Whatsapp is an app I’ve used since 2014, when I started using smart phones. This was regarded as a more useful GUI than messaging (SMS), in earlier keypad phones. It was easy to see why and although I knew of 1 or 2 other similar GUIs for the same purpose, I used this as most others were on Whatsapp. To be able to communicate to all of them via a smart phone, this seemed as the best alternative. Here are my thoughts about it.
[CONCEPT & LAYOUT]
The primary concept is age old to be able to chat. That has been enhanced to expressive communication by various means with a good GUI. The GUI is basically bottle green in color, with white interspersed spaces ad icons for pics and smileys. There is space for text windows in between, as would be expected for any chat app. The icon for the app is a light green chat bubble with even deeper green backdrop with symbol of phone in the bubble, symbolizing “phone communication”. Navigation is not difficult, although newbies may require some getting to know to.
[FEATURES & USAGE]
1) INSTALLATION: It is installable like any other app, downloaded from google playstore on Android phones and from windows store on windows phones. I haven’t used iphones yet, but I suspect they must be having a similar provision. Once installed, any person on your contact list with Whatsapp installed, can be contacted through this.
2) GUI: It gives one a “simplified facebook / twitter like interface” for both individual recipients or multiple. It depends on whom you want to send it to. Since facebook and twitter were already popular amongst internet users, this probably didn’t take long to catch onto, as sequel to SMSing on phones.
3) MEDIA SHARING IN WHATSAPP: Like on social networking sites, one can upload their “profile picture, share pictures and texts” using the “chat” section. One can also use attachments from respective phones to post on a “Whatsapp” chat.
When forwarding messages, one can use the “Rightward arrow” displaying on the top to do so, ever present while you are using the Whatsapp chat window after highlighting the post one wants to forward.
Once an attachment has been posted, it’s upto the recipient to accept the download, depending on his desired data consumption. If desirable, one can accept download by pressing “downward arrow mark”. A green circular progress bar completes a revolution to indicate completion of a download.
4) SMILEYS: The smileys available for the “chat” section are also plentiful. There is no shortage in this regard and there seem to be various categories of them for posting.
5) EMBEDDED LINKS: One can also embed links into the chat, in the sense they don’t just appear as text but are accessible via web. This is similar to links being accessible by web, even via SMS.
6) MEDIA SHARING ON OTHER PLATFORMS: It is possible even to share media shared with others on Whatsapp or received by Whatsapp to different platforms like mail, Bluetooth, other online drives etc. To do so, one has to press down hard on the media to be shared and then look for a “3 vertices joined by lines” icon on the top right. Clicking on it, one has to choose the other platform they want to share it on and do so.
7) WHATSAPP CALLING: When I started using Whatsapp, “Whatsapp calling” was yet to be released. It did release eventually. It allows one to do a “voice call” or “video call” through Whatsapp itself via the internet. However, the ringing sound is very mild and difficult to identify unless you’re sitting in front of the phone. Other than that, it is a good feature. Some people reportedly face network issues while using it. More on video calls. I can testify to this, on occasion. A similar sort of thing was introduced in google chat earlier, if I remember correctly.
8) WHATSAPP STATUS UPDATE: The provision for profile status through a caption or 1-liner was already there from before. Now once can also upload a pic or attach something like gif or attachment to give a more visual representation of current mood. When one views the status updates of others, one could even reply to it commenting on the status update.
9) WHATSAPP GROUPS: If one wants to create a group like a facebook page with members, one can do so. This will be handy if one has a group of people to deal with, who are working towards a broader common objective or working for a similar cause.
10) WHATSAPP INLINING OF POSTS & REPLYING: This is a relatively recent feature. It is similar to the many forums on the internet where one posts on different threads and if one wants to “embed a previous post” and then reply, one could do it in order to not confuse with many other messages In the same thread.
This is done using the “leftward arrow” icon on the top of the chat window, after highlighting the post, you want to embed and reply to.
11) VOICE MESSAGES: If one wants to send a voice message instead of texting, one may also do so by recording a voice message by hitting the microphone button just beside the text entry box.
12) MONITORING RECEIVED & SENT MESSAGES: On a message being successfully being “sent”, it shows a “single tick mark”. On it being “received”, it shows a “double tick mark” and on being “read”, the tick marks turn “blue” in the chat window.
Perhaps this concept of tick marks etc to monitor post in a chat was first introduced on facebook. Then gtalk and then here, if I remember correctly. Useful measure to monitor status of your posts.
13) CHAT HISTORY: Whatsapp automatically creates a back up of all chat history and stores it on one’s SD card regularly. There are various ways to access it.
[SHORTCOMINGS]
Most of the features work pretty well. The addition of features over the years has helped enhance its reputation in terms of smart phone networking. However, there are some small things which I think should be mentioned here.
1) “Whatsapp Calling” sometimes gives issues probably not owing to the network as normal calling works. Whatsapp could make it more robust. Also, the ring tone is very mild and could easily be missed.
2) “Embedding of posts” in a chat while replying might be having some word limit because of which “embedding of larger posts” is sometimes partially done. Ideally, shouldn’t be the case.
3) “Monitoring of received and sent messages” is sometimes not effective. It may happen that a post shows a single “tick mark” but is already “received” and “read”. It could also happen that a “received” message is “read” but “tick marks” are not showing as “blue”. I’ve noticed this on Android and Windows phones.
4) A lot of activity on Whatsapp can be high in data consumption. Even when one isn’t active but is receiving things on it. On a windows phone there used to be a provision to identify such apps and run them with low data consumption when active a s background process. The OS used to directly take care of it. On Android phones, there are apps to do similar things, but overall data consumption is higher.
5) Maybe they could also try introducing features similar to some other Chat Apps like random friend making by shaking phones etc, for those interested in having a random fun time. :D Or anything else which may sound appealing to make it more fun.
Overall, my experience of Whatsapp has been positive and perhaps it has improved a bit by introducing some similar features of other networking sites and internet forums, over the years. The App is probably aptly named, referring to “What’s up?” commonly used in initiating casual conversations with friends. I would maybe rate it 3.5-4 / 5.
My suggestion to the App developers would be to make the existing features perfectly robust. I would recommend this to others interested in engaging in casual chat with a good GUI on a smart phone.