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Google Voice on WM6.5 (and older) - my experience

Google is not making a Google Voice app for WM6.x, period. I don't think anyone can argue with that fact. After seeing how beautiful GV integrates with my wife's Samsung Galaxy phone, I decide to find ways to integrate GV with WM6.x. Here is what I have:
1. Make sure the contacts and email are synchronized with GV account. It actually saves major headache.
2. For dialing out using GV, I highly recommend iDialer + iContact. They can both be found under "Windows Mobile Apps" at http://www.supware.net/. The combination allows to dial any contact number using GV directly. And it's free.
Personally I use the "calling card" setup, which my phone calls my GV number first, then "2", then destination phone number (it's all done automatically using iDialer). It takes about 30 seconds before I hear it rings the destination phone so it's actually pretty quick, and almost guaranteed to always work as it doesn't depend on Google's server.
3. For SMS, there are many ways. EasySMS (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=604699) is pretty cool but I don't want to load another app. Here is what I have found out. Since I asked GV to forward all SMS to my Gmail as Email, I paid attention to the sender. It's always like this:
15551234567.16661234567.&#&#&#&#&#@txt.voice.google.com
15551234567 is my GV number, 16661234567 is the number where the SMS is coming from, &#&#&#&#&# is a unique ID for each phone number. I noticed this unique ID is always the same for that particular phone number no matter when the SMS was sent. Now things are simple, I save this email as the primary email address in the contact info. When I need to SMS someone, I just send an email from my Outlook to that Email address, and the other person will receive the body of the message as SMS (info in subject line is discarded automatically). In iContact, this is very convenient.
When they text me back, since my Gmail is "push" synchronized with my phone I get the message as an email immediately, and I may reply the message by reply that email.
4. For those contacts that did not SMS me in the past so I don't have this Email address available. So what do I do? Like the iPhone Google Voice interface? You can do it too from WM6.5! I use Iris browser:
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-iris-browser.html
I know it's discontinued but it still works well since it's HTML5 supported. After installing that browser, navigate to:
https://www.google.com/voice/m?uipref=1
Notice that "uipref=1" is the magic part. Without it, you see the old DOS style GV interface. With it, you have this full dialpad and everything iPhone browser would show you. Wait a minute, why do I still need iDialer if I have this? Well, the "Call" function actually is not recognized by Iris browser Besides it's 100 times faster to load iDialer on any device I owned. But the SMS function works very well. Again, once you receive the first SMS from your friend to your GV number then you may save the Email address to the contact info so you only use this occasionally.
If you don't care about the UI, you may use any other browser, just navigate to:
https://www.google.com/voice/m
Don't include the "uipref=1" part as those non-HTML5 browser won't render the page correctly.
The only reason I need the fancy UI is because that's the only mobile UI that would allow me to actually *delete* a voicemail or a text, instead of just archiving it.
I know there are many WM6.x users out there that would like to use Google Voice on a daily basis. Hope this helps someone down the line.

a small change since I posted this last time: I got rid of Iris. First I don't use the fancy dial pad since I dial from iDialer anyways, second Iris keeps crash with the slightest browsing and accumulate cache file very quickly (couple of min browsing could end up with a cache file of more than 30 Mb).
Here is the modified plan:
I still use www.google.com/voice/m in opera mini to access most of the important functions of google voice quickly. When I need to delete a voicemail, I use this address:
www.google.com/voice/m?uipref=1#~voice:s=inbox&l=inbox
Alternatively you may navigate to:
www.google.com/voice/m?uipref=1 then click "inbox"
Since I have opera mini memorized my login credentials it's easy to access the inbox thru the "fancy" interface and perform a delete. However since opera mini is not an HTML5 browser this becomes pretty much the only function it's good at.
This way I don't need to install a pretty much dead browser (Iris) on my phone and also have my password remembered by yet another browser. It's also very convenient too.

Merging SMS treads (Facebook)

So, I was going to post here the other day about merging SMS treads, but never got around to it.
I get all my Facebook notifications sent to me via SMS because it seems faster than the Android Facebook app. Well, Facebook uses that annoying long number for every SMS they send.
It was starting to fill my inbox and it was driving me nuts. I figured out that if you save each number in the same contact under the same type (ie. Mobile, Home, etc.) it will automatically merge the threads into one and save room in the messages folder without looking cluttered.
So, each time Facebook sends a message, just add it to the same contact as the rest. Eventually, you will no longer have to do this because the numbers start to recycle themselves.
I hope this helps someone because I spent hours upon hours upon days searching for a solution and could not for the life of me figure out how to do this. So, hope this adds to the great amount of information that XDA has.

Threads... why?

Ive seen MS chose to combine IM and SMS and to me this looks really messy.
First of all the integration of IM is quite nice but I wish it was kept seperate from SMS conversations since these are to the majority of people still different than IMs and used on different devices or apps. I dont want to continue a conversation automatically on a different app or something. This will be very annoying to the other user.
Certainly if somebody just left his/her pc on or IM on accidently....
They should have added facebook private messaging as well and IM/SMS seperated like it was and just added a chat pivot in the messaging hub.
to me an sms is still something every user has always with him her, like when u send somebody an address or something it should be on their phones and not deliverd trough IM and its annoying having to switch first.
Its kind of short sighted implementation, the idea is good but the reality will be very annoying the way it works now.
you will get a ton of sms like notifications for every IM which can be annoying since on a chat conversation people send much more messages per minute than trough sms. Having to toggle online offline all the time will be a pita
am i the only one who thinks this will be garbage? Instead they should have allowed third party apps like whatsapp to use this on user permission. I hope I can switch off the live messenger. Or just revert back to the original sms screen

I like the idea to have an overview of my messages regardlessly whether they come via SMS, Windows Live or Facebook. Although I agree that getting notifications for all those messages shown on the SMS tile would be kind of overwhelming. But I can imagine Microsoft changes the way the tile works. So it still shows the number of SMS, but in addition to that shows an icon or something when you recieve a chat message from Facebook or Windows Live.

In my opinion.. the best feauture ever, of every OS. Loved that!

I love it as well, and think its nice not to have to go to 4 different places for my facebook, text, wlm & (eventually skype).
While I hope they either have a toggle setting for separate 'rows', or add it soon after Mango for those who really don't like it, I honestly doubt they want to mess it up by having too many places for messages. It fits in pretty perfectly with their vision for the overall UI design imo.

For me,M$ thread is not a new idea,it just copying the messaging app in the HP webos...however HP webos messaging is better,they can download apps that support HP connect and integrate into the messaging app(so,this means they can have more than 1 im clients in 1 messaging app).
Feel so sorry to HP webos,always being copied by others,even the UI design of playbook has been copied

Marvin_S said:
First of all the integration of IM is quite nice but I wish it was kept seperate from SMS conversations since these are to the majority of people still different than IMs and used on different devices or apps. I dont want to continue a conversation automatically on a different app or something. This will be very annoying to the other user.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Threading will be the beginning of the end for SMS IMNSHO. Most people still use SMS because it's what they know and are used to.
My wife is a great example, she keeps sending me SMSes while I'm out because that's what she's used to. Even though I've had email (and to some extent IM) on my phones since forever. With a "messaging hub" it takes all the guesswork out of the equation - she'll write the message as she normally does and the phone will decide whether it should deliver via FB, Messenger, Skype or SMS.
Now, if you don't want to continue the conversation if the user has moved to a different device you don't have to. The phone will tell you how the message was sent as well as what services the recipient is currently logged on to.
Marvin_S said:
to me an sms is still something every user has always with him her, like when u send somebody an address or something it should be on their phones and not deliverd trough IM and its annoying having to switch first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This just proves my point - you're used to SMS. And again, you can choose whether to send as SMS or IM.
Personally I find this feature great. Two things should be done to make it even better though;
1. Implement a industry-wide protocol so it doesn't matter if you're on a crackberry, iphone or windows phone. Sure, Skype and Messenger goes a long way towards achieving this but there are still people who use smaller IM services only.
2. Allow third-party apps to hook in to the messaging hub - there's a few apps out there today that are not chat apps as such but still implement messaging. Being able to receive (and reply to) these messages from the same place would be great. It would also make it easier for other IM services to integrate with the OS.
dkp1977 said:
Although I agree that getting notifications for all those messages shown on the SMS tile would be kind of overwhelming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But why? Are you less likely to want to read a message coming in thru Messenger than one delivered via SMS? I for one don't care how my messages are delivered, I just want to be notified. It's a bit like having three post boxes outside your house - one for deliveries by DHL only, another for Deutsche Post and a third for everyone else - i.e. pointless

I really like this new feature as well. I am confident that any replies you send to someone will use the same service they used to "text" you, unless you choose to change it. People on non-WP7 phones won't suddenly need to be jumping all over the place.
On the other hand, when other people send you messages from multiple sources (SMS, FB, WLM, etc), you will be able to get all of the messages in one convenient place. I like that.

[Q] Android App Request: SMS Auto-Archiver

Hello XDA community!
First, I am uncertain if I have the correct forum for this; I was debating posting it under Android Apps but it gave the appearance of being a place to get applications that have been developed, not to request for a particular app to exist. If it needs to be moved, please let me know.
Here is the problem: I've got 20,000 text messages on my phone. This is intentional. As ridiculous as it sounds to have that many text messages, I've found it to be a life saver. In one case, I saved an address from a few months ago that enabled me to bring comfort to a friend in need. In another instance, I was able to clear a dispute between my friend and my employer. Still other cases are simply nostalgic, and I know of other people who have used SMS threads as evidence in court proceedings. There is utility in keeping as many text messages as possible at hand.
The problem is that, once this many texts are on a phone, the messaging app slows down quite noticeably. Additionally, restoring from a Titanium Backup or similar can take nearly an hour to write the database back into memory. Having the texts is wonderful, but having them resident along with more recent discussions causes undesirable consequences.
What I'm looking for is an app that will copy messages to an archive and then delete them. For example, if I have 200 messages between myself and Alan, and he texts me again, I'd like message 201 to be archived and deleted. However, if Bill and I are only at message 28, that can grow without archiving until I hit 200, at which point *it* starts getting archived. Ideally I'd like this to happen in real time, but if it happened hourly or daily I can certainly deal.
The two ways I've kinda found to do this were either to make daily backups with MyBackup Pro or similar, or make them on my computer using MyPhone Explorer. MBP is nice because it keeps it on the phone, but one of the core functions I'm looking for is to be able to browse the archive as if it were a regular set of text messages - still threaded, time-stamped, and categorized by sender - just not in the regular SMS database. With MBP, it makes the messy situation of having to restore messages until you find it, which gets very difficult after more than a few weeks. MyPhone Explorer is a better tool for this and it can be searched, but it does require my laptop to do it, which is a bit challenging as synchronization has to be performed manually.
I've tried most of the add-in applications to address this; neither Go SMS Pro nor HandCent nor Fusion nor Chomp nor Textra provide this functionality.
Yes, I'm willing to pay for an application that will allow for this, so if anyone either knows of a program that can do what I'm asking or feels like writing one, please let me know.
I appreciate your time and consideration in this matter.
Joey

I have an App Request too
An On-Screen Floating Object-Oriented Toolbar, with Back, Home, Menu, & Directional keys, + additional keys depending on active screen or current app
including a 'cycle-through elements' button then hit enter on the one you want to activate
things that can be done with your thumb from one small location.
then tap & hold contracts it into a smaller set of buttons
and you can select the number of buttons & their default positions for both the expanded state and the compacted state.
so it could be used to navigate around programs, select different elements, or used as a game controller, or keypad enhancement, or enhanced navigation etc

SMS app to combine conversations from the same contact in the same chat window

Hy there,
I hope I posted where I should and if I didn't please tell me the correct section where I should do this. Also, I am not a developer, I do not have root on my phone. I do not want solutions that require changing XML files or anything. I am just asking about an app that I could find in the Play Store, or, maybe, and apk to download (this being the second option)
I have a problem with the messaging app since I left my HTC One S for the Nexus 5X in June 2016 and I did not find an app to replace that, not even on my current Oneplus 5T.
So, I have a contact in my phonebook saved with multiple numbers - work / mobile / home etc. and she texts SMS from either of the numbers (doesn't really matter because they are included in the carrier plan as unlimited). But my messaging app is sorting those SMS as different entries by phone number, and not by contact. So if we start a conversation in a chat window based on the home number, the answer may end up in a different chat windows (she has a dual sim phone so it depends on the settings on which is right now, and because the SMSs are "free", she tends to not look at which carrier is using, because, why would you if they are all free?), but this actually disrupts the logical flow of the conversation.
I know that a such app exists because I used it on HTC One S in 2012 and I was able to send SMS to which number I wanted to select (home / mobile / work of the same contact from the phonebook) and I had all the conversation in only one place, but after I changed on Nexus 5X and now on OnePlus 5T I can not find this feature in the installed app messenger (Google's or Oneplus's), neither on Google searches or specialized websites. I have tested some of the SMS apps, looked for settings, but all of them seem to show the SMSs based on the phone number, and not based on the contact entries.
Can someone suggest an app that could do that? Maybe I didn't search good enough.
P.S. The MMS option to send grouped messages is not an option because this means I will send the same SMS to multiple numbers, but those numbers are of the same person so there is no need to do that ...
Thank you very much for Your answer.