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Why is "Google Voice" only available for the iPhone & not for the iPad?

In replacing Talkatone functionality (which died on May 15th) on my iPad, I resorted to the dual solution of Google Hangouts (for unlimited USA calls to and from the iPad) and Google Voice (for unlimited USA SMS text to and from the iPad).

I am telling my friends, over the phone, how to replace their talkatone freeware functionality, but none of them could *find* the Google Voice app for the free SMS texting.

Belatedly, I realized that Google Voice is *only* found in the "iPhone" section of the App Store. Yet, Google Voice seems to work fine on my iPad and on my friend's iPads, once we figured out where to find it.

My question? Q: Why would the App Store not show Google Voice in the iPad section?

Reply to
Pat Wilson
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it's not a native ipad app. it runs in compatibility mode.

Reply to
nospam

"Free" SMS texting? TANSTAAFL!

John :-#(#

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John's  Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games) 
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Reply to
John Robertson

nospam wrote, on Sat, 17 May 2014 17:29:30 -0400:

What does that mean, to a very basic user such as I am?

Reply to
Pat Wilson

John Robertson wrote, on Sat, 17 May 2014 16:50:49 -0700:

I had to look up TANSTAAFL, which transcribed, means, I think, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

The SMS texting does "appear" to be free on the iPad. a) The T-Mobile SIM card was totally free (it came with the iPad). b) Getting free T-Mobile service (200MB/month) was also totally free. c) Unlimited texting to the USA & from anywhere also appears to be free.

So, where is there no such thing as free here? Did I miss something important?

Reply to
Pat Wilson

a native ipad app is designed for the larger display on an ipad and will not run on an iphone at all.

an iphone app can run on the ipad in compatibility mode which is either original size (i.e., small) the middle of the display or pixel-doubled to fill most of the display by tapping the 2x button in the corner.

neither is ideal, but it may be acceptable, depending on the app.

Reply to
nospam

nospam wrote, on Sat, 17 May 2014 20:31:52 -0400:

You are the voice of genius!

I had seen that 1X and 2X in the bottom right corner of the iPhone Google Voice on the iPad, but didn't think anything of it.

When I pressed the 1X, it took up the middle 1/4 of the iPad screen. When I pressed the 2X, it took up the whole screen.

The only flaw I found in the GUI was that it wouldn't rotate like all the other apps do.

Reply to
Pat Wilson

What it means is someone is paying for this service to exist - therefore there is a cost to you that you don't recognize at this point. You will pay for this 'free' service somehow...

John :-#)#

--
(Please post followups or tech inquiries to the newsgroup) 
John's  Jukes Ltd. 2343 Main St., Vancouver, BC, Canada V5T 3C9 
(604)872-5757 or Fax 872-2010 (Pinballs, Jukes, Video Games) 
                      www.flippers.com 
        "Old pinballers never die, they just flip out."
Reply to
John Robertson

Well, someone will pay. Usually it's advertising or over-priced other services (which you personally may not use, so other people are paying for your "free" service), or in some cases it may be paid for by the tax-payers or as a corporate tax-write-off.

Reply to
Your Name

John Robertson wrote, on Sat, 17 May 2014 22:18:04 -0700:

OK. I do agree that the phone calls & SMS must cost something to someone.

Are we to assume then, that Google must be "paying" for all my phone calls and SMS texts?

Who does Google pay? What is Google planning to do in order to recoup those costs?

Reply to
Pat Wilson

The price of SMS is what people are willing to pay. SMS are sent over a channel which is pretty much idle except when the phone is ringing. One second of talk uses more data than 50 SMS'es. In the beginning SMS'es were free, but then the phone companies discovered people were willing to pay. An ordinary 1TB harddisk can store 5000000000 sms'es, so storage price is negligent too.

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beslutning at undlade det.
Reply to
Leif Neland

Google, like every other US call provider, pays the telephone company that "delivers" the call to your phone for it. They also get paid for each call you receive.

They are betting on you getting more calls than you make, and the possibilty of doing voice recognition to hear keywords so that they can sell you ads.

Geoff.

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Geoffrey S. Mendelson,  N3OWJ/4X1GM/KBUH7245/KBUW5379
Reply to
Geoffrey S. Mendelson

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote, on Sun, 18 May 2014 23:29:47 +0000:

Google gets PAID for every call I receive on Hangouts?

Reply to
Pat Wilson

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