TL;DR:
-Go to the Google Play store and install Android Messages (note: you may already have a messaging app installed that says "messages" but unless you're running stock Android [not likely] then you're using a messaging app that has been modified by the maker of your phone, e.g. Samsung, LG, etc.)
-Go to messages.android.com and follow the on-screen instructions to pair/sync messages with your phone.
-Once complete you can now text/chat via your browser.
Quick commentary:
Personally I'm really excited about this, when I was with Google's Project Fi (cell service) I was able to use Hangouts via both mobile (as my default messaging app) and desktop (through a Chrome extension.) When we recently switched to T-Mobile (who's been great BTW) I greatly missed having the option to text any of my contacts (or new numbers) from my desktop.
I would still like to see a chrome extension for Messages, versus having to bookmark a website (messages.android.com) but I'll take the win as given.
Google has been a bit of a mess with their messaging and video calling vision. I personally think that Hangouts is the perfect option for doing it all, and that they should focus on making Hangouts their default messaging app. As it stands, unless you have a Google Voice number then you can only message/contact users via Hangouts who are also one the Hangouts platform, AND, if you do grab a free Google Voice number so that you can use Hangouts as your texting app dujour then you will confuse people as to why they're getting texts from you via a second number.
-Go to the Google Play store and install Android Messages (note: you may already have a messaging app installed that says "messages" but unless you're running stock Android [not likely] then you're using a messaging app that has been modified by the maker of your phone, e.g. Samsung, LG, etc.)
-Go to messages.android.com and follow the on-screen instructions to pair/sync messages with your phone.
-Once complete you can now text/chat via your browser.
Quick commentary:
Personally I'm really excited about this, when I was with Google's Project Fi (cell service) I was able to use Hangouts via both mobile (as my default messaging app) and desktop (through a Chrome extension.) When we recently switched to T-Mobile (who's been great BTW) I greatly missed having the option to text any of my contacts (or new numbers) from my desktop.
I would still like to see a chrome extension for Messages, versus having to bookmark a website (messages.android.com) but I'll take the win as given.
Google has been a bit of a mess with their messaging and video calling vision. I personally think that Hangouts is the perfect option for doing it all, and that they should focus on making Hangouts their default messaging app. As it stands, unless you have a Google Voice number then you can only message/contact users via Hangouts who are also one the Hangouts platform, AND, if you do grab a free Google Voice number so that you can use Hangouts as your texting app dujour then you will confuse people as to why they're getting texts from you via a second number.
