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No, you've been able to do this.... for years. And yes, it's worked consistently since they launched Hangouts. I often answer calls in Gmail and they have since

No, you've been able to do this.... for years. And yes, it's worked consistently since they launched Hangouts. I often answer calls in Gmail and they have since simply began opening in Hangouts through Gmail. Works perfectly, no idea why "the dialer went away" means "incoming calls no longer work", but hey, it's Google and it's FUD, should I bother trying to be surprised? Don't get me wrong, Google fucked their one big chance to integrate Voice, Video, SMS and IM. With Hangouts, I should be able to "Call Someone" and have it negotiate video if we both have and want video, or it should use the next available medium. If both users use Hangouts, then send a Hangout IM. And if not, finally fall back to Google Voice/VoIp/SMS. The users shouldn't have to ask themselves, "wait, does Bobby have Hangouts?" ever. That is literally the number one issue with G+!

sneak 13y ago
Bothers me to no end that Apple does this same shit with FaceTime, presumably to appease the carriers. They already bypass SMS when both are iMessage users - why the hell are they not doing video calls by default when both have cameras?
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Bothers me to no end that Apple does this same shit with FaceTime, presumably to appease the carriers. They already bypass SMS when both are iMessage users - why the hell are they not doing video calls by default when both have cameras? Because, first, most people don't prefer video calls in many circumstances (leaving aside cost issues), and second because of cost/performance issues, since voice calls use voice minutes and video calls would use data, and most users are more likely to face data overages (or, if on quasi-unlimited plans, hit the point of data slowdowns) than they are to run out of plan voice minutes.
drivebyacct2 13y ago
If there were any doubt, I just called my father after leaving my phone in his hotel. Quite, quite convenient!

sneak 13y ago

Bothers me to no end that Apple does this same shit with FaceTime, presumably to appease the carriers. They already bypass SMS when both are iMessage users - why the hell are they not doing video calls by default when both have cameras?

dragonwriter 13y ago
> Bothers me to no end that Apple does this same shit with FaceTime, presumably to appease the carriers. They already bypass SMS when both are iMessage users - why the hell are they not doing video calls by default when both have cameras? Because, first, most people don't prefer video calls in many circumstances (leaving aside cost issues), and second because of cost/performance issues, since voice calls use voice minutes and video calls would use data, and most users are more likely to face data overages (or, if on quasi-unlimited plans, hit the point of data slowdowns) than they are to run out of plan voice minutes.

drivebyacct2 13y ago

If there were any doubt, I just called my father after leaving my phone in his hotel. Quite, quite convenient!