I got an update on my phone. This thing is replacing Google talk. There is a screen that says send a message or video but no contacts listed and the screen does nothing. Swipe right and all my phone contacts are listed. But no indication they are signed in or a way to message.
I have several people I communicate with daily via Google talk and now I can’t because it appears Google released some half finished piece of crap that doesn’t work. I can’t even revert back to talk. Wtf?
Yeah, I saw the update but haven’t installed it yet, for fears of precisely this. However, will Talk even work anymore? I don’t use it as often as you, so I’m not sure if it is already disabled or not.
One thing I can say is I doubt Google released a completely non-functional app. You can try uninstalling/reinstalling it again, and if that doesn’t work consult the web to figure out what you’re missing. Maybe the new UI is just unintuitive and hard to learn? It may be buggy, but it ought to work for talking to people, that’s supposedly the whole reason it exists.
I’ll go ahead and update soon and try it. I’ll let you know if I figure out how to use it, or if it’s screwed up on my phone too.
I wouldn’t think so either. I called a friend and had her message me. She still has the old talk. I got the message and can message back. It popped up a new window. But nowhere does it indicate if she is actually signed in or even a place to initiate a chat. There is one screen that says ‘send a message’. If you try, it takes you to your list of phone contacts and it says this person is not on google hangouts do you want to send them a request? Which then sends them an SMS message.
So im guessing this thing is useless until everyone upgrades. :rolleyes: I know this is a minor problem in the grand scheme but why not make it backward compatible? Thanks for making my friday more difficult Google.
Also, if im messaged and dont have the app open i dont get an indication. If i go into it i can see the messages she sent. I’ve checked settings and nothing that i can see to fix this.
If it makes you feel any better, I can’t figure out Google Hangout on the PC. I haven’t even tried the phone interface.
Designing usable user interfaces has never been Google’s strong point.
As far as I can tell Google is trying to use this as a an SMS substitute. Or maybe its *using * SMS since it asked me to confirm my phone number. If I want to SMS someone i’ll message them. IM I use for a completely different purpose. If they show available I know a coworker or friend is at their computer and will likely get a quick response.
Also you cant just add someone as an IM contact, you now have to add them to your phone list. God this thing blows.
Allow me to complain further 
IM is good because you could see a status. Before, if i’m at work and I say normally go to lunch w/ someone on wednesday, if they were available, i could say ‘wanna meet for lunch’? But if status said “busy” or “in a meeting” i’d know to make other plans. Sending an SMS message? Who knows? Maybe phone is on silent, maybe they are in a meeting, maybe phone is off, maybe they aren’t at work today.
It says “replaces google talk”. No, you eliminated google talk and created a new SMS interface which I already have and see no need to replace.
It’s like someone coming and towing away your car and leaving a bus pass with a note saying “replaces car”.
Also since it apparently uses SMS, what about people who dont have unlimited text and used IM as a substitute?
I am in total agreement with you here. This is BS. It used to be a nice little chat program where you could see if someone was at their computer and message them. Now that is not possible. Super lame.
Or people with landlines who cant recive SMS? Or people you don’t like enough to exchange phone numbers but you may want to exchange a secondary gmail address in case you desired a half hearted 2 line conversation?
The new Hangouts doesn’t use SMS to communicate. It probably will in the future, but right now, nope. You need a G+ account/a Gmail address for it to work.
And you can see status. When you click on “+” to initiate a new conversation, you’ll see a list of people. If their contact photo is faded, they aren’t online.
I still think it’s not as good as Talk, which it replaced, but if/when they finally integrate it with SMS/MMS like iMessage on iOS, then it will function nicely as a complete IM/SMS/MMS package. Just choose a contact, send a message, and if their “online” it can send it via Hangouts, and if not, via SMS. And as long as all return messages come into the same Hangours “inbox/conversation” it’ll be seamless on your end, which is all that matters.
Edit: Also, if/when it gets around to integrating SMS, it will almost certainly send them through a data connection, not as actual texts, like Google Voice does.
When I tap + i see a list of all my phone contacts. I tap a person who i know is currently signed in to the old google talk. It says “__ is not yet on hangouts. Would you like to tell them about it via SMS” If select either cancel or send invite it doesnt matter. It doesnt give me any way to start a conversation.
If I click cancel it goes right back to my list of contacts. If I select send invite it says invite sent and goes right back to my list of contacts.
Which anyone using the old google talk would by definition have, right?
Hangouts doesn’t use a data plan. I use it fine on my wireless tablet. It seems to be what iMessage was intended to be except that it will work with both iOS and Android. I’m not sure what you mean about SMS/MMS. You can take and send pictures (MMS) and do video chats with one or more people. That seems more Skype like. It’ll also work on a desktop using Chrome, I believe.
I find it much more usable (after just 1 day) than the SMS program I was using on my phone.
Bob
Edit: ^ ^ ^ It doesn’t need a data plan, no, but it needs a data connection to the internet. So either a data cell plan, OR a wifi connection. If, for example, you only had a cell voice plan (I’m not sure you can still get that anymore,) you wouldn’t be able to use Hangouts. ^ ^ ^
In theory, and it works like that for me. I’ve been messaging a couple people that I know only have GTalk (one is a guy who just uses it the desktop client, the other is someone who is only on iOS) and it both shows them “online” with a non-faded picture, and sends messages fine and doesn’t want to just text them to “download Hangouts!”
But I have been hearing a LOT of mixed reports about its functionality. This wouldn’t be the first time Google (or any tech giant, really) released an incomplete product because the executives really, REALLY wanted to release it at their big annual press-event.
New Apple Maps, anyone?
If they can iron out the bugs, and get perfect cross-IM/SMS functionality for ALL people you message, it could be a great all-in-one solution. As it is, I use Hangouts for what I used Talk for before, and am still using Google Voice for my texting needs to all my friends that are on dumbphones, or just don’t use GTalk/Hangouts.
Just noticed a little green bar beneath the photos of my contacts who are signed in. 