People were amazed when visual voicemail came out on the iPhone but Google Voice is 5 steps ahead of that. Google Voice offers a whole list of features.
- Call screening – Announce and screen callers
- Listen in – Listen before taking a call
- Block calls – Keep unwanted callers at bay
- SMS – Send, receive, and store SMS
- Place calls – Call US numbers for free
- Taking calls – Answer on any of your phones
- Phone routing – Phones ring based on who calls
- Forwarding phones – Add phones and decide which ring
- Voicemail transcripts – Read what your voicemail says
- Listen to voicemail – Check online or from your phone
- Notifications – Receive voicemails via email or SMS
- Personalize greeting – Vary greetings by caller
- Share voicemail – Forward or download voicemails
The coolest features by far are answering on any of your phones from your Google number, personalized greeting depending on who is calling, and voicemail transcripts for a written version of the voicemail.
Right now Google Voice is only available to GrandCentral users. You can get an invite though.
Google has reserved 1 million phone numbers already for use on Google Voice. I plan on getting one of those numbers. Stay tuned for more updates on when Google Voice will become open to all.
Tags: google, google number, google phone service, google voice, grandcentral, voice