Archive for the ‘iPhone’ Category

It looks like Google and Apple can indeed play nice.  After a long wait, Google’s Google Voice app made its way to the Apple App Store yesterday, suggesting that the supposed feud between Google and Apple has subsided…at least for now.

So is Google Voice everything that we’ve hoped for?  Well, it depends.

First lets start with the Google Voice interface.  The app has a convenient inbox that makes it easy to access voice mail, text messages, call history and starred calls.  Google Voice transcribes voice mail messages to text, and while the accuracy of this feature is not stellar, you can usually piece together the gist of a transcribed message.

Google also does a great job with contact management.  You can divide your contacts into groups, and define how the Google Voice service manages calls from different groups.  You can also create a quick dial list, which makes it easy to dial your most treasured contacts.

But there are some features that are noticeably missing from the iPhone Google Voice app.  You can’t place calls over WiFi – instead when you dial a number the iPhone’s phone app opens and you place a call through a third number.  This is an awkward, inconvenient process that needs to be refined – in fact the only real benefit of dialing through the Google Voice app is your Google Voice phone number shows up in the caller ID information.

When someone calls your Google Voice number, the call must be answered through the iPhone’s phone app – you can’t receive calls over WiFi.  Additionally, there’s no indication that a call was received through Google Voice – all you see is the caller’s caller ID information.

The reliance on Apple’s phone app means that Google Voice doesn’t reduce your usage of cellular minutes, at least not in the United States.  Since calls are placed and received through the iPhone phone app, Google Voice burns exactly the same minutes as a normal call.

Google Voice does provide popups when a call is missed or a text or voicemail is received.  But again, this feature is not unique – it’s very similar to Apple’s existing missed call, voice mail and text notifications.

Overall, the main benefit of Google Voice is the app’s convenient inbox, voicemail transcription and contact management features.  The app’s other features just do not offer enough benefit over the iPhone’s existing phone and text apps to be of much value.

The Google Voice app will be valuable for users that already rely heavily on the Google Voice service.  However, the app doesn’t offer much incentive for new Google Voice users to invest heavily in the service.

Still, the Google Voice App is free, so it’s definitely worth a try.  Note that to use the App you must have a Google Voice account, and an iPhone with iOS version 3.0 or newer – the iPod Touch is not supported.