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

Review: Honda Civic 2012 - Age 450 days

It has been almost half a year since my last cost analysis of my car.

In general, the car still drives well. In a long drive, I have actually managed to get around 49 miles / gallon for about a mile. I am not sure how much historical data the car uses to calculate that, but that was around 2 hours into my trip. My gas efficiency for the entire trip (calculating from my gas receipts) was around 44.5 miles / gallon. The ticket efficiency for highway is 41 mpg, so I am still quite happy about that.

During that trip and judging from the gas efficiency meter, the car drives most effectively between 55 mph to 65 mph. I think it is most effective around 55 mph including all the slight hills. When I reach 70 - 75 mph, the efficiency drops sharply just to maintain a constant speed. Also to note, there was a lot of rain during my trip. This may be a factor but I am not knowledgeable to know.

As for the life of my car, I am averaging around 35 mpg and $3 per day on gas. The cost per day for the total cost on the car has dropped to $54.28 per day from $81.73 per day since the previous post. This cost is estimated to reach $6.78 when the car reaches 10 years assuming gas and insurance remains the same.

It is still cheaper to not own a car in New York City and pay per trip ($2.50 per trip) if you go out once a day (including work). A monthly pass is clearly a cheaper alternative to a car. To top it off, the cost of the car would be greater than $6.78 if you need to pay for parking and lower fuel efficiency. The positive of owning and using a car is the convenience and possibly safety.

Complaint: Google Voice in Gmail - Cannot Receive Calls (Not Google Hangouts)

Issue with Google Voice in Receiving Calls within Gmail

My issue is very similar to an article I found in Google Groups. I have no problems when calling out of Google Voice. Gmail recognizes that a calling is coming, but when I answer, there is no sound on the other end. Before, I could press one of the number buttons which would initiate the call. I do not have problems when I answer the call from my phone. Even when I answer in Gmail, my phone will continue to ring. The same problem occurs in Firefox.

This problem started late last week, so for a few days. My workaround with the number button has been around for a while.

Solution

Although all the articles I found say that Hangout was the problem, I found that upgrading to Hangout actually fixed my problem. The articles are rather old so perhaps Hangout has fixed the problem but in the meantime broke the old chat.


Reference:
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/voice/KeGKxbyjSfs%5B1-25-false%5D