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I like how this story has shot up immediately to the top of Hacker News. Google Voice is beloved by its users, but Google hasn't shown love for it for (as they

I like how this story has shot up immediately to the top of Hacker News. Google Voice is beloved by its users, but Google hasn't shown love for it for (as they point out) five years. I'm glad to see the update! So that's lovely, though overall the PMs and VPs need to reconcile all the apps with each other. A friend recently bought a Pixel Phone and was lost as to what to use. I mean, I can't blame him... * Phone's generic looking SMS app * Hangouts * Voice * Allo * Duo

izacus 10y ago
I don't understand what's there to be lost about? Those are separate chat services? Or is 2017 the year when understanding that e.g. Facebook Messenger, Duo (video chat), SMS and Hangouts are different services?
- Analemma_ 10y ago
  Facebook Messenger, Duo, SMS and Hangouts are offered by different companies. The reason people are so baffled by Google's messaging apps is that there are six of them from one company, with no coherent explanation as to why. Even if I want to go "all in" on Google services, how do I know what to use?
- hamandcheese 10y ago
  Suppose we're using Facebook. How do I send a text? Messenger. How do I make a call? Messenger. How do I make a video call? Messenger. Try answering the same question using Google's services.
  - cbr 10y ago
    WhatsApp? (Disclosure: I work for Google, for three more days.)
  - knz 10y ago
    Doesn't Hangouts do all of the above? The icons in Gmail are video chat, add user, voice chat, and send SMS. Hangouts on my Nexus 6 has the same options. Imgur link to screenshot -> http://imgur.com/a/vTlqO http://imgur.com/a/vTlqO
    - fooey 10y ago
      Hangouts is abandoned by Google going forward except to support Enterprise customers
      - knz 10y ago
        Are they replacing it with anything in the Gmail UI?
    - chrsstrm 10y ago
      Hangouts does not ship with the Pixel, you have to download it separately. IIRC it was also not easy to find in the Play Store. The Pixel pushes you to use Allo which is based on phone numbers and your phone's contact list, not your Google account contacts. If I want to message someone on Hangouts but I only know their email address (which pops up helpfully if I have corresponded with this person in Gmail), no problem. You can't do that in Allo - the people you message are identified by their phone number, not the fact that they have a Google account. In fact, you can't use Allo until you register your own number. So what is Allo? Is it SMS? Hangouts could already handle SMS and Google also released Messenger intending it to be your phone's default SMS client. The only entity you can message in Allo that doesn't need a phone number is Google Assistant, which isn't that great. If Allo requires you to be identified by a phone number, how is it better than SMS? If I change my phone number, am I just hosed? The best thing about Hangouts is that it let you message damn near anyone in any manner while being platform independent.
      - hendersoon 10y ago
        Not only are they tied to a single phone number, but my understanding is you can't run the same app on multiple devices. And that's my ENTIRE google voice use case! I want a number that works wherever I am, whatever carrier I use.
    - losvedir 10y ago
      Hangouts does, but it's impossible to know if we're "supposed" to be using Hangouts. A year or so ago I received a pop-up in my Hangouts app that Google recommended I check out Messenger [0]. It also seems to be the currently recommended option [1] although I don't know why since, as you say, Hangouts can handle all those scenarios. This has understandably led to no end of confusion among Fi/Voice users, including myself. [2][3][4][5] [0] http://www.techtimes.com/articles/128591/20160129/google-retiring-hangouts-from-sms-latest-update-urges-users-to-download-google-messenger-for-texts.htm http://www.techtimes.com/articles/128591/20160129/google-ret... [1] https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6062495?p=fi_tips&rd=1&vid=0-954754602908-1485206449517 https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6062495?p=fi_tips&rd=1&... [2] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/egGFUnQqIYI https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/eg... [3] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/04N2LWOGE9I https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/04... [4] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/hangouts/AcKrfMWLHcs https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/hangouts/AcKr... [5] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/cBOm3fvhIZI https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/cB...
- Karunamon 10y ago
  They're all separate chat services, yes, but the problem is the use case and differentiating features for each one isn't clear. As I understood it, Voice was dying on the vine, and then google pushed everyone to Hangouts (to replace the built in SMS app on the phone anyways), but now Hangouts is suggesting to use other apps for SMS (but it still can anyways), so do I use GVoice or the built in one (answer: depends on the phone number you want the recipient to see). But now Allo came out, and that's somehow kinda like Hangouts but not? It has not-SMS chats like Hangouts, so it's just a hangouts replacement. But wait, Hangouts also does video chat - how's that different from Duo? Google's product messaging is probably the most confusing in the entire technology industry.
on_and_off 10y ago
I can understand some of these different apps : - Duo : here is an app in order to make video calls. I am ok to have a different icon on my launcher for this specific task. Especially since it comes with great perfs. I just miss a camera icon in places like the contacts app allowing to call the person with either Duo or another equivalent video call app (skype) - Spaces : ok it is not going to work out but I can see this kind of semi public topical conversations as an usecase needing its own app. - SMS Hangouts Allo -> this is where I have an issue. Anecdote : my mom calls SMS 'mails'. Casual users have a hard time following the different ways to send a text. And it is not their fault. all these apps serve the same purpose : send texts. I hope that some day we will have a single app in order to do it.
- zild3d 10y ago
  Hangouts is for voice and video too, not just sms, which shows you how overlapped/redundant they all are
  - on_and_off 10y ago
    It seems that the only reason for hangouts still being around is because some of its feature like group video chats are needed for 'Google for Work' (or whatever it's official name is) . Yep, it is a mess. I don't mind seeing a company attack a problem from multiple angles, but for messaging that's a big issue.
fooey 10y ago
It's amazing that Allo and Duo were 100% clearly DOA and absolutely everyone but Google could recognize it. They killed Google Talk, ignored Google Voice, abandoning Hangouts, and their new apps are wastelands. Throw in the Wave, Buzz, and Plus projects, and it's astonishing just how massively Google is screwing up.
- 4llan 10y ago
  They just don't admit how hard did they failed in communications apps. Clearly priority and focus issues.
  - hendersoon 10y ago
    Hangouts was a brilliant service and a great set of apps when it launched. Google simply abandoned it.

izacus 10y ago

I don't understand what's there to be lost about? Those are separate chat services? Or is 2017 the year when understanding that e.g. Facebook Messenger, Duo (video chat), SMS and Hangouts are different services?

Analemma_ 10y ago
Facebook Messenger, Duo, SMS and Hangouts are offered by different companies. The reason people are so baffled by Google's messaging apps is that there are six of them from one company, with no coherent explanation as to why. Even if I want to go "all in" on Google services, how do I know what to use?
hamandcheese 10y ago
Suppose we're using Facebook. How do I send a text? Messenger. How do I make a call? Messenger. How do I make a video call? Messenger. Try answering the same question using Google's services.
- cbr 10y ago
  WhatsApp? (Disclosure: I work for Google, for three more days.)
- knz 10y ago
  Doesn't Hangouts do all of the above? The icons in Gmail are video chat, add user, voice chat, and send SMS. Hangouts on my Nexus 6 has the same options. Imgur link to screenshot -> http://imgur.com/a/vTlqO http://imgur.com/a/vTlqO
  - fooey 10y ago
    Hangouts is abandoned by Google going forward except to support Enterprise customers
    - knz 10y ago
      Are they replacing it with anything in the Gmail UI?
  - chrsstrm 10y ago
    Hangouts does not ship with the Pixel, you have to download it separately. IIRC it was also not easy to find in the Play Store. The Pixel pushes you to use Allo which is based on phone numbers and your phone's contact list, not your Google account contacts. If I want to message someone on Hangouts but I only know their email address (which pops up helpfully if I have corresponded with this person in Gmail), no problem. You can't do that in Allo - the people you message are identified by their phone number, not the fact that they have a Google account. In fact, you can't use Allo until you register your own number. So what is Allo? Is it SMS? Hangouts could already handle SMS and Google also released Messenger intending it to be your phone's default SMS client. The only entity you can message in Allo that doesn't need a phone number is Google Assistant, which isn't that great. If Allo requires you to be identified by a phone number, how is it better than SMS? If I change my phone number, am I just hosed? The best thing about Hangouts is that it let you message damn near anyone in any manner while being platform independent.
    - hendersoon 10y ago
      Not only are they tied to a single phone number, but my understanding is you can't run the same app on multiple devices. And that's my ENTIRE google voice use case! I want a number that works wherever I am, whatever carrier I use.
  - losvedir 10y ago
    Hangouts does, but it's impossible to know if we're "supposed" to be using Hangouts. A year or so ago I received a pop-up in my Hangouts app that Google recommended I check out Messenger [0]. It also seems to be the currently recommended option [1] although I don't know why since, as you say, Hangouts can handle all those scenarios. This has understandably led to no end of confusion among Fi/Voice users, including myself. [2][3][4][5] [0] http://www.techtimes.com/articles/128591/20160129/google-retiring-hangouts-from-sms-latest-update-urges-users-to-download-google-messenger-for-texts.htm http://www.techtimes.com/articles/128591/20160129/google-ret... [1] https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6062495?p=fi_tips&rd=1&vid=0-954754602908-1485206449517 https://support.google.com/fi/answer/6062495?p=fi_tips&rd=1&... [2] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/egGFUnQqIYI https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/eg... [3] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/04N2LWOGE9I https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/04... [4] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/hangouts/AcKrfMWLHcs https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/hangouts/AcKr... [5] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/cBOm3fvhIZI https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/project-fi/cB...
Karunamon 10y ago
They're all separate chat services, yes, but the problem is the use case and differentiating features for each one isn't clear. As I understood it, Voice was dying on the vine, and then google pushed everyone to Hangouts (to replace the built in SMS app on the phone anyways), but now Hangouts is suggesting to use other apps for SMS (but it still can anyways), so do I use GVoice or the built in one (answer: depends on the phone number you want the recipient to see). But now Allo came out, and that's somehow kinda like Hangouts but not? It has not-SMS chats like Hangouts, so it's just a hangouts replacement. But wait, Hangouts also does video chat - how's that different from Duo? Google's product messaging is probably the most confusing in the entire technology industry.

on_and_off 10y ago

I can understand some of these different apps : - Duo : here is an app in order to make video calls. I am ok to have a different icon on my launcher for this specific task. Especially since it comes with great perfs. I just miss a camera icon in places like the contacts app allowing to call the person with either Duo or another equivalent video call app (skype) - Spaces : ok it is not going to work out but I can see this kind of semi public topical conversations as an usecase needing its own app. - SMS Hangouts Allo -> this is where I have an issue. Anecdote : my mom calls SMS 'mails'. Casual users have a hard time following the different ways to send a text. And it is not their fault. all these apps serve the same purpose : send texts. I hope that some day we will have a single app in order to do it.

zild3d 10y ago
Hangouts is for voice and video too, not just sms, which shows you how overlapped/redundant they all are
- on_and_off 10y ago
  It seems that the only reason for hangouts still being around is because some of its feature like group video chats are needed for 'Google for Work' (or whatever it's official name is) . Yep, it is a mess. I don't mind seeing a company attack a problem from multiple angles, but for messaging that's a big issue.

fooey 10y ago

It's amazing that Allo and Duo were 100% clearly DOA and absolutely everyone but Google could recognize it. They killed Google Talk, ignored Google Voice, abandoning Hangouts, and their new apps are wastelands. Throw in the Wave, Buzz, and Plus projects, and it's astonishing just how massively Google is screwing up.

4llan 10y ago
They just don't admit how hard did they failed in communications apps. Clearly priority and focus issues.
- hendersoon 10y ago
  Hangouts was a brilliant service and a great set of apps when it launched. Google simply abandoned it.