It looks like Hangouts can make free calls, but GV cannot. At least according to their respective descriptions in the Play store. That seems like a major downgrade.
GV could never make calls. It is primarily a call forwarding service (with tacked on free SMS and now MMS) which allows you to make calls to numbers in other states with no additional cost and make international calls for a low rate. You still need to go through your phone service; as far as your service is aware, these calls are going to a local number (the area code of your google voice number).
That's true, but deceptive. Google Voice itself can't make calls in the app or website, but Gmail (web only) and Hangouts (web and app) can. They're offered this service for a very long time.
