Google Voice
- Voicemails now integrated into the call log; no more app switching required; looks great on Ice Cream Sandwich; fast.
Cons:
- Transcription is still wonky, but good enough; only for ICS, the other 98.4% of us are left out (for now); would add convenience to see texts in call log as well.
- Build 0.4.2.54
- by Google, Inc.
Google rolled out an update to its killer Voice app today (Thanks +Kyle Marshal for sharing on G+). The bad news for most of us (like me, still on the amazing, ironman OG Droid) is that the new juicy stuff that Google added only works on ICS enabled phones; effectively limiting its usefulness to about 1.6% of the Android universe.
The big deal here is visual voicemail integration which allows us to now view and listen to voicemails on demand directly from the call log. Sweet. Sweet. No more app switching required.
Here’s the three things you should do right now:
1. Go to the Play Store and download Voice, or upgrade as applicable.
2. Launch Voice, go to Settings, and check “Voicemail display”.
3. You friend are done!
Now voicemails will appear alongside outgoing, incoming, and missed calls in the phone’s call log. Just touch them to play.
It works as advertised. I love it. I can’t wait for the day when we don’t need voice plans. As an aside I should point out that the ICS look and feel is just stellar in pure form (i.e. Nexus style).
One nit: I’d like to see texts integrated into the call log as well. With that, there’d be no reason to have a separate Voice app, and I suspect that’s where Google is headed.
If you’re thinking of upgrading to ICS, you just gone one more non-Roboto reason to do so asap (But I ask you: HTC One X or Galaxy S III or Droid Fighter?).
But, if I have an OG Droid how on earth did I test the new Google Voice feature. You can probably tell from the photos that I was able to root a Galaxy S II thanks to a Friend of Stark, and now — Touchwiz be gone! — I’m enjoying the pure Google experience, as long as wi-fi is nearby that is.
