Google Voice is calling on Android and Blackberry phones
By Dave Jeyes
The service might not be available to the general population yet, but some lucky Google Voice users will be able to use the service as their primary calling method on Android and Blackberry phones. Just don’t tell your carrier that you no longer need their minutes.
Google Voice allows you to do everything that your mobile phone does through the carrier, only for free over the Internet. You can make calls, send and receive text messages, manage your voicemail and even read transcripts of your voice messages.
The Google Voice application is so closely tied into the Android operating system that you can’t tell that it’s using an Internet service. The application includes a phone dialer, threaded text messages so that you can follow the conversation and visual voicemail that includes transcripts of your voicemail.
The only difference is that instead of using your monthly plan minutes, the Google Voice application makes the calls over the Internet. Obviously this is ideal for people with unlimited data plans or on Wi-Fi connections, but that’s the majority of Android and Blackberry users.
There’s also a version of Google Voice in the works for the iPhone, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Apple won’t release anything that makes calls over the phone’s 3G wireless Internet connection for fear of angering its partner in AT&T.
There may, however, be an iPhone application that works over Wi-Fi and that you can use over 3G on a jailbroken iPhone. However that version is delayed as Google has to work directly with Apple on the project.
Google acquired GrandCentral back in 2007 to set the stage for Google Voice. After two years of planning, staging and launching the first Android phone, it’s finally time for Google Voice to shine.
Free phone calls, text messages and voice transcription services could flip the mobile carrier industry as minutes plans become extraneous and consumers push for data-only plans. The telecommunications giants can’t be thrilled with this brave new world, but consumers should be.
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