Monday, December 21, 2009

Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android

It’s been an exciting few months since we announced Google Voice. The feedback from early users has been terrific, and the requests for invites have been flowing in. We started sending invites a few weeks ago and will keep sending them daily.

At the same time, we continue to improve the service and address your requests and feedback. Among the most requested features are tools to make placing outgoing calls from your Google Voice number easier. So today, we’re pleased to announce a 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 this new mobile app, you can make calls and send SMS messages with your Google Voice number directly from your mobile phone. The app is fully 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 your voicemail: read message transcripts, follow along with "karaoke-style" 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)
Send SMS messages that display your Google Voice number
Place international calls at low rates



You can download the app from the Google Voice mobile site at m.google.com/voice. It's also available in Android Market — just search for "Google Voice."

And for those of you who don't have a Blackberry or an Android-powered device, we have a mobile web version of the Google Voice site (accessible by typing www.google.com/voice into your mobile browser) that allows you to access Google Voice features.

You'll need a Google Voice account to use the mobile application. Currently, Google Voice is only available in the U.S. If you'd like to check it out, request an invite here.

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