[majika]

A number of security professionals have expressed serious concern about Telegram, including Moxie Marlinspike [0] [1] and Geoffroy Couprie [2].

It's really painful to see Telegram gaining popularity, when it has such glaring errors.

You should instead use OTR on Jabber (ChatSecure [3]), or TextSecure [4] (which now has an Internet delivery mechanism).

[0]: http://thoughtcrime.org/blog/telegram-crypto-challenge/

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6936539

[2]: http://unhandledexpression.com/2013/12/17/telegram-stand-bac...

[3]: https://chatsecure.org/

[4]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcri...

[pessimizer]

Those criticisms aren't about Telegram's UI as compared to Hangouts, though. At a minimum, your communication through Telegram is as secure as your communication through a google property.