The classic version of Google Hangouts included messaging, voice, VoIP, and video call capabilities. It was replaced by the Hangouts Chat collaboration tool, and Google continues to support conferencing via the new Hangouts Meet.
N/A
Join.me (discontinued)
Score 9.8 out of 10
N/A
Join.me, once acquired by LogMeIn in 2019, was an audio, video, and web conferencing tool targeted at SMBs. Its software can be used across various devices and includes features such as one-click scheduling, personal links, interactive whiteboards, and presenter swapping. It has since been discontinued.
$10
per month
Watchitoo StreamingPro
Score 9.9 out of 10
N/A
Watchitoo combines video conferencing, collaboration and online video into a single platform. The platform includes interactivity features like polling, video chat, text chat, and chat collaboration with social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. The platform is browser-based and does not require any additional plug-ins to work.
N/A
Pricing
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Join.me (discontinued)
Watchitoo StreamingPro
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
Lite
$10.00
Month
Pro
$10.00
Month
Business
$10.00
Month
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Join.me (discontinued)
Watchitoo StreamingPro
Free Trial
No
Yes
No
Free/Freemium Version
No
No
No
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
No
No
No
Entry-level Setup Fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
No setup fee
Additional Details
—
—
—
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Join.me (discontinued)
Watchitoo StreamingPro
Considered Multiple Products
Google Hangouts (Classic)
Verified User
Director
Chose Google Hangouts (Classic)
In terms of simplicity and ease of use, Google Hangouts is wonderful compared to some of the competitive products listed above. I do think that each have their own benefits:
some companies do not allow for Google's suite of products (like Hangouts) to be utilized
Google Hangouts is honestly just the easiest to use because it is already integrated with other products in the Google Suite (such as Gmail, Google Calendar, Drive and more) so you don't need to approve and secure any other app to use this, which is nice because we already use …
Google Hangouts is my favorite tool for video and audio. I like Slack for messaging because it can handle very large groups and makes many channels and group messages easy to manage. Google Hangouts is very easy to use because most people have a Google Account. No need to teach …
The closest alternative to Hangouts is Skype. Hangouts is a lot more practical since it allows easier teleconference setup, and is so much easier to use since it's web based and needs no installation. At work, we use HipChat as well since it's well integrated with Jira, but I …
Join.me is by far the more affordable option but is definitely inferior to Zoom, Google Hangouts, and GoToMeeting. Zoom will give you manuscripts from your call, Google Hangouts (or Meets) allows anyone to screen share easily, and GoToMeeting is the happy medium between Zoom …
If you're looking for something basic that handles a little bit of everything when it comes to meetings, screen shares and remote desktop control join.me is a great options. If you're a super user and really wanting a lot of detailed features and rich user interfaces and money …
Had I completed this review a couple years ago, I would have given a rating of 9 or 10 as Hangouts (Classic) is an excellent product. However, now that Google Chat has succeeded Hangouts, I would not recommend that any new users begin using it where other more modern options are available. Android users who want an internet based instant messaging that also supports calling and video calling could benefit from using Hangouts (Classic) as Google Chat requires the user to also have Google Meet installed to make video calls and there is no voice only calling option.
I would neither recommend nor dissuade anyone from using Join.Me. When it first came on the scene, it was a game-changer as far as providing remote access to other authorized individuals and helped save a great deal of time trying to walk someone less proficient through all the detailed steps of computer repair. However, with the proliferation of Zoom and other conferencing products that also provide built-in remote access through its service, the need for a separate application is now limited and not as essential as its own product.
I think Watchitoo is a product that is great for many different use-cases for internal programming, one-on-one teaching, e-learning, live web chats, town halls, etc. The company is also very innovative in that updates are constantly being made to the platform and I've seen feedback immediately reflected in a new feature or button.
No need to download anything to get started. Once you sign up you can get started from within your browser. This is probably the single best feature, its a get up and go solution for video conferencing and you do not need any software for it to work.
The one click join a meeting URL is genius. Users who struggle with remembering passwords or invites can just click a link and immediately participate in a meeting which means one email and a couple of clicks and a meeting can start.
Good control features - As the main user, you have many control features including deciding who can speak, annotations, screen sharing easily.
Screen Recordings to the Cloud - This can save on time when you have had a long conference, you can save a recording to the cloud and download it later.
Simplicity of interface and basic features to get non-technical speakers to enable camera/adjust microphone and preview their feed.
Complexity of potential programming and special settings that can yield a rather high production quality using external camera, studio switchboards, and any other fancy bells and whistles you want to integrate from other media/communication equipment.
Customer service was always on point with their responses to technical questions and exhibited great diligence when assisting live programs. They were good about being open about other customer experiences and troubleshooting methods learned from others using the platform.
I would like to see improved video support, so that saved videos can be sent back and forth via Hangouts more easily, without having to start a separate meet chat
More pronounced notifications of messages would be helpful; pop up notifications are good, but once there is one, additional messages do not pop up
Custom muting times would be great, so that if I am in a 90 minute Zoom meeting, I can set it for that time; right now, it is 1 hour or 2 hours. Easy to forget.
There should be a complete guide to understand its features before installation because if one feature will be missed then, we can’t get them working properly.
Furthermore, there should be high-quality internet for getting its function and it won’t work without good network coverage.
I think its interface is a little hard for beginners and is not that user friendly.
The lower bandwidth environments often had trouble participating in Watchitoo StreamingPro so a custom "low bandwidh" theme was created. I feel like Watchitoo could offer more to more people if they catered to those with lower internet speeds and slower computers, or shoddy mobile service.
The external media search functionality is great and can add a lot to a program, but it could be more user-friendly and a bit more configurable. I like to narrow my searches for specific content, colors, file types, shapes, sizes, formats, etc. Watchitoo peaked into the Internet, but I often had to search, find, download, save, upload instead of pulling directly into the program. NOTE: I am typically more particular in my media searches than others.
Lastly, I'd say combining a ZUI (zoom user interface) would be a potentially interesting feature to add to Watchitoo. The idea in my mind is a multi-point feed show where folks are in relation to one another in the world. Somewhat how Google Earth toggles between points, but also like how Prezi presentation can have content spread out over a larger map area.
The tool is almost self-implemented. It is likely to be available in every pc or mobile device a user or potential user might have, and all you need to do is adding the company's account and you are done. Once you are setted up, you have almost all actual communication methods available in one tool
Join.me is one of the easiest programs I've ever used. It's so easy to get it set up and installed and even easier for someone to join a meeting. The controls are very intuitive and labeled appropriately. The UIX makes sense. It's been a reliable product in my app stack-I love it!
Google Hangouts works great and does not require a lot of work to troubleshoot. Everything is simple and easy to use. Google provides all of the tools that one requires to utilize Google Hangouts and any information can be found in the built-in help tools. There is also a forum for users to report issues and typically, Google responds well and will try to work out any issues.
I honestly haven't reached out to their Support team. I get notifications of what they are working on which is good to see, but I haven't directly spoken with any of them. I think my main reason for this is that join.me gives me just what I need (not much more and not much less).
Google is the white cotton socks of the conferencing world. It’s a great ad-hoc tool, but not too much more. If you are not looking to spend money or operate completely on WiFi (without data charges), it’s a great free option as well. The benefit of being free and open is also the liability. It doesn’t have a great integration story with other corporate tools, but [it doesn’t have to] if you aren’t looking for that. All in all, it’s as helpful and ubiquitous as a public payphone…without the pay…and with a video capability.
If you're looking for something basic that handles a little bit of everything when it comes to meetings, screen shares and remote desktop control join.me is a great options. If you're a super user and really wanting a lot of detailed features and rich user interfaces and money is not an issue you may want to consider use specific options.
Adobe Connect is a tried, true and trusted platform given the Adobe name is widely recognized everywhere. Watchitoo offers a bit more of a start-up feel and are often much more responsive in term of customer service. Account managers were open to multiple modes of communication and constantly making themselves available, even to support ad hoc programs. Larger platforms would re-assign new account liaisons and technical support staff. Knowledge Management with respect to our use of the platform and previous troubles/lessons learned was much more fluid with Watchitoo
I believe it was part of the google suite that was purchased. It was worth the cost as it was cheaper. I believe it is now free, but also becoming deprecated. It is much better to use Teams, Discord, Telegram, etc. Google does not provide enough support or features to make using hangouts worth it these days.
Customer support solution - join.me has made it so much easier to quickly get with a customer and see their trouble and show them a solution. This saves lots of back and forth time and gives the customer more power over owning their solution.
More efficient communication - without join.me we would waste time going back and forth on emails or slack trying to get our message across. Join.me lets us quickly show AND tell others what's going on. I honestly don't know how we ever functioned without it.
Better customer service; it improved production quality and allow for a custom look-and-feel that was missing from other platforms in use.
Enabled more participation; through the mobile features and easy connection procedure, users felt empowered using a simple program whereas other platforms were requiring special technician help.
