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Help Is there an iMessage-like service for Android?

eric3312

Newbie
Hello everyone. Thank you for reading my message.

I am looking to make the plunge from the iPhone world to Android...I've always had iPhones but recently started using a Samsung Galaxy S5 as my work device...and have to say, I'm impressed. I love how Google is baked right in..I love how I can customize my phone to the point where I can make it look like a completely different device with launchers, wallpapers, rearanged icons, etc. I also love how the system operates...seems like much more common sense went into it than iOS. I'm constantly asking myself "why the heck can't I do something simple like this?..." when using my iPhone...anyhow...

The only thing that's keeping me from switching is...iMessage...the messaging service offered by Apple. It works extremely well and doesn't compress pictures/videos. This is extremely important to me...my wife has an iPhone too...so, if we want to send beautiful, rich, full quality HD videos of our new baby, we can...almost instantly....I can send her slow-mo videos..and they show up in perfect, HD quality...

This is not something I'm willing to lose as it's the most important thing for me...my wife and I love sending/receiving full quality pictures/videos of our son back and forth to each other...if you have kids I'm sure you can relate.

I have looked everywhere and cannot seem to find the Android alternative. I want to know if there's an easy way that her and I can still share uncompressed, full quality media with each other if I switch to Android.

I have seen some people saying "post it to YouTube" or "break it up into different e-mails" or "just upload it to DropBox and send a link"....these options would work, I suppose, but it seems cumbersome and more of a pain in the rear-end for such a simple task.

So, do you guys know of a solution that would work between the 2 platforms? That's simple like iMessage?

Thank you again for your time and for reading my post.

Happy New Year to you and your families.
 
if you want something just between you and your friends, look into "Whatsapp"

it can encrypt all of your messages, make phone calls, send pix and videos, and more.
 
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No respectable developer or organization is going to expect me to really play the survey game to use their service, I'm sorry @AMOCO but this sort of thing just isn't cool. If it comes right down to choosing WhatsApp versus Telegram (and I don't think it should in this case as there are places you can upload those videos as well and are a link) then I would personally go for Telegram. I've tried both and while there are probably more people you know using WhatsApp than Telegram, I can testify that Telegram is just better.
 
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No respectable developer or organization is going to expect me to really play the survey game to use their service, I'm sorry @AMOCO but this sort of thing just isn't cool. If it comes right down to choosing WhatsApp versus Telegram (and I don't think it should in this case as there are places you can upload those videos as well and are a link) then I would personally go for Telegram. I've tried both and while there are probably more people you know using WhatsApp than Telegram, I can testify that Telegram is just better.
Hey all I did is look for an app the OP is looking for,I don't use apps like this,I use stock message apps.
So,Not to be rude,But do searches before asking for help.There are browsers and search bars on your device.
 
Okay cool, all I was saying is at least check the validity of links you give to people. What am I supposed to be using the search bars for again? I'm fine, wasn't my question.
 
Hello everyone. Thank you for reading my message.

I am looking to make the plunge from the iPhone world to Android...I've always had iPhones but recently started using a Samsung Galaxy S5 as my work device...and have to say, I'm impressed. I love how Google is baked right in..I love how I can customize my phone to the point where I can make it look like a completely different device with launchers, wallpapers, rearanged icons, etc. I also love how the system operates...seems like much more common sense went into it than iOS. I'm constantly asking myself "why the heck can't I do something simple like this?..." when using my iPhone...anyhow...

The only thing that's keeping me from switching is...iMessage...the messaging service offered by Apple. It works extremely well and doesn't compress pictures/videos.


Textra will NOT compress images if you tell to leave it as is.

I do that daily, send photos full size.... I like to set my camera at 2 mP though on purpose so they aren't horribly big.

When I send stuff to my son, we use WhatsApp and it works on his iPhone and I'm on an Android phone.
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Verizon: 2 ea. Galaxy S5, Note 4, HTC One M9, VZW MiFi $212/month :(
 
I would personally go for Telegram. I've tried both and while there are probably more people you know using WhatsApp than Telegram, I can testify that Telegram is just better.

Apps my be wonderful... but if nobody I know is using them, then that is a Fail. (sorry friends reunited/myspace/friendster... but thats the way it is)

bu the way.. How is Telegram 'just better'?
 
Thank you everyone for the advice. I am going to try a few of these today to see how they work.

I did do searches on this topic, and came up with 190385029385 answers from "tech guru's"...so I thought I'd ask regular users what they think.
 
I'm in a similar but not as huge of a dilemma as Eric3312.

I checked out that imessage for android and saw those surveys and immediately checked out the main website again. Problem is there is no "Contact us" link nor are there any other information about the company that supposedly owns this "app". Also, the original app was apparently in the Play Store and then removed. (I did some quick research).

Whatsapp and Telegram appear to be the most popular apps similar to iMessage. Personally, I use Hangouts but the future of Hangouts is unclear as they may be removing SMS/MMS from it. That defeats the whole purpose as I like to text and chat from one app.

Pushbullet is another alternative (in a different way but another iMessage comparison) but it depends on how you want to use it. I use Pushbullet strictly for the notifications on my computer, something iPhone and Macs already have built in. And PB allows you to text from the PC/laptop. Here is some info:

http://phandroid.com/2014/05/20/cool-things-to-do-with-pushbullet/

Good luck!
 
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