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Eventually it's all gonna converge to a single app that does chat, video and calls.

And it shall be called "hangouts".



One thing I loathe about Android is the messy need for every app has to be a brandTM.

Compare with iOS: Messages, Mail, Calendar, Wallet, Home.


Ok, comparing, here are the equivalent apps on my phone (A Pixel 6 from Google) Messages, Gmail (admittedly not "Mail", despite working with non Gmail email addresses), Calendar, Wallet, Home. That's a total of 1 character in difference.

These have longer names, clarifying e.g. "Google Wallet" if you go look at them on play store or something, but the actually displayed names that you actually see when using your phone are pretty much identical to iOS.

Other non-branded names include Calculator, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Docs, Files, Fit, Maps, News, Photos, Safety, Settings, Translate.

Branded names that I believe came with include Chrome, Google, Google One, Google TV, Play Store, and YouTube. Frankly I think it's pretty appropriate that all of those come with branding.


But these apps don't need to be branded due to being a monopoly. Google's approach is better (if they didn't butcher the naming every time and kill apps constantly) for the consumer as it indicates you have choices.


I wish someone would make a platform that takes that idea to the next level:

Your spreadsheets? No, they're not in Excel® or numbers.app or OpenOffice. They're in "Spreadsheets".

Same with documents: Not in Word or pages.app or w/e. They're in Documents.

Want to browse the web? No Safari or Firefox or Chrome names. Click on the icon that says "Web browser".

Your e-mail? Click the shiny "e-mail" icon.

(note: this is more about shielding/releasing the user from having to worry about underlying technologies. Basically, the "it just works" taken to the next level)


Lol. This reminds me of the Windows days where you'd make desktop shortcuts and you could rename them. Why can't I rename my android home shortcuts?


I am honestly not sure what is the difference between iMessage and Messages. Is iMessage still a thing? I think I saw it somewhere just recently.


iMessage is the e2e protocol used by the messages app if you're texting another iOS user. Messages is the name of the app that does that, as well as SMS.

It's really nothing that most end users notice or care about, as long as they get their blue bubbles and fun features.


No one outside one country in the world really uses SMS anymore.


At least two countries, I think. You're probably thinking of the US, but SMS is alive and well in Canada. (FB Messenger is #1 but far from monopolizing Canadian habits.)


Outside the US by more than 100 miles, then.


eh it’s still used for 2FA where I’m from


An update on meet: we’ve decided to put more wood behind fewer arrows and sharpen our focus.

(To any xooglers reading this, sorry for the dose of PTSD)


Hangouts is too verbose. Why not just "Google Talk"


Sadly with no xmpp support :/


Maybe they will allow you to type/speak the thing you want to do and will call it "search."


This is Google sharpening its focus ;)


Everything old is new again


*hangouts plus




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