![\"Google](\"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/google-hangouts-225x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHowever, when it comes to my phone and tablets the Skype app is better. <\/p>\n
The Google Hangouts App<\/h2>\n
The Hangouts app rolled out last month and replaced the Google Talk app. When I first used the Hangouts app, I thought it was very nice, bringing some of the desktop features to my mobile devices. Then while using it one day I couldn’t figure out how to set my status. Turns out the app doesn’t let you do that. Why the heck would they leave out such a basic feature? Epic fail.<\/p>\n
I also noticed people were less responsive to my messages using the new app. Nothing new people are busy, until I learned Hangout doesn’t show my contacts offline. So like an idiot, I\u2019m trying to have a conversation with friends and colleagues when they were not even there. Another fail.<\/p>\n
The decision by Google developers not to include these features leaves me scratching my head. Needless to say, the Skype app currently and has always had these basic features missing from Hangouts. And Skype has a few other things Google Hangouts doesn’t.<\/p>\n
Skype has \u201crooms\u201d you can jump in any time after being invited. They are like ongoing discussion groups. On Hangouts you can have a group chat but it doesn’t quite work the same, when everyone leaves the chat \u201croom\u201d it’s gone. Skype rooms stay open until the organizer closes it, so they can go on for weeks and months. I have not figured out how to do the same on Hangouts and don\u2019t even know if it will support such behavior. If anyone reading this knows that Hangouts has the same feature, please share how to make it work.<\/em><\/p>\nRooms may not seem like a major feature, but Skype rooms have become an important networking venue where many agreements and big deals happen every day. Skype is how business gets done these days, and I don\u2019t see a lot of old-timers jumping on to Hangouts any time soon.<\/p>\n
Skype also allows you to make calls to phone numbers from anywhere in the world (per subscription). Oh, but you say there\u2019s Google Voice, which is expected to be integrated with Hangouts. If you live outside the U.S. you\u2019re out of luck with Voice; it\u2019s only available to people in the states. Skype doesn\u2019t have this restriction, another point for Skype.<\/p>\n
So is Google Hangouts better than Skype? Right now I have to say no way Jose. But I\u2019ll probably and up using both. Hangouts can make a good backup in case the Skype network is overloaded and quality drops. I uninstalled the Hangouts app from my mobile devices but I still have Google Talk.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re not happy with the Hangouts app it\u2019s possible to go back to Talk, even though it\u2019s not listed in Google Play anymore.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what I did that worked for devices: I uninstalled Google Hangouts using the Google Play app. After the app uninstalled, the Hangouts icon was gone, replaced by the old Talk icon. Talk works just like it did before!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Google Hangouts is fast becoming an alternative, perhaps even a replacement for Skype. I\u2019ve read many recent articles proclaiming Hangouts as the superior communications platform, but I\u2019m not buying it. Hangouts vs. Skype Both have similar basic features, like chat, video calls, screen sharing and so on. But there are a few unique features in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[74,75,76,29],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/skype.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Google](\"http:\/\/goodtaps.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/google-hangouts.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n