Wow, had no idea these things existed.

Sure if you think it matters

https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/explore/ps4/features/playstation-app/

http://store.steampowered.com/mobile

I for once never see those things matter. When was the last time you see ppl complain abt the  lack of those features from these two apps?

Amazing right? Its available for the most ubiquitous device on earth and nobody gives a sht abt those apps

I doubt this requires the use of your data plan. Any smart device can connect to wifi, right? Just use that.

Still looking to be a convoluted, dumb ass idea if this is REALLY how voice chat works, though.

Who's to say it isn't progress? Smartphones have taken websites and made them theirs. They've taken music and film and literature and made experiencing all of it more convenient. Who's to say Nintendo isn't doing the same with their app? Social media was a computer thing. Now it's a phone thing. Ordering take out, calling taxies, giving money to friends, and even online shopping: all of that is far superior through apps than they are in any other form. How do you know Nintendo hasn't done that for voice chat and other online functions?

I'm not necessarily saying that they have, but options halt progress, because no one cares about doing things better - they care about doing things comfortably. If the app is this obviously superior way to do online, what benefit is there to giving people the option to have an inferior experience? There is none. If the app is awesome, and everybody uses it, then everybody will talk it up, and more people will learn that Nintendo's online is awesome faster. If the app is awesome, and only some people use it, then that process is much slower and touches less people. And if it sucks, then the online would have sucked either way, and nothing is lost.

Flip phones were the industry standard until iphone made the touch screen an industry standard. Standards aren't hard rules, and standards don't make progress until people challenge them. Home consoles are the industry standard, but Nintendo is showing that there is potential desire for tabletop consoles with the Switch.

Someone else said it: voice chat has been pretty much exactly the same since the Dreamcast. Why doesn't that deserve to be challenged? Maybe this app will suck, but I'm not going to shame Nintendo for trying something new. The execution is what will matter, not the idea.

Well ... some of my friends who plays on Steam a lot does have the application.

Who's to say it isn't progress? Smartphones have taken websites and made them theirs. They've taken music and film and literature and made experiencing all of it more convenient. Who's to say Nintendo isn't doing the same with their app? Social media was a computer thing. Now it's a phone thing. Ordering take out, calling taxies, giving money to friends, and even online shopping: all of that is far superior through apps than they are in any other form. How do you know Nintendo hasn't done that for voice chat and other online functions?

I'm not necessarily saying that they have, but options halt progress, because no one cares about doing things better - they care about doing things comfortably. If the app is this obviously superior way to do online, what benefit is there to giving people the option to have an inferior experience? There is none. If the app is awesome, and everybody uses it, then everybody will talk it up, and more people will learn that Nintendo's online is awesome faster. If the app is awesome, and only some people use it, then that process is much slower and touches less people. And if it sucks, then the online would have sucked either way, and nothing is lost.

Flip phones were the industry standard until iphone made the touch screen an industry standard. Standards aren't hard rules, and standards don't make progress until people challenge them. Home consoles are the industry standard, but Nintendo is showing that there is potential desire for tabletop consoles with the Switch.

Someone else said it: voice chat has been pretty much exactly the same since the Dreamcast. Why doesn't that deserve to be challenged? Maybe this app will suck, but I'm not going to shame Nintendo for trying something new. The execution is what will matter, not the idea.

In what possible way could a smartphone app improve voice chat that couldn't be implemented in an app on the Switch itself?

You made this big long post about how Nintendo is trying to change the way we use voice chat, and how giving people options halts progress, but you never said what that progress was.

There are several clear downsides to using an app for voice chat instead of having it built into the system, and to defend it you've had to use really broad statements about technological progress. That alone should tell you this is a dumb idea.