Let me preface this by saying that my first phone was an Android, 1.6 Droid Eris, then an iPhone 4s, and now an HTC One m7.
Android has changed significantly from 1.6 to KitKat, but the feature that made it most difficult, for me, (and I'm sure a lot of others as well) to switch from iOS back to Android was iMessage. With all the news surfacing that Apple was aware that iMessage does not deliver messages to Android phones properly, I believe this highlights something larger in the Android ecosystem: Android needs its a better messaging experience.
The messaging space is crowded as all get out in 2014, but there is something common among all of them: they don't default back to SMS if the other user does not have their specific messaging app, example Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, etc.
There is no messaging experience on Android currently that is seamless to the user, sending via data when both users have the same app, yet defaulting back to SMS when it is not available. The closest alternative I can think of is Hangouts. The only downsides to this I can think of is the Google Plus integration some people dislike, lack of customizability, and the possible security risks giving Google access to your texts for targeted ads.
What has been your experience with Android messaging? What features do you wish were built into the messaging experience on Android, e.g. chat heads, delivery/read reports, encrypted texts, instant feedback, or maybe another feature I forgot?
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Hello,
I must say Android rocks in almost all it's features, but what it severely lacks is messaging features.
I need to add that I have passed to Android from Blackberry, and what BB means?!... superb messaging system. Now what I ask is.. there is some kind of app or setting to bring/make the messaging system on Android more like on the BB. I like the idea of having SMS, EMAIL (all accounts) in one place. I know GMail can add multiple accounts, but still is not the same and I don't like the idea of having all my mail in one place (server).. seems like a simple task but is more complicated than having multiple accounts, each one meant for a reason.
Honestly I miss the messaging system from my BBs, but still I'll stick with Android.. being open source may bring a lot of resources (some better than other OSs).
Kind regards,
Zeule
According to Korean tech portal DDaily, Samsung's ChatON instant messaging service will soon get video calls. :victory:the feature will work over both Wi-Fi and 3G/4G internet connections:good:, just like FaceTime on iOS 6. It is expected for the Android version of the client to get video calls first, although seeing the functionality making its way to clients for other platforms is quite likely.
ChatON was introduced by Samsung less than a year ago as an alternative to Apple's iMessage and RIM's BBM. Besides exchanging instant messages with other ChatON users, it allows group chats, file transfer, and other neat stuff one might expect from such a service. In addition to Android devices, ChatON can be used on iOS, bada, Windows Phone, as well as BlackBerry smartphones.
Keep in mind that this is all unofficial information, so treat it as such and don't get too excited until Samsung confirms it. We don't have any word as to when video chats might arrive on ChatON, yet the service's first birthday seems like a perfect opportunity to launch the new feature.
So, with the announcements yesterday of SMS client support in Hangouts (as well as animated GIFS and Location sharing) and the other new features announce for Google+ with the Video and Photo editing, I wonder how much it will help growth on the platform. Of course the iOS update had Google Voice support and maybe that will be baked in too. I use Hangouts a lot now to talk to family and groups that I'm part of and to automatically back up my photos and videos from my phone. It's really nice to be able to instantly go to my images from any computer and access the full size images without having to manually retrieve them. I will be interested to see how the SMS implementation is handled, but it could prove to be the "killer" feature to push Hangouts to more people. I like the fact that it works completely across all platforms. Whether I'm at my computer or my phone, or my niece's iPad or my brother's iPhone or even folks on crackberries or Windows, everyone can "Hangout" without the exclusivity of platform like iMessage or the limitations of BBM. I think the real key will be how fluid and responsive it is at full blown implementation.
Sent from my SGNote 2!
Hello all,
I have been using two messaging services both available on iPhone, Android, and Windows smart phones. I have been stuck at a crossroads for which is the superior messaging program so that I might be able to limit myself to just one instead of going back and forth. I would like your opinions as to which messenger (kik or bbm) you like better and why.
**Please note, I would prefer you have experience with both apps so that there is no biased opinion.
**This is only between KIK and BBM, so please leave all other messaging programs out of it (e.g. whatsapp, viber, kakao). I only want your opinions about KIK and BBM.
That being said, state which one you like better and why
I come from a country where everyone uses WhatsApp to communicate, and I never worried about messaging apps.
But I will be in the USA, and it seems like people just use the default messaging app that comes on their phone (wtf???). And iPhones are bundled with a built in modern messaging app, but one that is locked down to only iPhone users, and falls back to the really old SMS/MMS (not RCS) when messaging non-iPhones, which would lead to iPhone users being annoyed from messaging non-iPhones (do they even support stuff like group chats, messages longer than a tweet, sending videos, location, etc? i guess not or not fully).
Ironically this makes it seem like having a feature phone would still be useful in that country.
Before, I didn't even understand why RCS even existed, just that it seemed like another seemingly cool messaging initiative by Google that was gonna fail just like Allo and so many others, and I'm not sure how helpful is it due to Apple not implementing it. I also didn't understand why Hangouts, Signal, Messenger, etc had the feature to be your SMS app and for example Messenger is pretty insistent even going to the path of dark patterns.
I'm curious to see what the thoughts and experiences of the American XDA community are. Do you use the SMS app? Do you use workarounds like BlueBubbles to use the proprietary iMessage?
xMotoDA said:
I come from a country where everyone uses WhatsApp to communicate, and I never worried about messaging apps.
But I will be in the USA, and it seems like people just use the default messaging app that comes on their phone (wtf???). And iPhones are bundled with a built in modern messaging app, but one that is locked down to only iPhone users, and falls back to the really old SMS/MMS (not RCS) when messaging non-iPhones, which would lead to iPhone users being annoyed from messaging non-iPhones (do they even support stuff like group chats, messages longer than a tweet, sending videos, location, etc? i guess not or not fully).
Ironically this makes it seem like having a feature phone would still be useful in that country.
Before, I didn't even understand why RCS even existed, just that it seemed like another seemingly cool messaging initiative by Google that was gonna fail just like Allo and so many others, and I'm not sure how helpful is it due to Apple not implementing it. I also didn't understand why Hangouts, Signal, Messenger, etc had the feature to be your SMS app and for example Messenger is pretty insistent even going to the path of dark patterns.
I'm curious to see what the thoughts and experiences of the American XDA community are. Do you use the SMS app? Do you use workarounds like BlueBubbles to use the proprietary iMessage?
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In order to use imessage on Android I heard u have to have a mac if u don't than their is no way to use imessage on Android
I have a gaming windows 10 pc so I'm out of luck plus why would I buy a mac just for imessage I like windows better for me windows 10 Is better but it's just up to u whatever u prefer
You can have a macOS virtual machine, though. But how much effort one would put to it would depend on how important it is in American society to have iMessage