will actually be sending "hangout" messages, so it will be a lot more practical to use the Hangouts app for both SMS and Hangouts messages, rather than having to switch back and forth between multiple messaging apps.

That's just my take. To me, it seems counter-productive to go out of my way to find other apps to achieve lessor functionality, but take that with a grain of salt...this is Android after all, so the freedom of choice is yours.

Same here, however can someone explain what exactly a "hangout" is? My understanding is that you can get group chats of your circles going in a MMS/SMS/video chat format but for someone who doesn't use google+ is there someway to search for hangouts relative to your interests and join those via the app on the phone or do you have to join those circles first? Or am I totally not getting how this works?

I think this is the biggest problem with Google's merging of "Talk" (their former chat feature) and the original "Hangouts" (the Google+ video messaging feature)...folks don't always quite understand exactly what Hangouts is, and for that reason have avoided an otherwise fantastic service. For one thing, it's no longer tied to Google+, which for some reason some people have avoided like the plague, but rather is now pretty much it's own entity in the Google universe. Yes, Hangouts are part of Google+ still, but also part of Gmail and used for mobile messaging as well, completely separate from Google+ (as least as much as they can be...I mean, all Google services are essentially all tied together in one way or another).

For the most part, what you do with the Hangouts app on your phone is going to more closely resemble the old "Talk" app functionality. It's essentially a chat application that is an alternative to SMS/MMS (which is a pretty much ancient protocol by today's standards, IMO). From your phone, you can do one-on-one conversations with your friends, as well as group conversations, which work very well (much better than they did with the old Talk app). The capability for video chat is also present, also one-to-one or as a group. For those familiar, I like to compare it to BBM coupled with Face Time...but better. And now that SMS/MMS has been integrated into the phone app, you can use the same Hangouts app to manage conversations from those sources as well.

The feature you're talking about, the public/private video chats that was the cornerstone of "Google+ Hangouts", still exists, but is merely a small feature of platform now that Talk has been integrated into it (and frankly, that is still primarily a desktop feature, though it may work on your phone...I've honestly never tried it).

 

[EnigmaticPsychotic]

I hate that those of us who use G Voice have to wait 6 months.

 

[Gekko]

To the OP and everyone else on this thread, please take this as no more than my personal opinion, but I would highly advise getting used to and using Hangouts for SMS.

well as i said earlier i'm going to suck it up and try to get used to Hangouts for SMS. hopefully Google introduces the KILLER FEATURE of allowing you to use Hangouts to send/receive your SMS/MMS messages on ALL of your devices a la "MightyText". why they didn't introduce that yet is beyond me. i believe they will - and that will be a killer feature. i figure good things are coming so i better jump on the train now and get used to it - but the UI really needs to improve ASAP.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

well as i said earlier i'm going to suck it up and try to get used to Hangouts for SMS. hopefully Google introduces the KILLER FEATURE of allowing you to use Hangouts to send/receive your SMS/MMS messages on ALL of your devices a la "MightyText". why they didn't introduce that yet is beyond me. i believe they will - and that will be a killer feature. i figure good things are coming so i better jump on the train now and get used to it - but the UI really needs to improve ASAP.

Yeah, that will be a killer feature...though if you think about it, if folks actually start using Hangouts and are sending messages via Hangouts (rather than SMS/MMS), then you can already get those messages on all your devices, even your desktop gmail client. It hasn't been easy, but I've even got a few of iPhone friends using Hangouts so I can message them in the same fashion. (We're older and no longer have text plans...so I for us, it's a great way to message without having to use traditional SMS).

 

[Gekko]

Yeah, that will be a killer feature...though if you think about it, if folks actually start using Hangouts and are sending messages via Hangouts (rather than SMS/MMS), then you can already get those messages on all your devices, even your desktop gmail client. It hasn't been easy, but I've even got a few of iPhone friends using Hangouts so I can message them in the same fashion. (We're older and no longer have text plans...so I for us, it's a great way to message without having to use traditional SMS).

it would seem pretty easy to me to tie SMS/MMS Messaging from Hangouts on Device to Hangouts on ANY Device. which is probably what they'll do -

Google Cloud Messaging for Android
Google Cloud Messaging for Android (GCM) is a service that allows you to send data from your server to your users' Android-powered device, and also to receive messages from devices on the same connection. The GCM service handles all aspects of queueing of messages and delivery to the target Android application running on the target device. GCM is completely free no matter how big your messaging needs are, and there are no quotas.

Google Cloud Messaging for Android | Android Developers

 

[Aquila]

I get lots of photos and short videos via SMS/MMS. With Hangouts I have not found a way to save or move those pics/movies. Ideally, I should be able to save them into G+ Photos. Any clues?

I know each hangout has its own album on Google+... Not sure how it'll handle ones via SMS.

XT1060. Through spacetime.