4.4 APK's, including Hangouts 2.0

[Lloydbm41]

Here is a link to the various 4.4 apk's, including Hangouts.

Install at your own risk. I take no responsibility for any of these apk's. I installed Hangouts on my Nex4 and 7, and my wife's HTC One without issue. The One and my 7 are stock, but my 4 is rooted and rom'd. But no issues. The link is to the Nexus 4 part of the forum, but these are core apps and independent of device make.

Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2506344

If linking to XDA is a violation of forum rules, someone please let me know, so I can delete this. Thanks.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Hangouts and the keyboard updates are great.

 

[Dr McKay]

Everything worked great on my Note 3, the HDR option is missing from the camera however.

 

[AQUADock]

Yep it works, the new launcher is awesome .

 

[Alfuh]

Not crazy about hangouts...

Its a bit laggy on my GS3 running cm10.2. The fact the messages aren't threaded is a bit of a letdown too

Ah well. Can't beat the price and there's still other options

 

[kevinof]

On hangouts - if it knows the online status of the person you're sending to (it shows the green icon), then why can't it automatically choose to send the message directly instead of having you choose hangout or sms? Seems like another unnecessary step you have to take.

Why no message threading? Why no voice only calls?

 

[bova80]

I saw it said it can do group messages via mms but I can't figure it out.

 

[mattopotamus]

Hangouts and the keyboard updates are great.

what were the keyboard updates?

 

[MRU]

Is it terrible that I'm quite dissapoibted with the launcher still lacking basic way of sorting the app drawer. Missing widgets. Hangouts is a cluttered mess with the no easy way to sort and choose content to display. Just thoroughly underwhelmed by it all sadly....

The only thing I have found to be a true enhancement is the Google keyboard.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I still don't get why Google doesn't allow the keyboard to have button-wide long press. Why can't I long press to get to alternate symbols? For example, long pressing "m" to get to the question mark?

C'mon Google. Don't settle.

----------

what were the keyboard updates?

Not sure. The biggest thing you'll notice is lack of holo blue. It's gray now (the gesturing trail and the pop up keys). The gray is... okay. I almost liked the blue better. The gray is so... gray and dull.

In terms of functionality, the keyboard seems to be way more accurate. The predictions seem to learn faster too, whereas before, they'd just predict the same exact string. The gesturing also seems way more accurate and intuitive too.

And I'm not positive but there seems to be a couple of more features in the settings menu. More customization. THis could just be my imagination as I don't remmeber the original stock keyboard settings (was a Kii keyboard user before).

I'm really liking it and it may be my daily driver. I just wish Google really ran away with it and added even more features. Namely, I want a Blacklist feature to blacklist certain words, and I want long press for symbols across the entire keyboard.

 

[Michael Goff]

I can't download the hangouts, apparently too many people have. D:

Edit: Or the launcher, or the camera, or likely anything else.

 

[onthecouchagain]

Is it terrible that I'm quite dissapoibted with the launcher still lacking basic way of sorting the app drawer. Missing widgets. Hangouts is a cluttered mess with the no easy way to sort and choose content to display. Just thoroughly underwhelmed by it all sadly....

The only thing I have found to be a true enhancement is the Google keyboard.

Regarding Hangouts, it didn't bother me at first, but now that I'm getting a mix of SMS and Hangout texts, it's beginning to look a little cluttered. I hope future updates give us more organizational features, too. It may be just because my contacts don't always have profile pictures. I don't know.

Otherwise, the integration is great. I can't wait for Google Voice to be integrated too for truly free texting. Hopefully by then, though, the apps more organized.

 

[cookiesnfooty]

Regarding Hangouts, it didn't bother me at first, but now that I'm getting a mix of SMS and Hangout texts, it's beginning to look a little cluttered. I hope future updates give us more organizational features, too. It may be just because my contacts don't always have profile pictures. I don't know.

Otherwise, the integration is great. I can't wait for Google Voice to be integrated too for truly free texting. Hopefully by then, though, the apps more organized.

I am not keen on the new Hangouts look either, I consider Handcent to be a much better app.

I think if themes and better options become available then Hangouts may become a better application.

 

[onthecouchagain]

I am not keen on the new Hangouts look either, I consider Handcent to be a much better app.

I think if themes and better options become available then Hangouts may become a better application.

Luckily you can turn off SMS in hangouts. Google has said you can set a different SMS app as default.

Choice baby.

 

[mclld]

Do you have to have a g+ account to use Hangouts? I dont want to create an account and I fear that eventually Google will force that on every android user. I dont have a fb or titter and do not want to create a g+

 

[Michael Goff]

Can anyone get velvet.apk or the gallery to download?

 

[TJH133]

Do you have to have a g+ account to use Hangouts? I dont want to create an account and I fear that eventually Google will force that on every android user. I dont have a fb or titter and do not want to create a g+

you need a Gmail account. You never have to set up a G+. Heck that is set up when you set up Gmail any how.

 

[Lloydbm41]

If you guys want and if it doesn't violate forum rules, I can host the apk's. I just want to ensure it is okay to do so before uploading them to my site and linking them here.

 

[kevinof]

Haven't tried the gallery but have velvet.apk from the droid-life site downloaded onto my s3.

Can anyone get velvet.apk or the gallery to download?

 

[Michael Goff]

Haven't tried the gallery but have velvet.apk from the droid-life site downloaded onto my s3.

Can you link me to the droid life site for the velvet.apk and maybe the gallery, so I can get it on my Galaxy Nexus? Google Drive is apparently still saying too many people have downloaded the two things I've mentioned. D:

 

[mclld]

you need a Gmail account. You never have to set up a G+. Heck that is set up when you set up Gmail any how.

I am an android user but when I went to the Hangouts page on my compute it looked like you needed a g+

 

[kevinof]

here you go - http://www.droid-life.com/2013/10/3...om-the-nexus-5-dump-search-launcher-and-more/

Can you link me to the droid life site for the velvet.apk and maybe the gallery, so I can get it on my Galaxy Nexus? Google Drive is apparently still saying too many people have downloaded the two things I've mentioned. D:

 

[Michael Goff]

here you go - http://www.droid-life.com/2013/10/3...om-the-nexus-5-dump-search-launcher-and-more/

Thank you good sir, you're awesome.

 

[TJH133]

I am an android user but when I went to the Hangouts page on my compute it looked like you needed a g+

then maybe you need one. I know I have created new gmail accounts and signed in with those on the device. Could be G+ is now made automatically when you make a gmail account.

 

[Sylon]

Trying out the new Hangouts, and I'm not liking a few things:

- You can't paste anything, which is very weird. I took a screenshot, which on my GS4 it automatically copies it for pasting into something. The Paste option doesn't appear in the Hangouts SMS text box.

- You can't change the color of the thread background, like in the stock Messages app

- The vibration for new texts is unusually long for no reason

- No number badges for new unread messages on the homescreen icon


Going to keep using it for a little while longer to see how things go. One thing my iPhone-using friend is liking with me using Hangouts is that he can finally see and use emoticons. With the stock SMS app they never went thru, but it Hangouts they work just fine on both devices.