As many of you have already heard, Google is finally doing something with Grandcentral. They had acquired it awhile back and the Beta has been closed to new users pretty much ever since. HOWEVER, timmyjohnboy acquired a number before they closed and I love it!

As is Google’s habit when they acquire projects, they’ve redone everything, hopefully for the better (not that I haven’t loved Grandcentral so far)!  Grandcentral went from this:

to this:

As you can see the look has definitely changed to a more “Google” type of look.  As usual, Google Voice has fewer graphics making it look pretty, however they’ve made the usability consistent with other Google services.  Is this a good thing?  If you’re used to using Google then it will be.

Let’s go over some of the features of Grandcentral and how Google Voice has changed them.

Grandcentral as a service promised people one phone number “for life.”  Basically, it gave the ability to obtain a local phone number, and forward calls to it to your other phones (ie. home, cell, work, etc.).  This way, you can give out one number and receive calls wherever you need to.  It also gave people options such as:

1. Voice mail (retrievable by calling your GC number or online),
2. Voice mail listening in (allowing you to listen as someone records a voicemail – creepy?),
3. Call recording (I believe it notifies both ends that recording has begun),
4. Call forwarding to your other numbers (answer a call on your cell that was intended for your wife?  Send it to the home number for her!),
5. Block unwanted callers (send calls to a SPAM voice mail box or block them completely and play the “This number is not in service” message),
6. Ring different phones depending on who’s calling (family can be directed to one number and work contacts can be forwarded to another, etc. – you can even use different greetings according to the person calling!),
7. Webcall Button (visitors can call you directly from your blog or website, the enter their number and Grand central would ring their phone and then connect them to you)
8. Switch calls to different phones depending on the time of day, as in after work hours, etc. (this feature was fairly limited to the times Grandcentral offered.  I’m hoping Google gives us more flexibility)

Wow!  Now that’s a lot of feaures!  The one’s I like to use are voice mail, and ring multiple phones.  I’m also using the webcall widget (check out my contact page).

As you know, Google has reworked Grandcentral into what they are calling Google Voice.  They’ve kept most of the features and have added a few of their own, including:

1. Conference calling – check out the video:
   
2. SMS – send, receive, or store text messages – check out the video:
3. Voice mail transcriptions – check out the video:

I’m sure there are more features to come and they’re working on imporving the features they already offer (for instance, the transcription service isn’t word-perfect but they are working on improvements).

Head over to Google Voice’s website and get an invite when they open back up (I think in a matter of weeks, they say).

One more thing… I want to put the transcription service to the test!  When someone calls and leaves a message for me in my Google Voice mail box, they automatically transcribe it for me (this option can be turned off).  Either head over to my contact page or use the widget I posted below and drop me a line!  I want to see if the transcription is fairly accurate.  If you are going to call, and if you want to be part of  this test, follow these guidelines:

1. Leave your first name
2. Let me know that I have your permission to post the voice clip and transcription on this blog
3. No profanity or offensive speech (I’m the sole judge) or I won’t post it
4. Tell me I am cool! (ok, this one isn’t mandatory, but I’ll be your friend!)

Thanks a bunch!

OK, here goes!  Thank you to the following readers willing to help me test Google Voice’s voice mail transcription service.  Check out the following:

• Brett:  “hey dan john button it’s your buddy brat i’m trying to go if alright johnson and i’m looking forward to whenthey go public alright thanks hope this helps” – They’ll get better, I’m sure!  Thanks Brett, nice to hear from you!
• Jessica: “hey guys it’s jessica i just wanna let you know that my sister’s just drop me off at the church but i will need a ride home so i hope you get this i’ll talk to you later bye” – Wow!  I think it only missed one word!
• Jim: “hey this is bernard test my name is jim and i know you want us to transcription service and i want to test it too thanks for taking the time to see you later” – Not the worst one so far but better than Brett’s (sorry brett)!  Nice to hear from you JIM and thanks for helping me test!

Anyone else willing to help me test Google Voice?  Use the “Call Me” widget above!