Brand new to Android/ Trouble with sending messages

scholls22

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Apr 15, 2014
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Left Apple after 6-7 years of loyalty. I got a galaxy s5 Friday and was told to use google hangout instead of the messaging app on the phone.
1) Is that the way to go?

2) When I send picture messages to my wife's iphone 5s, it is sending the picture in a stretched out format, however, on occasion it goes through with no f'd up resizing. What's the cause and fix for this?

Thanks to all who offer advice!
 

VidJunky

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Dec 6, 2011
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Hangouts is far from the way to go, did I say far? I mean far far from the way to go. In fact you will likely not want to use any of the stock apps for messaging or email. For SMS and MMS try GO SMS or Handcent both have a iPhone style theme you can try to feel a bit more at home with Android. There are others and you will likely get several other recommendations of SMS apps all of which will surpass Hangouts and the stock messaging app. As for email Handcent and K-9 are both good alternatives. Again you will likely get several other recommendations that offer you a bit more than the any of the stock apps. Two things to remember when you change apps, one with SMS on 4.4 you have to declare one app as your primary app, and two you will likely have to turn the notifications off for the stock apps, so that you are not getting double or triple notifications for inbound items.


Good luck and welcome to Android.
 

Vsweety

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Mar 24, 2014
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Left Apple after 6-7 years of loyalty. I got a galaxy s5 Friday and was told to use google hangout instead of the messaging app on the phone.
1) Is that the way to go?

The stock messaging app is Android = Google.
Google Hangouts = Google (duh!)
So if you use either you're in Google's 'walled garden'.
Didn't you switch to get out of (iOS') walled garden(s)?
There are hundreds of IM (Instant Messaging) apps for Android.
I recommend Telegram and Viber for instant messaging, VoIP, and video calling. Both free and in the Play Store.

2) When I send picture messages to my wife's iphone 5s, it is sending the picture in a stretched out format, however, on occasion it goes through with no f'd up resizing. What's the cause and fix for this?

The cause is iOS' (intended) incompatibility. Your wife probably uses iMessage, right?
The fix is to use a cross-platform app like Telegram or Viber on both the Android and the iOS device.
 

Chris Songer

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Apr 17, 2014
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Hello im having the same issue as you where my photos send re-sized/streched sometimes and im sending to other hangout users so its not just an iphone thing. So please if there's any fix id like to know also|!
 

Evilguppy

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Mar 28, 2014
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Nah, don't use hangouts... The regular messaging app will get from your phone to an iPhone just fine, but if you want something that works across platforms from android to Apple but acts like I message and comes and goes from say an ipad to to your phone, try Verizon messaging app or Facebook messenger. So far they're the only things I've found that do that without any problems. I've tried Kik but it's hopelessly buggy right now, kakao only let's you use one device at a time, and you can't get Chomp for Apple.