Google Voice: First Impressions and Review / Walkthrough

So it’s been about 2 weeks now since I was converted from Grand Central to Google Voice.  Before I go on, if you have no idea what Google Voice is read this article and then come back to this one.  So far I am very impressed with the service. Even though it does have some flaws and some areas for improvement, I think Google is going to hit this one out of the park when it’s all said and done. For those wondering what’s taking so long to get this released to everyone, be patient, Google is going to get as many of the bugs worked out before it goes public. They don’t want a “Mobile-Me” like disaster with its initial release. For those craving Google Voice read below for some screenshots and walkthroughs of the service.

Walkthrough

As expected Google Voice will appear under “My Account” from the Google homepage so it doesn’t require a separate login.

Here is the screen that you see when you first log in to Google Voice. Notice that contacts are integrated from your Google contacts and there are quick links to place a call or send SMS (very handy). It displays Messages along with Text Transcript of the Message (if Applicable). Notice that this message says “Transcript not Available”. This was my first test of the transcript and for whatever reason it didn’t work. Later in this walkthrough I will try again.

The screen below is what is shown when you click the “Call” button. It prompts you to enter a number and then which number to dial to connect you. In this example it shows “Cell”, meaning it will call my cell to connect me to whoever I entered in the first box. The “Call” textbox recognizes your contacts so you can start typing in the name of the contact and it will pop up with suggestions. Once you hit connect it takes about 5-6 seconds and your phone will ring as soon as you pick up it connects the call.

The screen below is what is shown when you click the “SMS” button. Again, the “To” textbox recognized your contacts so you can enter names and it will pop up with suggestions. When your contact receives the message it will be from your Google Voice number and when they reply it goes to your Google Voice number and is also forwarded to your Cell Number.

Below is a screen showing the SMS screen which shows the dialogue in a chat format.

Voicemails are stored here and you just click play to listen to the message. You can also email, download or embed the voicemail. Very cool feature if you want to share a voicemail with a colleague or friend. It also shows the transcript of the voicemail (if available).

As well as being able to view Placed and Received calls you can also view Missed calls (shown below). Notice the speaker icon. When you click this it plays the recorded name of the person calling you (assuming they aren’t in your contact list). From this screen you can add the contact or block the caller.

The screenshots below show the setting options you have to play around with such as call screenings, how you want notifications sent, call presentation, voicemail pin and voicemail transcription.

The screen below is how you add different forwarding numbers to your Google Voice account. This is where you would enter your cell or landline phone information.

The screen below is how you add different groups messages. If you already have your Google contacts setup in groups this will be a snap. Just create a custom voicemail greeting for each of your groups.

The screen below is the HTML code for the widget that you can put on your website. This is a nice feature because you have the option to have all incoming calls from the widget go straight to voicemail. That way your phone is not ringing off the hook.

This shows your balance for making international calls. From here you can add credits using a credit card.  The Google Voice account is pre-loaded with $1 for international calling. You can check the rates here if you are interested but they seem to be pretty competitive.

OK now that you have an idea of the service lets test out the transcription service. I left the following voicemail message reading it word for word: “This is a test of the Google Transcript Service from Techie Talker dot com”. The screen below shows the transcription which says, “This is a test with google transmits service from techy talker dot com”. So it wasn’t 100% perfect but it was enough to understand the message.  I have also noticed that with longer messages it fails to transcribe at all.  This seems to be a bug that Google is working on because it has been getting better in the last couple weeks.

It also created the email message below.

Bottom Line

The service is awesome! Some things I would like to see improved upon are:

• SMS speed. Sometimes when sending SMS it takes 30-45 seconds to receive the message. I noticed that other times  it was almost instant so I am assuming this is a bandwidth issue on Google’s end and am willing to bet this would be resolved prior to public release.
• Number porting.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you could take you current number and port it to Google Voice?  I bet Google is fighting for this but I have a hard time seeing carriers like AT&T and Sprint agreeing to this.
• Group Text Message.  This would be nice to be able to send out Party or Meeting invites to a group of people via SMS.
• Conference Calling.  Having the ability to connect with multiple people would be a cool feature to have.  Just imagine having conference calls and then being able to send the call in WAV format to everyone after the call.
• More accurate Transcriptions.  The feature is so cool that I hardly can complain but it would be nice to see this get more and more accurate over time.  Some cases don’t transcribe at all which hopefully will be resolved by Google.

So enough from me…what do you want to see Google add to the Voice service???  Also, if I missed anything or if you have any questions on the service just let me know and I would be happy to help with whatever I can.