Life: Still frustrated with Google Hangout

Over four months, Hangout (in gmail) still unable to see if a user is online although I can now through the Hangout application (desktop and mobile). Unfortunately, I use the service in gmail more often because I use it for Google Voice. Also, the apps do not provide the status so I cannot tell if they are available or not.

I primarily use IM to send actual "instant" messaging. I do not care for the idea that it is more conversation related. My typical situation is that I have an urgent personal matter where I need to find someone at that moment. I used to just scan through my list and see who are most available and best at answering my questions.

With the new hangout, I am forced to message a group of people that may or may not be online (or available) then wait for a response. Depending on the group because some are not always online, I may not get a response which then I have just wasted 5-10 minutes that I could have used searching for other resources.

I have recently been quite disappointed in Google's rollout of new features where I am forced to use certain solutions that overrides other features that I used to be able to use (i.e. Hangout replacing Chat, Google Maps) when it does not have the same features. At least allow me to use both Hangout and Chat. Or perhaps this is just a sign of my age.

Reference

I did come across the blog below which has some interesting info and updates quite frequently for the last few years.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com

Complaint: Google Hangout Phone Quality - First impression

I am surprised that there are so many little things that have been bothering me from Google's products. They've always seemed very complete with at least the 80%, but recently there seems to be what I think should be common requirements that does not even seem to exist.

Online Status
My biggest issue that I noticed right away was that I am unable to see who in my list are actually online or offline. Sure I can leave a message if they are not there, but how do I know if I am expecting a response soon or never. If I wanted to leave a message, I might as well just used an email. What was the justification to force this upgrade on the phones without this requirement? At least on the PC, you can revert back to the old chat (but I need the hangout to get Google Voice to work).

Voice Quality
Voice in seems to be ok, but voice out seems choppier than when I used the old gchat. The other end seems to have complained that I sound much quieter. I am not sure why this would be different because it would only be an interface change.

Redial
There is no redial. There was an issue with our conference system where I dropped off the call randomly, so I found that I needed to redial but cannot find the option. I am not sure if there is an option from the call window because the call window does not recognize that the call was disconnected and I could not end the call through the interface. I had to close the window and redial in.

Button Tone
Once in the call, the tones of the button is very slight. At first, I thought that I didn't hit the button so I had hit the button again. This makes it difficult for slow automation call systems because I am not sure whether I didn't press the button hard enough, the browser didn't recognize it, or the call system did not recognize it. After a while, I just got used to this.

Speed
Answering calls takes significantly longer. Prior to hangout, it took gchat at most 2-3 seconds to pick up the call and around a second on average. Now, Googe Hangout takes several seconds 5-10 seconds to pick up. This process takes even longer if it is the first call since the browser was opened. Once, I have had the call reach voice mail after I clicked on Answer during the first ring. The calls were much faster in gchat where the call never reached my phone, but now my phone rings a 1-2 times after I click Answer. [[Is there a keyboard shortcut for answering a call?]]



Edit:
9/4 Added Speed, updated Quality