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Posts: 55 | Thanked: 2 times | Joined on Dec 2009 @ Berkeley, CA
#991
Originally Posted by epage View Post
I know people have been confused at the screen name field being used for callback number, haven't liked its length, etc.

One idea I had was what if I accept the callback number's name and display that. For example I have callback numbers "sipgate", "cell", "gizmo", and "skype". Thoughts?
Back to this thing again. How about displaying the screen name as what it is- a name we can put in. And using the forward number as what it is- a number you let us put in!

Did you at one point say this all started because of N770 or N800? Please make different versions, if that's the case.

Last edited by asasan; 2011-03-18 at 04:58.
 
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#992
Originally Posted by asasan View Post
Back to this thing again. How about displaying the screen name as what it is- a name we can put in. And using the forward number as what it is- a number you let us put in!

Did you at one point say this all started because of N770 or N800? Please make different versions, if that's the case.
The purpose of a screenname is not for you to see, that is just the design of the chat program you use. The screenname is how you show up to other people. That makes no sense in TOR (or spirit, sip, etc). Using the screenname for callbacks allows:
  • You to change that setting without logging out and back in
  • Puts it in a more prevalent location
  • Allows me to show what I auto-configure it to (I can't edit what settings are shown)
  • Allows it to be configured on Maemo 4.1

I'm curious what users in general think. Does everyone dislike this, like it, or meh?
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#993
Originally Posted by epage View Post
The purpose of a screenname is not for you to see, that is just the design of the chat program you use. The screenname is how you show up to other people. That makes no sense in TOR (or spirit, sip, etc). Using the screenname for callbacks allows:
  • You to change that setting without logging out and back in
  • Puts it in a more prevalent location
  • Allows me to show what I auto-configure it to (I can't edit what settings are shown)
  • Allows it to be configured on Maemo 4.1

I'm curious what users in general think. Does everyone dislike this, like it, or meh?
I am against the current method. It is definitely confusing to see one of your forwarding phone numbers listed as your screenname in chat. Allowing us to use the name of the forwarding phone would be an alternative (not as good imho). I might end up setting my forwarding phone name to 'Me' on google voice though...
 
Posts: 55 | Thanked: 2 times | Joined on Dec 2009 @ Berkeley, CA
#994
If you read this thread, you will see that users in general get confused and mostly don't like it.

Originally Posted by epage View Post
... The screenname is how you show up to other people.
That is one major problem right there. I don't want to show up to other people as my Gizmo sip number which no one recognize or need to know. Last time I said this you responded by saying the opposite..that other people don't see it. Antyway, the list you have for using this screenname the way you have it is just some issues you as the programmer have and taking the easyway out and at the same time asking if it is OK. From this and other threads regarding this issue, it is clearly not OK and had created tons of confusion, so I don't know what you'd like to hear by asking again.
 
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#995
Originally Posted by asasan View Post
If you read this thread, you will see that users in general get confused and mostly don't like it.



That is one major problem right there. I don't want to show up to other people as my Gizmo sip number which no one recognize or need to know. Last time I said this you responded by saying the opposite..that other people don't see it. Antyway, the list you have for using this screenname the way you have it is just some issues you as the programmer have and taking the easyway out and at the same time asking if it is OK. From this and other threads regarding this issue, it is clearly not OK and had created tons of confusion, so I don't know what you'd like to hear by asking again.
Note that I said:
Originally Posted by epage View Post
The purpose of a screenname is not for you to see, that is just the design of the chat program you use. The screenname is how you show up to other people. That makes no sense in TOR (or spirit, sip, etc). Using the screenname for callbacks allows:
Screennames are not advertised to the other person in Google Voice, Cell calls, and SIP. The only lazy way out I have taken was to reuse an existing dialog that has a screen name field. I originally wrote it to ignore the screenname and that is the easier thing to do. In my testing I saw clear downsides to it so I made the extra effort to use the screen name. Out of paranoia for n900's software I left the old field in which I was going to remove next time I modify the settings (which I can't remember anymore what I was going to change). Having both is one of the sources of confusion. Having to set a callback number has almost always been a source of confusion with any google voice user no matter the UI. That is one reason why I made it popup up the "debug prompt" on errors to report them to help the user trouble shoot.

One of the problems is the limiting factor of the framework I am working within. Settings are limited in that they are configured without being logged in so I can't get the list of callback numbers for a touch selector even if I wrote my own config dialog. Also settings can only be changed through logout/login. That is a framework limitation.

Normally people who have everything work don't complain that everything works. Just because people don't like a feature doesn't mean it should be removed. I'd need to know statistics like how many users do I actually have, how many are happy with it, how many "meh", how many not. If I only 5 users and 3 complain, then it is a big deal. If I have 100k users and 3 complain, then maybe it isn't such a big deal. This is why I asked for feedback rather than just going off of past complaints. This discussion also started up again because I thought of a different way (that takes work ) that could provide a possible compromise.
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Posts: 55 | Thanked: 2 times | Joined on Dec 2009 @ Berkeley, CA
#996
Ed,

I am not sure what went on in previous versions of maemo at the time of Nokia 770 or other pre-historic creatures. Here, all you need is GV login info. without even getting close to framework limitations. Call back number or forwarding is set within Google Voice settings - there is no need for it in your program.

Simplicity with least amount of (required, as opposed to optional) user decisions is what makes that apple product (i-what?) with its "apps" so ridiculously popular while we are stuck with complications, confusions and limitations of using such a great device as N900.

For me, your application and using GV is the core aspect when using N900 for mobile communication.

Good luck collecting the always-nice-to-have clean user statistics.
 
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#997
Originally Posted by asasan View Post
Ed,

I am not sure what went on in previous versions of maemo at the time of Nokia 770 or other pre-historic creatures. Here, all you need is GV login info. without even getting close to framework limitations. Call back number or forwarding is set within Google Voice settings - there is no need for it in your program.

Simplicity with least amount of (required, as opposed to optional) user decisions is what makes that apple product (i-what?) with its "apps" so ridiculously popular while we are stuck with complications, confusions and limitations of using such a great device as N900.

For me, your application and using GV is the core aspect when using N900 for mobile communication.
I generally try and keep things simple. With DialCentral I have a long history of pushing back on feature requests until I saw a clean way to implement the UI for it and had use cases to test it.

A challenge is meeting various use cases. The GV mobile site used to allow you to configure a callback number. Now it requests it everytime like the regular GV site. What the GV site allows you to configure is what all phones ring on incoming calls. I generally have 4 phones ring and from call to call (which I don't call often so they are separated by several hours and geographically different locations) I change what callback number I use but still want all to ring. Expecting users to guess that they have to only have on selected isn't a very good choice.

I can't remember if I already have access to what call-in numbers are enabled or not (if not I could try to add it). I could make it do a better job of guessing the appropriate number by not choosing from among the disabled ones. That only improves what guessing TOR already makes. Without using screenname, TOR has no way to expose to the user what phone number was selected. So the only way to definitively know what the callback number when one has multiple is to set it. Maybe this is a fine assumption to make.

For those that dislike the current behavior, how many numbers do you have and how many of them are enabled for call-in at any one time?

Originally Posted by asasan View Post
Good luck collecting the always-nice-to-have clean user statistics.
I'd recommend being careful in expressing your ideas to avoid misunderstanding. This comment could come off as sarcastic which only helps to lower the quality of a discussion

One challenge is not everyone subscribes to threads and only go to them when they have a problem. Sometimes people don't come to this thread even then but instead email me which is fine but then they are gated by only having me available to help them and it doesn't serve as a resource for others with similar problems.
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Posts: 369 | Thanked: 167 times | Joined on Mar 2010
#998
It does bug me to see my forwarding number in chat, but I think I understand why you do it, and it makes sense to me. So keep it if you need to, that's my vote.
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#999
i would like to be able to use onering to use google voice like i do the skype. so that it only uses the network, and not my minutes.


currently, seems that if i initiate a call with the google voice, it starts the call, then cancels the call, then my google voice account calls me and connects me to the other party....but still using my cellular minutes.



also, when others call me, unless i have the settings online to forward the call to my cell, instead of just ringing my phone through the data connection directly to my google number, it goes straigt to google voicemail.


another challenge, is that even though i input the google number of the other party in my contact for them, that google number is not an option for me to call with the google service. if i have added the google voice number and they also have a cellular number, it gives the options to call thier cellular or sms their cellular throug the google account, and IM their Google voice with IM, but not call thier google voice number.

am i doing something wrong?
 
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#1000
Originally Posted by ceroberts75 View Post
i would like to be able to use onering to use google voice like i do the skype. so that it only uses the network, and not my minutes.


currently, seems that if i initiate a call with the google voice, it starts the call, then cancels the call, then my google voice account calls me and connects me to the other party....but still using my cellular minutes.

also, when others call me, unless i have the settings online to forward the call to my cell, instead of just ringing my phone through the data connection directly to my google number, it goes straigt to google voicemail.
Google Voice is just a forwarding service. You still need something else accessible through POTS. If you have a Skype call-in number then you can configure GV to call that. Otherwise I use the sipgate which offers a phone number for SIP. Either way allows you to use GV with a data plan.


Originally Posted by ceroberts75 View Post
another challenge, is that even though i input the google number of the other party in my contact for them, that google number is not an option for me to call with the google service. if i have added the google voice number and they also have a cellular number, it gives the options to call thier cellular or sms their cellular throug the google account, and IM their Google voice with IM, but not call thier google voice number.

am i doing something wrong?
I'm not too sure if you are doing something wrong. Maybe a screenshot (with numbers blocked out)?
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