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Google Voice Launches Today

by Terrence O'Brien on March 12, 2009 at 04:40 PM


Google has a vast catalog of wonderful, or at least potentially wonderful, applications. Unfortunately, for every top-notch, constantly-updating product like Gmail or Google Docs, there are plenty of others languishing in desperate need of attention, like Google Talk. But if there was one product that we thought most desperately needed attention, it was GrandCentral.

GrandCentral was an online phone service Google purchased a couple of years ago. Users signed up and received a free phone number. Calls to this number could be set to ring any of your pre-existing phones, like a home or cell phone, and new numbers could be added as needed. This meant that, in theory, your GrandCentral number would be the last phone number you'd ever need to give out. But, the service went largely untouched after Google bought it. Today, Google is finally trying to make good on the promise of the service by launching Google Voice.

Google Voice is essentially GrandCentral by another name, but with some new, very welcome features. It seems that Google Voice is designed to work with your Google Contacts (though we're still waiting for access to the service to confirm this), so there should be no need to create a separate address book. Using groups created in Contacts, you will be able to set your Google Voice number to send different callers to different phones (for example, when a coworker calls, your office line and cell phone will ring, but not your home phone).


All calls, and voicemails, will be cataloged online for your search and recovery, and Google will even transcribe voicemails so that you can read them. Google Voice also carries over other great GrandCentral features, including the ability to record calls with the press of a button (hit '4' to start and stop recording while on a call) and call switching (if you're on your house phone but on your way out the door, you can hit '*' and switch the call to your cell phone without skipping a beat).

Google has added some new features, too, though. Via a Web browser, you will be able to send and receive text messages (also archived online) and place calls from your Google Voice number. Alternatively, you can do the same by calling your Google Number from any phone and pressing '2.'

We've been big fans of GrandCentral since its launch in 2005, but have grown frustrated with the lack of updates. It should be no surprise, then, that we are very excited about this new launch and can't wait to get a hands-on with the service. If you want to see the complete list of features, check out the About Google Voice page.

Google Voice has competitors in services like jaxtr and RingCentral, and some features are available from standalone products like SimulScribe, and Skype. But, unlike those services, Google Voice is (at least for now) completely free.

So are you a GrandCentral customer? Are you seeing your Google Voice invite? What do you think of it? [From: Official Google Blog]

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Tags: free, google voice, GoogleVoice, grandcentral, new products, NewProducts, phone

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