Google Voice provides what amounts to a universal phone number that can reach you through one or several of your mobile, home, business, or other numbers, and includes voicemail that is transcribed to text using Google speech recognition technology. The service has been limited by a requirement for requests that Google must approve. Google said in a blog, "The feedback from early users has been terrific, and the requests for invites have been flowing in." The company recently purchased one million phone numbers, suggesting that Google Voice is more than just an experiment (SSN, July 2009, p. 1). One possible inconvenience with trying to make the Google number the one number your contacts call is that, if you make a call from your mobile phone, for example, the recipient will see your mobile phone number as the incoming number, and would most likely use that number, rather than the Google Voice number, to call you. In July, Google addressed that problem. The company introduced Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android. Previously, to place a call using Google Voice, you had to dial your own Google Voice number from your cell phone or use the Quick Call button online. With the new mobile app, you can make calls and send SMS messages with your Google Voice number directly from your mobile phone. The app is integrated with each phone's contacts, so you can call via Google Voice straight from your address book. From the mobile app, you can: - Access voicemail: Read message transcripts, see text along with playback of messages, read SMS messages sent to your Google Voice number (even if your phone doesn't receive SMS messages), and access your call history; - Place calls that display your Google Voice number from your address book, the app dialer (Blackberry) or the native dialer (Android); and - Place international calls at low rates. The app is available from the Google Voice mobile site at m.google.com/voice or through the Android Market. For other than a Blackberry or an Android-powered device, there is a mobile web version of the Google Voice site (accessible by typing www.google.com/voice into a mobile browser) that allows access to Google Voice features.
