Hangouts disappointment

[jsntrenkler]

The split conversations piece is what has me on the fence ... How hard would it be to integrate into one stream and perhaps have different colors to indicate whether it was a sms or online conversation.

 

[01011000]

Updated to Hangouts 2.0 on my Optimus G last night... aaannnnnnnd I went right back to the stock Messenger app. Google has a lot of work to do with this app. In the SMS thread, it's extremely redundant to see the same contacts' pic over and over... Just put their pic next to their phone number on the top header bar. I also thought the UI layout was a bit messy and I think would send a not-so-savvy Androider into shock lol. Oh yeah: like many others have been mentioning online, MMS totally does NOT work. At all. I consider these things to be easy fixes. Perhaps it's just me but Google seems to publicly release what feels like beta software and then incrementally brings it up to code (no pun haha).

 

[MbR24]

my only problem with Hangouts is that I have to manually scroll the screen up to see the very last message, whether it is something I sent or received. is anyone else having this issue? am I missing a setting?

this is the main reason I am not using hang outs as my main SMS app. otherwise from the little bits Ive played with it, it seems pretty solid to me.

 

[Enverino]

The SMS integration as it is very slow and the messages stay unread most of the time.

 

[alltechinside]

Is anyone else disappointed by the new Hangouts? It's basically just a cover up of the messaging app...two different conversations with people who have both hangouts and normal sms, can't forward messages or copy parts of message (only all of the text). I was hoping more for an iMessage competitor...not just a cover up of the messaging app. I'm happier that I can now have one messaging app but it is not nearly as good as I had hoped. Thoughts?

Same here. I don't use hangouts anymore and instead, I use 8sms which is based on android 4.3 messaging app and cyanogenmod app. Try it if you like!

8SMS

 

[iN8ter]

This is Google's reason for putting SMS into Hangouts:

1. To get you to Validate your Phone Number for their Google Address Book/Caller ID - You cannot remove that phone number from your account once you validate it. I had to delete my Google Account and create a fresh one to get my numbers off of it.

2. To drive adoption to Google+. They want you to use Hangouts SMS instead, and putting it in the same app is a good carrot to get you to do that. Once you start using it, then you're basically going to be forced to eventually use Google+ because Hangouts features are tied to Google+: Photo Sharing and Group Video Calling.

 

[someguy01234]

This is Google's reason for putting SMS into Hangouts:

1. To get you to Validate your Phone Number for their Google Address Book/Caller ID - You cannot remove that phone number from your account once you validate it. I had to delete my Google Account and create a fresh one to get my numbers off of it.

2. To drive adoption to Google+. They want you to use Hangouts SMS instead, and putting it in the same app is a good carrot to get you to do that. Once you start using it, then you're basically going to be forced to eventually use Google+ because Hangouts features are tied to Google+: Photo Sharing and Group Video Calling.

I'm very interested in knowng more about this as well.

It seems you can disable it from discovery: http://asset1.cbsistatic.com/cnwk.1...er_ID_Android_Google_Settings.jpg_610x349.jpg

However, there is no way to remove the phone number from your account.

After this I tried calling myself back and forth between two different number, the Google Dialer doesn't seem to catch my name after disabling the discovery. So I guess disabling that will hide it from Google services like Plus and Hangouts, but I wonder how far reaching it is and what are all the mediums and entities that can tap in Google's callerID database or eventually to be feed to, even Google is not providing any information on their new callerID, except for this short post: https://plus.google.com/photos/+android/albums/5942570061497141729

 

[iN8ter]

I think collecting my phone number and using it for their own personal white pages with it being Opt In by default is about as disgusting as Verizon Wireless or AT&T setting up their own White Pages service and making what you assumed would be a private number public. You have to go through 2-3 pages just to get to the page where you can remove it, and the fact that they basically take ownership of my phone number by not allowing me to remove it is equally disgusting.

Even Facebook allows you to remove your phone number from their system.

That's a huge privacy faux pas, IMO, and can lead to some issues when you change carriers or change numbers and someone else gets the number. All of a sudden your name/picture is popping up when they call their friends from their iPhone, and they can send you hangout messages if they click the contact entry in that app and aren't paying attention...

It's just a poorly done, poorly thought out policy that they need to revisit. Regulators really need to start doing something about the way companies collect information, utilize it, and the way they Opt In by default and give consumers little ways to control which information resides on their systems short of deleting their accounts and losing a ton of money just to gain some privacy back.

 

[Tall Mike 2145]

I haven't touched Hangouts and have no idea if it would even work for me since I don't have a Google+ account. (Side note: since almost nobody I know either has or uses G+, I see no reason to switch from Facebook to it.)

Personally, I use the default Messaging app and MessageMe. They both work great, and MessageMe recently became web-accessible, so that solves a number of problems you folks are talking about here.

It is also dual platform, so you folks with friends on iOS should tell them about it, too.

 

[Nibs]

I actually like the new hangouts, I never used it before. I was using Samsung's messaging app. The only thing I have an issue with is when I get a message the screen doesn't light up. It vibrates and the notification led comes on but no screen. I have looked at everything in the settings and there seems to be no option for it. Not sure if it's just my phone or what.

 

[Adam Tentis]

Updated to Hangouts 2.0 on my Optimus G last night... aaannnnnnnd I went right back to the stock Messenger app. Google has a lot of work to do with this app. In the SMS thread, it's extremely redundant to see the same contacts' pic over and over... Just put their pic next to their phone number on the top header bar. I also thought the UI layout was a bit messy and I think would send a not-so-savvy Androider into shock lol. Oh yeah: like many others have been mentioning online, MMS totally does NOT work. At all. I consider these things to be easy fixes. Perhaps it's just me but Google seems to publicly release what feels like beta software and then incrementally brings it up to code (no pun haha).

I find it crazy that more people have not noticed this. MMS is completely busted on every android phone using hangouts except nexus 5. The worst part is the app tells u to merge SMS which would be fine if it worked, but it doesn't! Wtf Google. Fix this. This is a huge problem

 

[iN8ter]

I find it crazy that more people have not noticed this. MMS is completely busted on every android phone using hangouts except nexus 5. The worst part is the app tells u to merge SMS which would be fine if it worked, but it doesn't! Wtf Google. Fix this. This is a huge problem

I didn't use it long enough to try, but that doesn't surprise me.

Personally I don't like the way it takes over Notifications. The app is too poor an SMS/MMS client to demand it handles my notifications. I wanted to be able to allow Hangouts to Send/View SMS/MMS while still using my default texting app as ... the default. That means I tried turning off Hangouts SMS Notifications while keeping the Notifications on for Messaging. However, I wasn't getting any notifications - at all - because Hangouts completely blocks the Messaging app from receiving the SMS (though they are viewable if you open it).

Hangouts has no Icon Badge. It is very thin on the types of media it can transfer via MMS. It doesn't seem to support automatic conversion to MMS for very long text SMS messages, nor does it properly separate them into multiple 160 character SMS messages... This functionality is almost Pre-Beta at beast, and I'm surprised people are trying to hard too sing it praises. It's terrible.

And the way they don't even utilize phone contact photos in the app (at least the time I used it)... Seriously?

ChatOn just implemented this so I will wait until it makes it to the US to decide if I'm going to just stick to FB + SMS or move to a different messaging service. Personally another thing that keeps me from committing to Hangouts is its pretty bad cross-platforms support. This puts a barrier between me and what device I may want to use in the future. I don't like one app acting as a chain to keep me on one platform...

 

[downhillrider]

I'll leave my personal feelings about Google and them trying to force ppl to use +, I got my Nexus 5 a couple of days ago. Noticed there was no SMS app. Someone here at AC posted a link to a AOSP (dont know what that is, *explain?*) SMS 4.4 app. I installed it and seems to work fine. 2 issues I have with it. 1.No Notifications, the option for notifications are greyed out. secondly when I got my first sms and replied I noticed my Google profile picture and a link to view it. Is there any way around those issue's? If not I may regret selling my Unlocked HTC One for this.

 

[yfan]

This is Google's reason for putting SMS into Hangouts:

1. To get you to Validate your Phone Number for their Google Address Book/Caller ID - You cannot remove that phone number from your account once you validate it. I had to delete my Google Account and create a fresh one to get my numbers off of it.

I don't think so. When Google asked me to verify my number for Hangouts (by the way, they did this before Hangouts supported SMS), I simply changed it to my Google Voice number, which was immediately accepted. In other words, the verified number isn't my actual cell number. The caller ID feature only shows by default if you have a public profile AND you call someone who doesn't have you in your address book AND you didn't disable the feature. It's not like they're handing out your number to anyone.

 

[iN8ter]

I don't think so. When Google asked me to verify my number for Hangouts (by the way, they did this before Hangouts supported SMS), I simply changed it to my Google Voice number, which was immediately accepted. In other words, the verified number isn't my actual cell number. The caller ID feature only shows by default if you have a public profile AND you call someone who doesn't have you in your address book AND you didn't disable the feature. It's not like they're handing out your number to anyone.

You have no clue what you're talking about. Please stop blindly defending. Its disgusting.

1. SMS has nothing to do with the phone number verification. It's always been there to allow you to auto match people's phone number to Google Profiles (note the exact wording there, I've tested it)... If you would click on a phone contact Hangouts would search Google's database to see if their email address or phone number was registered to any Google Accounts, and then suggest the Hangouts contacts instead. It's poorly done and you can even end up with identical entries for the same person if they have multiple google accounts.

2. Everyone knows you can use a Google Voice number, however it will match if the other person is called from that Google Voice number and that number is tied to any Google Accounts or Google+ Profiles. Note, the phone number is in your Google ACCOUNT. It is not scanning Google Profiles to look for phone numbers. Those numbers can be restricted to "Only You" or simply removed from profile information. Google stores your phone numbers in your Google Account, non-removable, with the matching turned on by default.

3. Google+ Profiles can't be anything but public. In apps like Hangouts the phone number will still match to Google Profiles which do not have Google+ enabled in them. Profile pictures are stored in PWA as Public without the option to make them private.

3A. The Feature is Opt-In by default and the option to Opt-Out is buried in settings, which is part of the problem. It should not be Opt-In by default. It should be off with the option to turn it on. And there should definitely be the option to remove the phone number from your account. There is no such option, currently.

4. No, you're handing your number to them, through verification. No where does it say anything about your profile picture being flashed on someone's phone, among other things.

Google wants phone numbers for their personal white pages, that's it. Voice is eventually going to get supplanted by Hangouts, anyways.

Google Voice also doesn't allow you to remove all phone numbers from your account, shut it down, or remove it from your account either. In 2011 I had to delete a Google account to get my numbers off of that service, too. It has some of the same problems, which is why I haven't touched it since then. Good for them, they found a way to make me have to delete another account (which I have already since done to remove my information from the account in question).

Last reply to you. This is boring.

 

[yfan]

You have no clue what you're talking about. Please stop blindly defending. Its disgusting.

Bleh. Drop the condescending pejoratives. Going after the person doesn't make your argument stronger.

1. SMS has nothing to do with the phone number verification.

That was my point. Note the quote of yours I replied to SPECIFICALLY reads: "This is Google's reason for putting SMS into Hangouts." Since, as you admit, SMS has nothing to do with number verification, your reason #1 why Google put SMS into hangouts (to verify your number) is now defunct.

It's always been there to allow you to auto match people's phone number to Google Profiles (note the exact wording there, I've tested it)... If you would click on a phone contact Hangouts would search Google's database to see if their email address or phone number was registered to any Google Accounts, and then suggest the Hangouts contacts instead.

So? In my judgment, Hangouts (data) messaging is better than SMS in any case. But if you disagree, that's not a problem either. I think you're forgetting that you don't even need a Google account to use an Android phone or Hangouts for SMS - you can just skip the Google account setup. No one is forcing you to do anything. The problem is that we think we can use a bunch of free services and then whine about the provider using for business the information we freely give them and agree to. If you don't like what Google is doing, you don't have to use Google.

2. Everyone knows you can use a Google Voice number, however it will match if the other person is called from that Google Voice number and that number is tied to any Google Accounts or Google+ Profiles.

The reason it's important that one can use their Google Voice number isn't that the other person can see that in their caller ID, it's that Google already knew that my Google voice number was associated with me before they did any verification through Hangouts, and so I didn't give them any additional personal information by verifying THAT number.

Google stores your phone numbers in your Google Account, non-removable, with the matching turned on by default.

I agree with you that the number should be removable. There does seem to be a way to sort of disassociate it with your account, however. I went ahead and confirmed my real cell number with Hangouts on my phone, then I confirmed the cell number with a *different* Google account. This took it off from the original account on the Hangouts app, but NOT from my Google account when accessed through a browser. This behavior makes me think that the online stuff is residue, and they need to fix the code. But yes, for the moment, it remains annoying.

Profile pictures are stored in PWA as Public without the option to make them private.

Except that you can simply delete your profile picture or choose not to have one at all.

3A. The Feature is Opt-In by default and the option to Opt-Out is buried in settings, which is part of the problem. It should not be Opt-In by default. It should be off with the option to turn it on.

If it were, very few people would go and turn it on - not because they don't want to, but because they wouldn't get around to it. It would therefore defeat the purpose. With an opt-out, people have to actively do something if they don't want it to show. Google chose to use inertia in its favor rather than against itself, and that's an understandable business decision, whether one likes it or not.

4. No, you're handing your number to them, through verification. No where does it say anything about your profile picture being flashed on someone's phone, among other things.

Yes, it does. The Hangouts confirmation box clearly states that the number is used by Caller ID by Google.



The link to 'more info' has another link to explain what caller ID by Google is, and it clearly spells out that an image will appear with the caller ID name if available. According to that same support page (as well as this CNET article), Caller ID by Google is not yet turned on for individuals (that part says "coming soon"), only businesses. I imagine Google is hashing out exactly the issues we're talking about here before applying it to individual accounts.

Google Voice also doesn't allow you to remove all phone numbers from your account, shut it down, or remove it from your account either.

Yes, it does allow you to simply delete your Voice number. And it's rather simple, too.

 

[Ricardo S]

it SUCKS BIG TIME. I hope Google fix this SOON