I was a bit worried about the future of Google Voice with the demise of Hangouts, but I got an email from GSuite about classic Hangouts today, which linked to this support page. Coming to Hangouts Chat are:

• Enhanced video calling experience

• Google Voice integration

I included the video calling line because I thought it was a bit odd for Chat to have that - I thought that's what Hangouts Meet was for (though it certainly wouldn't be the first case of Google making a redundant product). In any case, if Chat is going to have video calling, it's not much of a stretch to assume it'll also have voice calling for Google Voice, in addition to SMS/MMS.

Self-post instead of a link post because I want to highlight just 2 bullet points in the support page that wouldn't be obvious if I just linked the page. I wasn't sure if this should go in ~tech or ~comp, but ~comp seems to have more non-link discussion than ~tech.

Edit: Somewhat related, I found a news article about the Google Voice 5.7 update. They've created some interesting Google Calendar integrations, which makes sense since Voice will be available in GSuite this March.

Hello, ~tech!

I've been really interested in the Google Pixel 3 (non XL) for quite some time, mainly due to my boredom of the Apple ecosystem. I've been primarily an iPhone user since 2014 (currently stuck on the iPhone 6S) and I've recently been eager to make a switch to Android. The Pixel 3 seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. Stock Android experience, a beautiful camera, modern device, and I'm already pretty integrated into Google's ecosystem of services, and I feel the transition will be very smooth.

So, for any Google Pixel 3 users, non XL or otherwise, what do you love and/or hate about your device? Were you in my shoes as well?

Ever since I've heard about how Google tracks you and steals your data and all that, I've been gradually been moving away from their products. With the ones I could live without, like Google search, maps, Chrome, etc. the switch wasn't too bad. But with the ones like Google photos, drive, home, I actually really like these products and I'm not really sure I want to switch away from them. I have so much stuff in my Google drive that I've amassed over the years. It's very easy to use and a lot of my friends/family/teachers use it. I just really like Google drive. Same with Photos. The irony in all this (I'm probably using irony wrong), is that I don't feel good using them because of all the privacy concerns and the like. I'm not really sure what I'm seeking to get out of this. Just kind of wanted to start a conversation. Do any of you have similar feelings about Google products?