Google relaunches GrandCentral as Google Voice
GrandCentral lets you set up a single phone number that you can give out to anyone. When they call that number, it will ring any phone number you've linked to the account. So you can print a single number on your business card, and people will be able to reach you on your home, work, and cellphones. The service also lets you record phone calls, screen calls, create rules for calls coming from specific numbers, and receive email notifications of voicemail messages.
Google Voice has all those features, plus a few new ones, like the ability to make free calls to US numbers and cheap calls to other numbers, make conference calls, and send, receive, store, and search SMS messages.
You'll also get transcripts of all your voicemail messages. That alone is pretty cool. Google will use an automated method to convert speech to text - a service other companies are charging for. Why? My guess is because Google wants to monetize GrandCentral the same way it has Gmail: With contextually relevant ads that will show up in your sidebar. And in order to determine what ads are relevant, Google needs to translate speech to text.
The company admits that the automated transcripts won't be perfect. But the company has been fine tuning its speech recognition software for the last year or two with the Goog-411 service.
You can find a more complete list of Google Voice features at the Google Voice homepage.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
a said 10:25AM on 3-12-2009
wait, so it's like Skype but free? free phone calls? is that a pig flying?
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boardtc said 10:45AM on 3-12-2009
When I try and login I get an 'invalid request' message.
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funkatronic said 1:27PM on 3-12-2009
Probably not ready for public consumption yet; I can't log in either.
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Zack said 1:27PM on 3-12-2009
Now we see why Google stopped the 3rd-party iPhone apps from using its SMS-email feature to send free text messages a few days ago.
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John said 1:27PM on 3-12-2009
I can't login either...
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Ken said 1:32PM on 3-12-2009
Is it a coincidence that this announcement comes on the heals of Google's patent settlement with Klausner?
As a GrandCentral and Android user, I'm extremely excited about the possibilities.
Can't stop pinging the GC Inbox!
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Kyoko said 1:52PM on 3-12-2009
saw it on my inbox, like an invite.
click and (cmiiw) merge your GC email with your google account, and you will be thrown straight to the main google voice inbox.
all my previous contacts from GC gone, and not merged automatically to my google contacts.
SMS to indonesia works, but when my friend from indonesia replies (Which I'm still a bit clueless), either get forwarded to my cellphone or i didn't get my friend's reply to the google sms box.
so far so good.
some complains, the option "play number not in service" is nowhere to be found, and also international rates to call indonesia is more expensive compared to skype.
I can see very soon it can be merged with google talk, similar to skype.
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Kyoko said 1:52PM on 3-12-2009
by the way, "inbox" meaning: go to your grandcentral console, click on the "inbox" tab, and you'll see it there.
(first I thought inbox, meaning my email's inbox)
ChiliPepr said 5:11PM on 3-12-2009
Kyoko:
Yikes - no "play number not in service" option? That option is invaluable. Nowhere to be found?
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ChiliPepr said 6:07AM on 3-13-2009
Found it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEIf_Ndwzcg
Alok said 10:43AM on 3-13-2009
Yeah, have been wanting Google to cast its magic over Grandcentral. Overall I am happy with the result, read a complete review of Google Voice at http://truvoip.blogspot.com/2009/03/welcome-google-voice-goodbye.html
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samuel said 7:54AM on 4-20-2009
I hope this will come to the UK, soon.
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