Using Hangouts for everyday texting....any advantages/disadvantages?

[bixler777]

Just discovered Hangouts, and dunno to much about it yet. Wondering about the main differences between it and the stock Messenger for sending text messages?

i can see that i'll be using the video chat thing....and btw....is three-way (multi) video chatting possible?

thanks.

 

[bixler777]

also....

i don't get any popup notification at the top of my screen of inbound texts when Hangouts is my default messenger.

is there a setting for this, or am i missing something otherwise?

thanks.

 

[doogald]

I definitely get notifications. Hit menu control, settings->SMS to set notifications.

Just about the only advantage I see for using Hangouts is when receiving MMS messages with multiple photos - rather than a dumb slide show, you see all of the photos in the message.

I have been using Hangouts as SMS and I am thinking about switching back to the stock messaging app. Why? Because nobody I know uses Hangouts for chat, and anytime I want to start an SMS conversation with somebody (especially somebody with a GMail account) it seems to default to a Hangout chat rather than an SMS message.

 

[bixler777]

i do have SMS notifications checked 'on', but still don't get any popups for inbound messages.

 

[kmf]

Have you turned off notifications in the stock texting app?

 

[bixler777]

no, hadn't done that. i'll do it. thanks.

 

[macgiobuin]

I like Hangouts. It causes no issues for me.

 

[alostpacket]

I like hangouts if just for the emoji.

Been using it for both for awhile now. No major complaints.

 

[bixler777]

i'm confused:

when i send a text message to myself, it comes through WITHOUT the mobile, or wifi ON.

but when i text anyone else with them OFF, the text does NOT get go out.

am i missing something?

 

[doogald]

Another advantage to Hangouts is for group messaging: it's easier to see who else is in the conversation.

i'm confused:

when i send a text message to myself, it comes through WITHOUT the mobile, or wifi ON.

but when i text anyone else with them OFF, the text does NOT get go out.

am i missing something?

If you are using Hangouts, it's possible that when sending to yourself you are sending a Hangout chat rather than an SMS message.

When sending SMS, messages are sent using your typical mobile voice service. MMS messages are always sent using 3G or LTE data (the data does not count against your cap.) If you are on WiFi and send or receive an MMS, you'll notice the 3G or LTE radio activate to deal with the message if they are not already active. If you have disabled mobile data, MMS messages will not send.

 

[bixler777]

thanks.

i sent myself a regular sms text via the Hangouts app (at least i THINK that's what i did! lol), and it came to me w/o mobile or wifi being on.

but when i sent a message the same way to my wife, she received it...BUT...i did NOT receive her response (sent back to me on her stock Messenger app) until i fired up my mobile. it had been 'sent' (time stamp) to me 91 minutes earlier...but did not appear on my phone until i turned on mobile.