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Line... what is the big deal?

Mark of Zorro

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This has to be like the tenth girl to ask me if I have Line.

I don't. I don't even have a smart phone.

Neither point is helping my game any.

But I just want to know...what in the heck is so special about Line? I can't figure how its any different from a simple e-mail essentially. You pick a name, the address is there, you type a message and you send it.

Real time? I have hardly ever had delays with mail in like 5 years.

Hell, this service won't even let me set up a PC account without going through a smart phone first.

Is anybody using it? Is your sole reason "because everybody else is using it and its a default requirement for a social life"? Cause that looks like its going to be my reason.
 
I like that I can just send a quick voice recording or photo or video through it. Additionally, I can send my location to someone I'm meeting just by clicking send location (or some such thing). Also, the notifications are nice and useful, and it's not as cumbersome as email.
 
^^^ ditto

I'm wondering why it's derided as a childish or girly thingy by so many.
 
It`s great. I use it many times a day now. It is genuinely user friendly and fantastic for sharing photos and video / audio clips.
Almost every Japanese person (under 40) seems to use it so it`s a must for umm ... socialising.
 
We use it at work for exchanging real-time info on traffic, conditions at the container yards, etc. The group feature is handy.
 
So it does everything e-mail and voice mail does but is somehow more convenient? Even the group function I think is available on older cell phones standard though I have never had cause to use it.

Sending your location? Okay, that would be new.

So I am thinking the real draw is, more aesthetic interface and the fact that everyone else is using it? No?

Cause I don't see how something could actually be more so much more convenient for things like sending mails and attaching pics. I am thinking it must simply "seem" so.

thomas said:
I'm wondering why it's derided as childish or girly thing by so many.
Click to expand...

If the key draw is aesthetics, that would be why. I personally never said any of those things, but like I say, my old phone does pretty much everything mentioned and the only inconvenience is that I don't have multiple tasks visible on a touch screen...I have to know where things are before selecting...but once that process is learned its automatic.
 
It's not about attaching pics or video or audio, you capture those things in the app itself.

So if I want to send someone a quick voice message I just hold down one button and talk. If I want to send a video I do the same.

There's no need to check emails since the alerts are in real time, and it's all just in one app.

I imagine the draw is different for everyone. For me it is convenience. You keep saying the real reason must be because everyone is using it and I'm not sure why you won't accept the reasons people are giving you.
 
It's closer to texting or chat services than to email. I think that's what these apps grew out of - SMS/MMS replacements. (I use Viber, but these things are all much of a muchness).
 
I like it for the above reasons already mentioned but most of all I love it for the stickers. The stickers and characters are what made me choose Line over Kakao or anything else.

Call me shallow, but the aesthetics can really brigten up the whole conversation for me (when needed).
 
Privacy seems to be big for people like my J wife. She can form groups or send solo messages, and nobody can intercept them like in Twitter or Facebook. The stickers just make things cutesy and pretty (so yes, it is in a sense a girly thing, but practically none of my college students, boys and girls alike, use FB, but they use LINE instead). It's easier to use to send messages, and by that I mean fewer buttons to push. Yes you can make attachments like in email, but I don't know how easy it is to recall what someone wrote, like you can search for in email. Personally, I hate it and have it on my iPad only for emergency situations with my wife when I'm on a biz trip. One major flaw is that you can't (or at least, I haven't been able to figure out how to) install it on more than one device.
 

This is a weakness that it has - Look at the third section - Can I use the same LINE account from multiple devices?

http://help.line.me/line/ios/categoryId/10000309/sp?lang=en
 
I keep finding these features of line and thinking....I could have done all this mail basically...its just that its all squished together with line....I guess some people like things that way....I like keeping stuff separate just fine....

So now I have come to wonder about setting a user ID. Seems its not really necessary. I am also guessing it can't just be anything you want as, I guess, its one per person and the obvious ones would be taken.

Who has set theirs and how much trouble did you have?
 

Your user ID can be "mark_of_zorro" or something and then set a totally different display name that is more meaningful to yourself and others.
 
But one person's user ID is nothing but numbers.

What LINE displays is a nickname...maybe because she put that nickname on her profile?

Edit: I guess that is the "display name" she chose?

Other people are clearly labeled by the name I chose because they are identified by phone number rather than by me inputting their user ID.

Edit edit: Okay, I guess that is what you said. User ID allows you to then separately set a display name that your "friends" will see. Right now, only I see my display name because I have no user ID set. My "friends" see whatever they decide to name me as?
 
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Mark of Zorro said:
But one person's user ID is nothing but numbers.

What LINE displays appears is a nickname...maybe because she put that nickname on her profile?
Click to expand...

Yep. That is entirely possible. One of my contacts' ID is all numbers too. The ID is basically for you (the user) to remember and also used when asking others to add you. At other times, users are identified only by their display names, which are of course configurable.
 
Sorry, Zorro, but I can't help you more. I set up my LINE on one device and that was only for some extremely rare exchanged between my wife and me when I'm on biz trips. I know nothing else and often have problems using it as it is. She's the pro, but I suspect that you and I have similar "uses" for LINE... essentially nothing. Best of luck.
 
I found out the other day that my standard installed mail application can switch all my mail into chat mode. Push that button and all mails from each user gets sorted into chat folders almost instantly and it looks pretty much like you have been using Line all along. You can switch back and forth if you want.

So again, I don't feel Line is so "special", but, the thing is, the addition of that feature, for all I know, was totally ripped off of Line in the first place.
 
For some reason when I tried to exchange IDs with my new boss, she could not use my number or ID to register my ID in her friend list. I had to generate a QR code for her to scan. On the one hand, cheers to Line for having that "plan C" option. On the other hand, what the explicative went wrong with plan A and plan B? No idea.
 
it might be possible your or her ID was set as private and not public.

I like line since it's very simple, and has various options such as video calling, funny stickers, sending voice and video messages easily and fast. I think for some people they also like the integration of Line games that you can play together (like facebook has).
 
It was suggested to me that by use of Line, a free service, some people might be reducing their monthly bill. I am not totally sure how that is possible, but some of you might understand the details.
 
Mark of Zorro said:
It was suggested to me that by use of Line, a free service, some people might be reducing their monthly bill. I am not totally sure how that is possible, but some of you might understand the details.
Click to expand...

Compared to MMS messages, which SoftBank charged about 5 yen apiece for the free messages are cheaper. But unless you're a high school girl in danger of carpal tunnel syndrome from incessant messaging you're really talking nickels and dimes.
 
This has to be like the tenth girl to ask me if I have Line.
Click to expand...

This is the essence of this thread.

If I were 40 years younger (or even 30), and had had a second girl ask me if I had LINE, I would have downloaded and had LINE immediately. And I'd've gotten back to both of them very quickly with my ID.

Zorro, on the other hand, waits until something like 10 girls have asked him if he had it, does not download it, and then spends days here chatting us up figuring out if he really needs it...

 
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johnny G, you need to work on your reading comprehension. You see the part in the second line where it says "I don't have a smartphone?"

Its right there....its the last half of the second line.

You sort of need a smart phone to download an app and use it. And I checked out the prices on smartphones and plans long ago and found them to be simply outrageous. I held out as long as I could, not because I am daft, but because I am not so weak.

johnnyG said:
and then spends days here chatting us up figuring out if he really needs it...
Click to expand...

Again, you need to work on your reading comp. I just wanted to know what the draw was.

Anyway, Line was the first thing I installed on my phone when I got the smartphone.

But I was getting numbers and e-mails still. The trouble was that my pre-paid flip phone was either not properly sending or receiving mails lately. I always had trouble with SMSs, but the usual fixes stopped working. I have also heard that my provider especially has problems, but that was only last week.

I still don't think I NEED Line to get laid. But I think it helps and help is always good. My problem was that others forms of communication had stopped functioning.

Two words of advice: work on your reading comp and lose the attitude. Or heck, pick one and you will be greatly benefited. Even smartarses can get appreciation if they just know what they are talking about.
 
Last edited:
Mike Cash said:
Compared to MMS messages, which SoftBank charged about 5 yen apiece for the free messages are cheaper. But unless you're a high school girl in danger of carpal tunnel syndrome from incessant messaging you're really talking nickels and dimes.
Click to expand...

Line does have a voice call service. I have not used it yet so I cannot say how good it is.

But if you use that or another free voice call service, I suppose that if you always ensure that when you place a Line (or Skype) call you have wi-fi access and only use the net with wi-fi access, you could go with a minimal plan and save quite a bit since you are not going through your provider's towers. You do receive calls for free yes?

I could be wrong about all that. Or it might take some tweaking to accomplish. Still pondering....
 
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