Question Communications app

[Desertprep]

Is there one app out there that will do phone, voice mail, sms, chatting, calendar, email and addressbook - all in one? Video calls included would be nice. My main complaint here is that I feel I have to maintain 2 or 3 contact lists for people that I interact with. One of the things I like about Outlook or Thunderbird is that they contain several functions, all related to communications.

I have to admit, when I got my first cell phone, I just started pushing buttons on it to make it work. I have never stopped, stepped back and looked at the big picture of how cell phones are supposed to work. Are cell apps supposed to be small and individual, and be linkable - to share data? I am trying to find something that is phone based and not cloud based. I live in a mountainous area that has intermittend service. I try to stay away from any and all cloud functions because of that.

 

[VidJunky]

Welcome to Android Central forums. Google Voice does all of this and it's something you're likely already using parts of being a Google product. I'm not sure if Duo, yeah I know it has a new name but I don't recall it at the moment, but that is also a Google product so it probably has some integration. I'm not sure of your motivation, could you tell us more about why you're looking for this and perhaps we could help in other ways. For instance using Voice for SMS is OK but not as good as Google's Messages offering. Voice connects your Google Contacts but Google Contacts is still kind of it's own thing. You could instead just use all Google products. IDK try Voice and see if it answers your needs or give us more information and we can offer other advice.

 

[Desertprep]

Thank you! My motivation: I would like to have a central database of phone numbers, names, addresses, birthdays, email addresses and also, if possible, messenger addresses. Load it up with everyone I know and then be able to send a sms from info in that database, make a phone call from info in that database, send an email from info in that database, etc simply by click on that person's name and then clicking on email, phone, etc One database, data entered one time, but can be used in several apps.

One database to rule them all, one database to find them

 

[B. Diddy]

You can do all of that in Google Contacts. If you look at a contact page, you should see a row of options right under the name (e.g., Call, Text, Video, Email, Directions). Have you checked that out?

 

[Desertprep]

Thanks! I will check it, but was hoping to get something that was completely based on my phone, no on google.

 

[B. Diddy]

You could try 3rd party apps like Contacts+, but I would caution you that any small 3rd party company will likely not protect your data and privacy as strongly and securely as Google does. These smaller companies may be more likely to sell your data to other partners or vendors (read the TOS very closely to know for sure!), and they may also be at higher risk for security breaches. Despite what many people want to believe (based on hearsay and inaccurate reporting), Google doesn't sell anyone's data to a 3rd party -- they don't have to, because since they have such a huge trove of ads, they can just keep that data within their own walls and use their own ad algorithms to decide which ones to show you.

 

[VidJunky]

I understand your hesitancy in going full on Google but in the long run buying into one of the ecosystems will make things easier and more convenient. You can buy into the Samsung-iverse if you really don't like Google. Samsung's contacts work just like Google's, everything transfers when you change devices, everything is stored safely and recovered easily and Samsung offers just about the same features as Google, just about. Like B. Diddy mentioned trying to keep all of that on your device will likely mean going with some 3rd party app/service that will not likely be as secure, private or trusted as the billion dollar Google or Samsung.

As far as integration go into the play store and search Google, there you will find a dozen or more apps from Google who all tie together and work off of one database of information, most of which is centered on Google Contacts. Then just look at the detail you can get within Contacts, like B. mentioned, addresses, birthdays, anniversaries, every different phone number thinkable, job, job title, and business address, I mean the list goes on and on depending on how detailed you want to get. Google will even send you reminders for anniversaries and birthdays. You also have the ability to make notes about the contact. I don't know why you'd want to note that Jessy's favorite food is clam chowder but hey you could if you wanted. At the same time most if not all of this is free just for having a Google account. You could think of it as privileges.