my first experiences with Telegram and a minivent
Hi everyone,
Earlier today a friend of mine told me about Telegram. It's a secure cloud-based messaging application that's cross-platform and allows text/voice messaging, file transfers, calling etc. Very similar to stuff like Whatsapp and Skype. So far, I've tried using Telegram on IOS and on Windows, and while it's a good app, one which I really, really really want to like, I find myself quite frustrated with it.
The IOS app seems accessible enough though some accessibility challenges exist. For instance, making a phone call wasn't easy for me; the button isn't labeled. I had to rely on Voiceover's OCR to find out which button to use. For me, it's a minor annoyance that I can deal with for now. The real thing that drew me to Telegram is how cross-platform it is, and that's where the trouble begins. Eagerly, I tried it on my desktop.
The official desktop app is completely inaccessible so far as I could tell. You have to use OCR to get anything done, and I couldn't really find things I wanted that way. So it wasn't very successful for me. Next I tried Unigram, a Windows 10 app. Apart from some weird minor stuff that's easily overlooked, it looks very usable. For messaging I'd use it all the way. I've always wanted to have the choice between recording clear voice messages on desktop and typing a message in an edit field, and Telegram/Unigram sseems to do that really well. The desktop Skype app is also pretty good too in recent versions imho, but for the most part I think I prefer Unigram. Its voice messages sound better and it seems to be less sluggish.
There's one major problem, however. Unigram voice calls only work when they want to, at least for me. My friend and I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to pin this down, and we can't figure it out. Making a call from Unigram to Unigram only works maybe 1 out of 10 times. The other 9 out of 10 times, there is no sound on either end. The call appears to connect but with no sound. and sometimes, hanging up doesn't close the call window; I have to close it manually which once caused a crash on my system.
If my friend calls me on Unigram and I answer with my phone, it often seems to work. We can hear each other perfectly. but if I use my phone to call him and he answers on Unigram, it seems to just hang up. I don't get it. And heck, maybe it's not consistent either, I have no idea.
Above all, the one thing that we have been unable to figure out is how to get Unigram to ring. The only way we know a call is coming in is that a window pops up (and it doesn't always pop up, you sometimes have to alt tab to find it). So if I don't have a secondary device to ring, I'll have no idea a call is coming. Maybe Unigram is bugged. Or maybe we're doing something wrong; I'm not well-versed in Windows 10 and its way of handling phone calls. So do I report a problem to Unigram, or to Telegram asking them to fix their app? I feel like the former would be more successful, but the latter is probably more prudent since it needs to be fixed on IOS too.
Personally I'd be okay with using Whatsapp for phone use and Skype for most things in general. I feel really comfortable with both, but I think I'm in the minority on this one. seems Telegram is becoming a big thing. And like I say I really want to like it, so I hope I can make it work to save my sanity. For now though, it's causing me almost as much frustration as it is excitement, and I kinda feel that way about a lot of the recent apps I've tried, so at this point I'm starting to get pretty tired of switching apps every few years to keep up with my friends who close all the old app accounts they no longer use. I"m probably the only person who doesn't like to do that lol
So does anyone have any thoughts on Telegram? Is it really as awesome as I've heard it is? And is there a nice way to use it on Windows?
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