Android App Spotlight #10: Google Voice

Price: Free
Link: It's Already on Your Phone

It's boggling how antiquated your carrier's voicemail is. You have to dial a number, listen to a computerized voice list a menu of options, and if you switch phones, they're gone forever. CAN'T THERE BE A BETTER WAY?

There is! Google Voice is a VOIP service, which gives allows you to make calls and send texts from your computer or phone. It can also take over the voicemail duties of your existing cell number, not only providing you a web interface for listening to the messages, but it also transcribes them, so you can read them wherever you are. Best of all, since it's Google, all of your voicemails and texts can be at your searchable disposal forever. Oh, and it uses your data connection, so your precious minutes and texts are safe.

Google Voice works well with most phones, but it completely integrates itself into Android. You can choose to have all of your outgoing calls made with Google Voice, or you can choose to manually select the option each time. It's utterly seamless.

Of course, there are drawbacks - I do a lot of traveling in my job, and in times of iffy connections, I'm always more likely to trust the durability of my voice connection rather than my data, so I err on the side of caution and have not fully committed to my Google Voice number. The transcriptions provided by the service are literally laughable - the things it thinks are being said are usually nowhere near reality. Half the time I can get a rough idea of what the person calling me wanted, but other times I have to listen to the message.

In all, it's a wonderful service, and best of all it was just released from its invite-only status yesterday. Go and grab your own Google Voice number today!