Anyone take advantage of the google ecosystem?

JoeG4 · Aug 7, 2012

I've just realized these past few days that google kinda does have an ecosystem, if you will...

gmail for email
google+ for social which means...
gtalk! It actually works really really well compared to facebook IM (ugh)
picasa for pictures (I <3 picasa, although I prefer windows libraries >>)
google voice for phone stuff. I like how when I'm out of town I can just take over my home phone's gvoogle voice account and nobody that calls the home number realizes I'm NOT home. XD

What about you guys? I think I'd actually miss the integration on an iphone.. although I want an iphone anyway lol. I still haven't actually come to like android's dev tools.

Sky Blue · Aug 7, 2012

JoeG4 said:
I've just realized these past few days that google kinda does have an ecosystem

really? wow...

sakau2007 · Aug 7, 2012

JoeG4 said:
I've just realized these past few days that google kinda does have an ecosystem, if you will...

gmail for email
google+ for social which means...
gtalk! It actually works really really well compared to facebook IM (ugh)
picasa for pictures (I <3 picasa, although I prefer windows libraries >>)
google voice for phone stuff. I like how when I'm out of town I can just take over my home phone's gvoogle voice account and nobody that calls the home number realizes I'm NOT home. XD

What about you guys? I think I'd actually miss the integration on an iphone.. although I want an iphone anyway lol. I still haven't actually come to like android's dev tools.

yeah, uh, i use all kinds of google's suite of software... from gmail, to docs, to the calendar, to the contacts, to picasa.

it's all really high quality stuff imo.

the only reason i haven't ditched iOS for Android is because this is 2012 and it matters how well your device plays socially... And right now, Apple still has the best app store and the best method of communicating between other Apple devices (which basically all my friends own).

blackhand1001 · Aug 7, 2012

sakau2007 said:
yeah, uh, i use all kinds of google's suite of software... from gmail, to docs, to the calendar, to the contacts, to picasa.

it's all really high quality stuff imo.

the only reason i haven't ditched iOS for Android is because this is 2012 and it matters how well your device plays socially... And right now, Apple still has the best app store and the best method of communicating between other Apple devices (which basically all my friends own).

Honestly I find icloud really isn't that good and that googles system works better. Its also more mature and less buggy. I have had to retrieve many peoples clients as icloud deleted them the week it went live. Luckily Verizon had a recent copy of them on backup assistant. Android was designed from the beginning to have contacts attached to a google account. Icloud is tacked on top and while it works OK it isn't seamless like googles implementation is. Also I've never had any issues using googles on Mac osx.

ChazUK · Aug 7, 2012

I'm kind of entrenched in Google services.

GMail, Calendar, Contacts, Google+, Music, Picasa Web Album, Drive, Navigation, Docs, Reader, YouTube, Chrome.

Good thing about this is many of the services work cross platform (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, WebOS). It's the cross platform access that appeals to me.

Calidude · Aug 7, 2012

JoeG4 said:
I've just realized these past few days that google kinda does have an ecosystem, if you will...

Wow that is quite a find there. You should tip off all the major publications with that.

JoeG4 · Aug 7, 2012

lol what? I hear the word ecosystem so much in iOS land to explain the feeling of owning an iDevice that I never pondered such a thing existed in android land.

If I had a buck for every time I heard the words ecosystem and fragmentation on the internet I'd be a rich man right now.

kdarling · Aug 7, 2012

ChazUK said:
GMail, Calendar, Contacts, Google+, Music, Picasa Web Album, Drive, Navigation, Docs, Reader, YouTube, Chrome.

Good thing about this is many of the services work cross platform (iOS, Android, Windows Phone, WebOS). It's the cross platform access that appeals to me.

This. Times as many devices as I've had... and that's quite a few.

iOS, Android, WebOS, Windows Phone. Pick up of any of them, enter your Google login, and boom, all your contacts, mails and calendar wirelessly sync up, along with other things if you want to.

I cannot imagine being locked into a single device manufacturers ecosystem. Use it, sure, but I won't let it be my only path.

Mac.World · Aug 7, 2012

JoeG4 said:
I've just realized these past few days that google kinda does have an ecosystem, if you will...

gmail for email
google+ for social which means...
gtalk! It actually works really really well compared to facebook IM (ugh)
picasa for pictures (I <3 picasa, although I prefer windows libraries >>)
google voice for phone stuff. I like how when I'm out of town I can just take over my home phone's gvoogle voice account and nobody that calls the home number realizes I'm NOT home. XD

What about you guys? I think I'd actually miss the integration on an iphone.. although I want an iphone anyway lol. I still haven't actually come to like android's dev tools.

You have an actual telephone in your house? That is connected by a wire? You must be retired.

JoeG4 · Aug 7, 2012

I have a home phone through vonage since it's $15/mo (after taxes) for unlimited calling anywhere, which requires a cheap phone that doesn't need to be charged all the time and has an extremely convenient charging cradle when it does.

It's kinda hard to argue the money point there, I could replace my our 2 smartphones with 3 regular phones on an unlimited talk plan for less I'm sure (the 2 smartphones cost $100/mo total, so figure $115 for vonage + the 2 smartphones)...

Actually, if we were willing to pay upfront the $200-500/phone (depending on cheap android or unlocked iphone), I could get 3 smartphones for $115/mo.. but that'd require an initial investment of.. plenty of dough, and I'd STILL have to sign a 2 year contract to get a plan that cheap (see slickdeals).

So yea, it is definitely possible to mess around and replace that setup with something cheaper and have 3 cellphones.

Calidude · Aug 7, 2012

JoeG4 said:
I have a home phone through vonage since it's $15/mo (after taxes) for unlimited calling anywhere, which requires a cheap phone that doesn't need to be charged all the time and has an extremely convenient charging cradle when it does.

You can get rid of that Vonage account and just use this $50 box with a Google Voice account and get unlimited calls in the US and Canada for free.

http://www.amazon.com/OBi110-Servic...ie=UTF8&qid=1344391152&sr=8-1&keywords=obi110

I live in the Bay Area too and a lot of people have a Google account already and many of them use Google Voice to get free calling anywhere they are or just at home and it works quite well.

Check out the reviews. Saving 15 a month might be worth your while.

skunnykart · Aug 7, 2012

Ok so here is my list:

Chrome, Gmail, Picasa, Drive, Maps, Docs, Books.

Google and Dropbox has been my "ecosystem" for over 2 years now.
I'm waiting to see what Apple has planned for iCloud in the future.

I still use itunes for music but that's because I've still got a nano.
Otherwise I would love to go back to using winamp!

LIVEFRMNYC · Aug 7, 2012

skunnykart said:
Ok so here is my list:

Chrome, Gmail, Picasa, Drive, Maps, Docs, Books.

Google and Dropbox has been my "ecosystem" for over 2 years now.
I'm waiting to see what Apple has planned for iCloud in the future.

I still use itunes for music but that's because I've still got a nano.
Otherwise I would love to go back to using winamp!

Does Winamp still kicks the llama's ass?

\-V-/ · Aug 7, 2012

LIVEFRMNYC said:
Does Winamp still kicks the llama's ass?

No, it's become rather bloated over the years.

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Anyone take advantage of the google ecosystem?

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