Google has recently launched a new service called GoogleVoice on March 11th 2009. The application allows you to manage your voice communication in a better way.
Google in the year 2007 acquired GrandCentral, a service that was founded by Craig Walker and Vincent Paquet in the year 2005. After acquiring this service, Google seemed to be very quiet and very less information was let out about this service, which really made others think if this service has been abandoned.
The dearth of information and the lack of customer support for this service worried the GrandCentral customers to a great level. But Google was plainly working on this service during the entire period and it has now relaunched the GrandCentral as GoogleVoice service.
GoogleVoice service also called as GV is now available for all the GrandCentral customers and will soon be offered for others too.GV service gives its user a number with which they can connect all their phone numbers. The concept of the service is very similar to the AT &T True connection 500.The entire service will be offered free of cost to all its customers.
Some of the features in GoogleVoice are
- The GV Service screens the callers based on the user settings and alerts the user about who is calling.
- GV users have an option to decide if they want to accept an incoming call after listening to the context of the call. Else you can either accept the call directly or decide to send a voice mail
- By blocking the unwanted callers, this service helps you to stay away from them.
- The service allows you to send and receive sms using your Google number from any phone device or choose to reply from the website. These messages will be stored in your inbox. Also it provides an option to reply to your voice mails and send direct sms to any phone contact.
- The service allows us to call anyone by providing the direct contact number or opt to call any of the voice mail numbers. When we call a phone contact, the GV service first calls our mobile number and then connects us to the destination. We also can place a call from our mobile by calling our Google number followed by the destination number. Similarly, incoming call to our Google number would make one or all your phones to ring based on your settings, thus allowing us to pick up the call using any of your mobile phone.
- There is an option to customize your incoming calls to your Google number and say in which mobile number you want to receive the call.
With these features, the GV service has covered most of the basic features that a mobile phone has. In addition to these features, the GV service also has the ability to turn call presentation off and set up custom groups.
Choosing an international number is not possible at present, but the GV team is working on that and soon will be available to the users. The GV service is available to all phones irrespective of the service providers.
To know more about GV and its service, visit the GoogleVoice Blog here
CC Image Credit : Marcopako and Adriarichards