This week I saw a demonstration of the bestmessaging system yet . One where SMS and non - SMS message , all call , do to all your devices automatically . It only had one major flaw . It ’s trapped on an iPhone .
The promised beauty of the new iMessage is that it manufactures the thaumaturgy that everyone you cognize is also using iMessage . Yes , their message bubble are a different color ( presumably so you’re able to scoff at them ) but other than that , it ’s an upgrade that makes iPhone users feel like everyone else in the human race finally got an iPhone too . For those of us on the outside though , it ’s not nearly as fun . If you need to reap the full benefits , the price of admission is extortionate : A full fleet of Apple devices .
It does n’t have to be that way . Not at all ! The solution is so mere that it ’s almost embarrassing . orchard apple tree expend iMessage the direction it uses all its services : to keep you in its loving , hardware embracing forever . The heel counter - attack is a simple one . Steal it and make it open up . And Google is the one companionship who can make that happen , almost overnight .

The pieces are there.
Google Hangouts was supposed to have figured this out already . In the lead - up to its announcement , it begin protrude up in susurration by the name of Babel , the universal confabulation client that could set our problem forever . That wasn’twhat we got , though . And while Hangouts hasmade improvementsalong the way , it ’s still not everything that it could and should be . All the ingredients are there , though , just waiting to be blend together .
Google ’s Hangout app is already in the hands of millions of Android users . Ever since Google made the switch to replace the old , boring “ message ” with Hangouts on New sound , Android users everywhere have been enlisted into the ecosystem the same way of life iPhone users are by nonpayment iMessage exploiter . And even those who do n’t actively use repair for whatever reason — folks with ancient and/or Samsung phone — still have accounts waiting for them through the Google Account they lumber in with , that @gmail.com address that everybody has .
The texting part ? Uhhhh , Google Voice , anyone ? I ’ve long called forthe unremitting destruction of the lifeless corpse that is Google Voiceso that its powers can be melded into Hangouts proper , and now is the time ! Google Voice already volunteer the same wonderful texts - on - your - computer lineament that iMessage is tread up to , the only problem is that they ’re trammel in a service that wet-nurse .

Why Google Killing Google Voice Would Be wondrous
The last part of the teaser is the screen background side . There are n’t nearly as many Chromebooks out there as there are Macs , but there are a ton of people using Chrome , a internet browser that works on all operating system . Yes , you may manually install a Hangouts extension to get Hangouts messages on your microcomputer , but not the texts . broil that functionality powerful into Chrome , and you ’ve got instant omnipresence .
Just put them together already!
Google Hangouts is already on iOS and in Chrome , but that ’s just not enough . Once you unite it with Google Voice ’s SMS major power though , the potential is compelling .
It ’s late on Friday . I ’m just getting out of work . I ’ve got a date to get a flick but I ’m running just a little tardily . I fire off a fast text to my girlfriend through Hangouts from the open Chrome window on my Mac . If she has the Hangouts app on her iPhone or iPad , it ’ll show up there . But if not , it arrives as a text — a solution that works even for Hangout - less Windows Phones .
And when she texts me back to let me know that it ’s at 7:45 not 7:15 , the substance pop up on the headphone in my pocket , the tablet in my backpack , the Android Wear smartwatch on my wrist ( ? ) . send away the telling on any one of those , it melt everywhere .

So far , Google has just been toying with Hangouts , poking at it with an idle sort of curiosity . It took Hangouts incessantly to turn into an SMS customer , and even then the diligence was ( and still is ) misleading . Hangouts mysteriously ( and maddeningly)can be used to make spokesperson calls on iOS gimmick , but not on Android . Google Voice is a unique servicing with an army of steadfast protector , but it ’s been scuffle along as a zombi for year now .
But with their force combine , these apps could voltron into something truly incredible . It would n’t be entirely universal — maybe Microsoft will never allow haunt on its headphone — but it could become the capable iMessage . A ( mostly ) frictionless confab solution that does n’t lock you into one brand of phone or a specific desktop operating system . Anyone — from Skype to GroupMe to WhatsApp to Facebook — can try out to get people to opt - in to their solution , but Google ’s in a perfect position to go toe - to - toe with Apple and win by just making haunt both well and more ubiquitous .
Luckily the service that could do it could be just around the box . Google I / O is coming up , and there ’s scarce a better time for Google to jog out something awesome like this . Of naturally , that ’s what we were hoping for last I / O and here we are , still await . So get on Google ; pull it together and give us the confab table service we deserve .

GoogleGoogle Voicehangouts
Daily Newsletter
Get the best technical school , scientific discipline , and culture newsworthiness in your inbox day by day .
News from the future , delivered to your present tense .
You May Also Like










![]()
