3 stars: The display of the conversation is really not optimal, I prefer the one on hangouts where each person has a different color, and they are not on the same side, it really makes it easier to read. I don't understand how Google can't improve this. Also, on hangouts, you can see how long the person was away, but not in Google chat. I really hope that this app will be improved.
4 stars: I'm in the minority here it seems. I like the UI of chat over hangouts. It is much cleaner and easier to navigate. I also like that I have the option to use the integrated Gmail app or the stand alone app. I'm fine with duo for video chat. They just need to bring some more hangout features into the app and stick with it without constantly changing stuff on us (allo)
3 stars: Big step back from Hangouts. Missing custom notification sounds and only works in portrait mode - terrible on a tablet. Google is killing a good app, hangouts, and replacing it with something far inferior. Hangouts is a far better app. Even on a PC, chat is worse than hangouts. It feels like they tried to make a new app and completely forgot about the useful features that were in the old app.
3 stars: It's fine and will take some getting used to, but I really need the push notifications to start working again. First they were duplicated with Gmail, then the app actually prompted me to turn off notifications in the app, now I receive none. For a texting app, this doesn't work! I've missed multiple messages f...