• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Handscent or Go

stuarta

Android Enthusiast
Feb 15, 2011
412
44
Just having a toss up and a few difficulties with both these apps since upgrading to 2.3.

GOSMS - Works nice, although when the popup comes up and I reply to the message, I find that I'm overtyping the message and can't see the bottom of it. Also just enabled it since 2.3 upgrade and pop-ups don't appear to be working when screen is off.

Handscent - Pop-ups work well where GO appears to fail in the overtyping and also with 2.3, but since upgrading to the latest version of Handscent the other night, they also don't display when the screen is off.

Anybody got any ideas for both? I think I would prefer to use GO if possible as it's appears to be cleaner and possibly lighter. Either way thought I would like the popup to work with screen off like it did before and be able to reply from the popup.

Not much to ask?
 
Ive been using Go pretty much since it came out. I used handcent for quite a while. Ill say they both pretty much do the same thing, and do it quite well. Theres a few reasons I like Go... 1) with the latest update, it has apps2sd compatibility, so its even lighter, 2) It just works well, 3) one of the latest updates added fb chat to it, so your active facebook chats show up in your sms inbox just like regular sms. The nice thing is the notification actually works for it, unlike on the stock fb app 4) the Go Dev Team is constantly updating/upgrading all their apps.
 
Upvote 0
I like Go (switched from Handsent) but have noticed recently (since upgrade?) that if I open a message from notification icon it doesn't tag the message as read so it stays in the notification bar and I have to go in and open the message from the app to get rid of it.

Previously it didn't do that and it is a tad annoying
 
Upvote 0
I've been using Handcent for a while now and I like it. I tried GO and like it as well. I would probably switch to GO for its lightness, if only the popup would show up correctly when the screen is off. As of now, GO will notify me of a new message and the popup will appear, but under the lock screen, so I have to unlock the screen before I can see it. That's a deal breaker for me.
 
Upvote 0
I've been using Handcent for a while now and I like it. I tried GO and like it as well. I would probably switch to GO for its lightness, if only the popup would show up correctly when the screen is off. As of now, GO will notify me of a new message and the popup will appear, but under the lock screen, so I have to unlock the screen before I can see it. That's a deal breaker for me.

Sounds similar to my issue, but then Handscent has broke as well since last upgrade. Doesn't show on lock screen
 
Upvote 0
I was using GO SMS Pro until I received an MMS message that it couldn't display correctly. It only showed some text and very small image that I couldn't zoom to make larger. Tried all the settings and it always rendered the same way. If GO SMS Pro can fix that, I may switch back to avoid the ads in Handcent.
I switched to Handcent and the image turned out to be a slide presentation with 2 slides (one text and the other an image). Handsent showed the text full screen then the image full screen. Another nice feature I like in Handsent is the popup response window that gives me access to quick responses with one click.

Both are fine apps except for the MMS glitch in GO SMS Pro and the ads which cause a lag in Handsent.
 
Upvote 0
I've tried both and i definitely prefer GO. Its quick, it works, and most of all its pretty.

My only complaint is that if I hit the 'X' on a popup, the message doesn't remain unread. Can be a pain when I'm doing something else on my phone and say, "Oh, I'll reply to this in a minute." Since the notification disappears and it's marked as read, I tend to forget about it.

Totally solvable if I remember to just hit the back button to get out of the popup instead of the 'X,' but it's an annoyance nonetheless.

Not sure if Handcent functions the same way.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones