Technology Review
Are you a Google Voice user? Do You have a Smartphone like iPhone, Blackberry or an Android-based device? If you answered yes to both of these questions, or if you’re curious what’s in the horizon for Google Voice, read on.
I’ve been a Google Voice users for a little over six months. In fact, you can reach me on my Google Voice number directly from this page with the link under my Profile on the left. I’ve listed my Google Voice number on my business cards and it’s what appears with my signatures in all emails. There are many reasons for this, such as voice mail transcription, call recording for conference call presentations, integration with Google Contacts, email and Chrome, as well as ringing multiple phones at disparate locations with one number for all incoming calls (for example, home, cell, and office phones).
However, one challenge I noticed was when I dialed out from my cell phone. When I used to dial from my cell phone, my Caller ID showed my cell phone number, rather than my Google Voice number. I prefer the latter. The only way to do this before was to dial in to my Google Voice number, search for the phone number I wanted to dial from my list of Google Contacts via voice command or number pad, then give the command for Google Voice to connect me. This was tedious and I seldom did it, unless I was sitting in front of a computer and I could directly access Google Voice to dial out and connect the call to my cell, home or office.
That changed with the introduction of Google Voice for mobile devices. I now have a Google Voice application installed on my cell phone that not only dials all numbers through Google Voice, thus displaying my Google Voice number as a part of my Caller ID, it also gives me direct access to my voicemails and their associated transcripts directly on the phone, without the need to use the browser.
What’s more, I can access many of the Google Voice features, previously available on the Google Voice website, directly on my phone. These include marking voice mails as spam (so that all future calls from that number are placed under my Spam folder in Google Voice, the same way email spam filters work), unread, archived, or deleted. I can also add the contact information of the caller to my Google Contacts, call that person directly after listening to their voice mail, or send that person an SMS message!
And that is why Google Voice on my Android phone rocks!!!
What Do You Think?
Feel free to checkout Google Voice for your Smartphone and provide your opinion below.
Photo Credits: All images are the property of Google and were obtained from the Google Voice for mobile site.