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Our smartphones have become so advanced that calls have almost become a secondary feature, with most of us relying on texting for our conversations. While texting is great for asynchronous conversations, calls are still the way to go if you want real-time conversation.
Now that Hangouts is dead, here are 5 apps to replace its dialer
You'll get to call overseas for cheap
It's no secret Google is pulling the plug on Hangouts, and even though its death has been chaotic, the service has been replaced by other ones to chat and place video calls. Unfortunately, few people know Hangouts also offered a dialer app, which allowed users to place calls for free in North America, as well anywhere in the world for relatively cheap fees. The software is also being phased out, and doesn't really come with an actual replacement. Sure, most people in US would have already switched to Google Voice for this purpose, but what about the ones in other countries?
Google will expand support for Phone app to even more phones on the Play Store, Verified Calls feature rolling out
Another step in the fight against spam calls
Despite attempts by legislators and carriers, spam calls are still a problem for most people owning phones. Some don't pick up their phones at all unless it matches someone in their contacts, which can be a problem for legitimate businesses attempting to quickly reach customers. Google's solution to the problem is Verified Calls, which is now rolling out to the Google Phone app. At the same time, the company is allowing some devices to download the Phone app from the Play Store that didn't originally come with it.
Even though Google has gone though a lot of effort to make Wear OS watches compatible with both Android and iOS devices, they remain second-class citizens on Apple's platform, mostly due to limitations placed on non-system apps by iOS. One of those limitations is finally going away, as long as you have one of Fossil's newest smartwatches.Fossil just announced that its Gen 5 smartwatches (such as the Caryle and Julianna) can now answer phone calls when paired with an iPhone. Previously, answering calls could only be done with watches paired to Android phones. That makes Fossil's Gen 5 watches the first Wear OS devices ever to support answering calls on iOS.Sadly, you shouldn't expect iPhone calling to arrive on TicWatches or the ol' reliable Huawei Watch. Fossil says it developed this feature itself, which means it will likely stay exclusive to the company's own watches, as well as watches sold under its sub-brands (Misfit, Kate Spade, Skagen, Michael Kors, and so on).
One of the Google's main focuses in Android recently has been cutting back on permissions, for better or worse. The Play Store has been more restrictive on applications allowed to use SMS and calling permissions, which famously crippled apps like Cerberus and Watch Droid. Google announced today at I/O that the number of apps using these permissions has dropped by 98% in recent months.
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- The folks at XDA Developers have discovered that a software button may be coming that provides the same functionality. In fact, they were even able to enable it in the current software — likely via a flag associated with one of Google's apps.
Google's Pixel-exclusive Call Screen feature debuted with the Pixel 3, but it came to the older Pixels several weeks later. In our experience, it can sometimes be useful, though most people just think it's a voicemail greeting and hang up. Nonetheless, in the event that you are able to get the caller to play along with Call Screen, it turns out that you can actually hear what he/she is saying with the press of a volume button.
Alongside its refreshed hardware lineup, Amazon (and Microsoft) announced back in September that Skype calling was coming to Alexa devices later in the year. Well, it's later in the year, and the new functionality is rolling out starting today. You can link your Skype account to your Alexa devices in the Alexa app.
There are (apparently) people who want to use the same number on multiple phones. In that case, you could (but should not) get the Verizon Palm Phone. For those who want it the other way around, the new My Numbers service from Verizon lets you add more numbers to a single phone, but it'll cost you more money.
The Eufy Genie is a popular third-party Alexa-enabled smart speaker from Anker that can usually be picked up for as little as $30, making it a good alternative to the Echo Dot. It hasn't always been as capable as Amazon's own hardware, though, with the omission of calling and messaging being a prime example. The Genie is now finally getting those very features.As previously reported by Tom's Guide, support for voice calls on third-party Alexa speakers has been planned for a few months. It's now live for the Eufy Genie, along with messaging, an intercom-like 'Drop In' feature, plus announcement broadcasting.Calls to most phone numbers in the US, Canada, and Mexico will be free of charge — simply ask Alexa to call one of your contacts, or say a number in full. Broadcasts and 'Drop In' can be used to talk to one or more other Alexa devices in your house, and you can also send voice or text messages to anyone who has an Alexa-enabled device or the Alexa app installed on their phone.To get all of these features, make sure you have the latest version of the EufyHome app, then navigate to your Genie in the devices list to update its firmware. It's unclear whether the same update will be coming to the Zolo Halo (also from Anker), but we've reached out to ask and we'll update this post when we hear back.
Research by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety has found that both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are less distracting than various infotainment systems built into 10 model year 2017 and 2018 vehicles. The study compared how much attention various tasks require on each platform and found Android Auto's attention demand to be moderate, whereas overall demand of native systems was found to be very high.
You might think making phone calls with Google Home would be a basic function available from launch, but you'd be wrong. VoIP calling eventually came to users in the US and Canada last August, but it's eluded other regions until now. At Google's October 4th hardware last year the UK was promised similar functionality — due to go live later in the year. It's a bit late, but UK Google Home users are finally able to make hands-free calls as of today.
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Google has been dabbling in the realm of Internet-based calling for years. First it was Gmail, then Hangouts got in on the action. While there were ways (and even third-party products) to use the Google Voice service for VoIP, it was probably the least enjoyable calling experience we've seen that didn't involve MacGyver-style shorting of exposed wires to dial a number. Now an update to the Google Voice app reveals that it's finally going to make its VoIP capabilities an official feature, and it'll be usable directly from your phone without any hacky workarounds.
Country-related news for Google Home continues. Now the focus is hands-free calling on the Google Home. The UK is the latest country to get the feature, coming later this year.
Amazon introduced calling and messaging to its Echo speakers back in May then implemented the same feature inside the Alexa app so you could start a call or receive one from your phone, without having to be near your Echo. However, the feature had one main limitation: the person you were calling had to have an Echo or at least Alexa calling set up. Calls to phone numbers weren't possible, but now they are.Amazon secretly enabled the option a couple of days ago and has now officially added it to the Alexa app changelog. After setting up Alexa calling and messaging in the app's Conversations tab, you can say something like, "Call dad's phone," or, "Call dad's mobile phone number," and it will perform a call to the phone number. Your dad will see the number associated with your Amazon account or an "unknown caller" if you decide to opt out of showing your number. You can also call a specific number if you don't have the contact in your address book, by saying, "Call 123456789."The function is live for phone numbers in the US, Canada, and Mexico. It works on Echo devices (Echo, Echo Show, Echo Plus, Echo Dot, Echo Spot, but not on the Echo Tap seemingly) as well as through the Alexa app which was updated to add the function.
One of the many announcements we saw at Google I/O 2017 was hands-free voice calling for the Google Home. Instead of Alexa's equivalent feature, which requires both people to have an Amazon account, the Google Home would use VoIP to call standard phone numbers. At long last, the feature is starting to roll out.
Up to now, the most annoying part of using Uber is when a passenger and driver can't find each other and need to get in touch. Or maybe you want to let your driver know a specific detail about your location ahead of their arrival. There exists the option to use each other's phone numbers for a text or call, but this will come up as an unknown number for either recipient and could go unanswered. The obvious solution to this problem has finally arrived, as Uber has developed an in-app messaging service.
With services like Skype, Hangouts, and even Duo, people can easily communicate with each other all across the world without the expensive fees that internationally calling can easily incur. Still, if you have the need to contact people with plain old phones, Verizon is making it slightly easier to do so.
Most people have been tethered to a single phone number across the span of years and multiple carriers. Maybe you don't want to give that number out to both friends and business acquaintances, though. Flyp is a new app that lets you use multiple numbers on your phone, each of which can be assigned a different purpose.
You know the WhatsApp calling feature that has been rumored for almost a year and supposed to roll out by the end of 2014? Well, it seems to be here, a few months late, and with a major caveat for now.