I tried, I really tried, to like Hangouts. I even tried to simply live with it. But, enough is enough, and it has now been replaced. Did I fail? No, this time, it's not me - so Goodbye Google Hangouts, Hello 8sms.
For those not in posession of a new-ish Android device, Google has replaced the standard SMS app in the current latest version of Android (v4.4, KitKat) with their own "Hangouts" app, instead of a dedicated SMS app. According to Google, this is supposedly superior (apparently it integrates with Gmail in some way, not that I noticed). However, Hangouts is the first SMS app in many years that left me confused from the very start; for instance, it took me much longer to work out how to create a new SMS in Hangouts than any other phone prior (and I've used Android since v2.1, and many, many other phones from many other manufacturers).
Usually, I assume user-error/ignorance with these things - it's up to me to adjust to a new way, and the new way is better... and most often this truly is the case. But for Hangouts, it's been three months now, and I can say I know it's not me.
I'm going to skip any more of why I (and every single other person I have asked) think Hangouts is lacking in basic usability, and will jump straight into how to fix the problem: install 8sms from the Play Store (bonus marketing links here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thinkleft.eightyeightsms.mms and http://8s.ms/.) 8sms is essentially the same stock SMS app which has been used as the default SMS app for all Androids v4.3 and prior; the developer has simply forked the AOSP code, added a few new bits including KitKat compatability, and posted it with the moniker "8sms".
Upon installation, 8sms imported all of my existing SMSes from Hangouts, and (with a few security prompts) switched itself to be my default send/recv SMS app. So simple - and now SMS on my phone works like SMS always has (better, actually). It's good when things Just Work Properly.
Update, Oct 2014: As lovely as 8sms is, the developer has recently added advertisements into the base app, which is a "feature" not present when I switched apps and made my original blog post. This may or may present a problem for you: Apparently you can make a donation & remove the ads, but I haven't updated the app yet, so I can't verify any of this info. I'll leave it up to your own sound judgement as to whether paying for an app is worthwhile.
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I was pretty much in agreeance with your opinions of Hangouts until the most recent Android (4.4.4) and Hangouts versions, where they tweaked a couple of things, and it is far easier to see how to send an SMS now.
ReplyDeleteI'm annoyed I still can't place a carriage return into the SMS in hangouts, but its a minor issue.
I would like to see SMS backup built into the SMS app, so I don't have to run a separate application to do this.
You *can* insert a carriage return in Hangouts! That was (and still is) another of my multiple reasons for disliking Hangouts, and one of the first things that I came unstuck on. Sadly, I soon found a way around it - I wish I had just used that annoyance as my trigger for swapping Apps back at the start.
ReplyDeleteCarriage Returns can be inserted by presing and holding the Shift key - it then puts the CR button back on the bottom-right instead of that "smiley" button (which, btw, have you ever used? I tried it once, and it immediately bumped my current-message-length-count to 2/2 - why the hell does it use a whole SMS for one smiley???). IIRC, this does mean you need two hands to type a CR, as opposed to most other typing which can be done fairly effectively one-handed.