With little to no fore warning, Google unleashed a Google Voice application on Wednesday for both the Android and BlackBerry, and speaking as a BB owner… I’m in love.
I have been a big GrandCentral/Google Voice advocate for quite a while now, but it always felt it was a bit limited due to there being no easy way to call out with it, and the only real access being via my computer. All of that changed on Wednesday when the official application for Android handsets and BlackBerry phones were released.
While I can’t speak to the Android version of the service, the copy I downloaded to my BlackBerry 8830 is working like a charm. The app allows you to call any number in the United States bypassing your phone’s minutes from your carrier. This is probably a large portion of the reason why there is no iPhone app yet, but if Google does find a way to release it via the App Store, 2nd generation iPod Touch users will do back flips. One of the nice things about calling from inside the app is that your Google Voice number shows up on the caller ID so you finally have a way to make the number appear a little bit more legitimate to your contacts than constantly trying to explain what the number is.
Voice mails are fully accessible from the app, including the text transcriptions that the service offers. (apologies for the blurry webcam pic of my BlackBerry screen) Google said in its original post about the release that the words would highlight “karaoke-style” as you listen to the audio of the message, but I have yet to see that function actually work. It’s a small thing, but it is noticeable as it was an advertised feature.
The only big complaint I’ve got so far is the time from you hit “dial” to actually starting to dial seems a bit sluggish, but it does get the job done.
Need to make international calls? You can at reduced rates, although those haven’t been made clear to me yet without actually placing the calls. You can also send SMS texts that display your Google Voice number, so that number is becoming more and more important, and finally has more uses than just a number people call you at so that all of your phones will ring.
BlackBerry owners can point their browsers to m.google.com/voice to get the app, Android owners can go to the Marketplace to get it for their handsets. iPhone users… can wait for once.
