Allo allo!

[WelshBloke]

Am I missing something here?

It's just another instant messenger just without the user base of Facebook or WhatsApp?

 

[Red Storm]

Nothing wrong with more choice. Why should I use Facebook or WhatsApp and nothing else?

Main advantage I see in Allo is leveraging Google within the chat.

 

[WelshBloke]

Nothing wrong with more choice. Why should I use Facebook or WhatsApp and nothing else?

Normally I'd agree that lots of choice is great but messengers rely on user base. It's a pain having 4 or 5 different apps and remembering who uses what.

If I could convince everyone to use WhatsApp I'd be a happy bunny.

Main advantage I see in Allo is leveraging Google within the chat.

I wasn't really feeling that when I tried it out. I'm not massively keen on the "lets make our AI all cutesy and frivolous" thing.

 

[Crono]

It could be a good and polished messenger app, but gone are the days when the mainstream would be excited to try the new Google service or app. That's what happens when you continually kill, rebrand, and launch new services/apps. Is it even clear whether Duo and Allo are supposed to replace Hangouts (formerly Google Talk)?

Google is pretty much in the same boat as Microsoft: they have a large base and platform with their operating system(s), but that may not translate into success when there's entrenched competition.

 

[jpiniero]

I give it 6 months before it's Google'd.

 

[sweenish]

I don't hate it.

All the moaners are just setting up a self-fulfilling prophecy. If they say they want it succeed BUT, then they really don't.

Duo is way easier than hangouts, and Allo is more fun. But I must be some kind of unicorn, because I do not care at all what other people are using. If they still want to text, I can receive texts. FB Messenger? Got that. Hangouts? Sure. Allo is fun, I'll mention it to some friends, and if they end up not really caring too much about it, whatever.

 

[WelshBloke]

I reckon that Facebook will, at some point, make WhatsApp and Facebook messenger cross compatible and then it'll be game over for everyone else.

 

[WelshBloke]

But I must be some kind of unicorn, because I do not care at all what other people are using.

If it's a game or an email client it doesn't matter, you can be the only person in the world using it and it's fine. A messenger is pointless with no one to message.

 

[WelshBloke]

http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/09/21/allo-vs-hangouts-make-move/

 

[sweenish]

If it's a game or an email client it doesn't matter, you can be the only person in the world using it and it's fine. A messenger is pointless with no one to message.

What's your point? Or are we just stating obvious facts now? I have people to message on every app I mentioned. I will likely have people to message on Allo. It's not like it's any skin off my back if I end up not having anyone to message.

All this fabricated outrage baffles me. Do people really have nothing better to be angry at? Are their lives that good?

 

[WelshBloke]

What's your point? Or are we just stating obvious facts now? I have people to message on every app I mentioned. I will likely have people to message on Allo. It's not like it's any skin off my back if I end up not having anyone to message.

My point is that a messenger app with few clients is going to die on its arse very quickly.
It is slightly baffling that Google can't get a lock on this. Most android phones have a Google account logged in on them so Google has two points of identity (email and phone number) for most Android users. They pretty much control what has to be installed on all android phones. They should be absolutely owning the messenger area, but they seem to be flailing around in a weirdly Microsoft way.

All this fabricated outrage baffles me. Do people really have nothing better to be angry at? Are their lives that good?

Who's angry? I'm just talking about Google's new messenger app. Why would I be angry about that?

 

[sweenish]

I can admit that I'm misplacing my rebuttal, but plenty of people are angry. r/Android is a hot mess right now, the butthurt is so strong there right now.

But in this thread, we are the only two that have stated to have actually even used it. All the "outrage" is what's been killing Allo, not anything else. Like you said, it's a messaging app. It does its job well. The only feature I want/need in order to fully make the switch is a web client. The AI is fun enough, stickers are nice, drawing on pics can be fun, message resizing is fun. It's faster and smoother than hangouts. I said fun a lot. That's the point.

But whatever. Google is late to the game, but I like what they put out. And unlike hangouts, I see Allo getting better with time.

 

[Crono]

http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/09/21/allo-vs-hangouts-make-move/

Does not sound good. By the time Google adds in support for desktop or make a desktop client - if they do it all - they'll probably already be coming out with their next messaging app.

I'm not a fan of the phone number login for contacts, either. WhatsApp and other apps do the same and are mobile-centric, but I can't stand services that treat desktop users as second-class citizens.

Google Assistant sounds interesting, as do other chat bots/assistants/AI, but I think the tech is still in a beta state and won't be useful for a while, much like voice assistants.

 

[WelshBloke]

All the "outrage" is what's been killing Allo, not anything else. Like you said, it's a messaging app. It does its job well.

What's going to kill it is usage figures. WhatsApp and Facebook messenger have a billion users each. Imessage has SMS fallback so that it's not killed by its low usage numbers.

How well Allo could theoretically message one of my friends is irrelevant if none of them have it installed.

And it doesn't seem to be that great either. It's not as secure as WhatsApp, it doesn't work on the desktop like Hangouts, it's not ubiquitous like Facebook messenger, it's not set as a lockin like iMessage. It's OK. But ok probably isn't going to be good enough to get lots of people to change to it.

 

[Dulanic]

I just can't see the reason to use it. Hangouts has always worked great for me, why change? Though admittedly they have made it worse not better.

 

[WelshBloke]

r/Android is a hot mess right now, the butthurt is so strong there right now.

Ah yes. I'd never been there before. That's hilarious, are they always like that?

 

[pauldun170]

Hangouts + Messenger + Allo = No...I'm not bothering changing my current defaults on my phone or installing ANOTHER google messenging app.
At least that's what I'm going to tell everyone on whatsapp

 

[lothar]

Someone wake me up when I can use Duo and Allo on multiple devices(PC, Chromebook, phone, and tablet) along with having Google Voice integration.
Otherwise, I'm not interested and will stick to Hangouts.

 

[MarkizSchnitzel]

If I could convince everyone to use WhatsApp I'd be a happy bunny.

Ah, yes. MS tried to "unify" protocols with WP, but obviously all of the services hated it.
So now it's really a pain having to have 4 different IM apps :/

 

[WelshBloke]

Ah, yes. MS tried to "unify" protocols with WP, but obviously all of the services hated it.
So now it's really a pain having to have 4 different IM apps :/

What we need is another standard to unify everything! :whiste:

 

[agent00f]

Ah yes. I'd never been there before. That's hilarious, are they always like that?

Reddit is always a circlejerk.

Allo is hilariously bad though. Limited to 1 device, no real sms integration, spams recipients w/o it, not cloud backed, etc. It's worse in pretty much every way than hangouts, which is no great client itself. The assistant is also really dumb. It suggested I look for beaches, presumably near me, and returns a beach a thousand miles away. I asked if it wanted to sext, told me to search for it on google.

The only potential bright spot is that it's supposed to support some next-gen SMS standard that carriers are adopting.

Apple can charge $10 for iMessage in the play store, and make $10 billion by the end of the week.

 

[WelshBloke]

Allo is hilariously bad though.

It's really not that bad. It's OK. Unfortunately OK isn't going to get people to switch to it.

It's the same problem Microsoft has in mobile. You have to offer people something better to get them to switch and the markets are fairly mature now so disruptive innovations are unlikely.

 

[MongGrel]

I'll just upvote WelshBlokes posts in general these days, even if we will probably never share a pint.

He's my kind of a fuck you if you don't like it asshole

 

[MongGrel]

Even trying to post in these forums and edit is a PITA these days.

 

[ControlD]

When Google ruined Hangouts by removing merged SMS messages I went back to using a third part messaging program. I don't see any reason to give them another shot knowing they will ruin something else given enough time.