GV Integrates Google Voice into Android
Android only: Android users looking to switch over to Google Voice full-time like I am, check out GV. GV provides calling and SMS support via your Google Voice number that isn’t perfect, but is close.
Google Voice: Coming soon
Google Voice is a service that gives you one number for all your phones, voicemail that is easy as email, and many enhanced calling features like call blocking and screening, voicemail transcripts, call conferencing, international calls, and more.
Google Voice is currently available for GrandCentral users only, but will be open to new users soon. In the meantime, please leave us your email address and we’ll notify you as soon as Google Voice becomes available. To learn more about Google Voice, check out our feature videos.
When can I sign up?
We expect to have the service ready for new users in a matter of weeks, and are focused on opening it as soon as possible.
What if I reserved a number on the GrandCentral site before?
We will be emailing you when Google Voice is open to the public to sign up for the service.
How much does it cost?
The service is free.
What do I do if I am already a GrandCentral user?
Over the next few days, instructions will appear in your inbox on how to upgrade your GrandCentral account to Google Voice. Thanks for your patience.
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GV’s About dialog says that GOOG hasn’t released an official, supported API for the product, so it’ll only work as long as Google Voice’s mobile interface doesn’t change. No doubt the Android developers at Google are busy at work building default hooks to Google Voice into a future release of the mobile phone operating system. But until Google Voice support comes out of the box, GV’s the way to go.
Install GV from the Android Market (it’s free), and hit up the settings to enter your Google Voice username, password, and phone number. From there, any time you make a call or send an SMS, you have the choice to use your Google Voice number or your cell phone number.
Here’s what that looks like.
Tap and hold on a contact you want to text or call, and GV will ask which method you want to use, as shown.

Since I’m switching to my Google Voice number full-time, I checked off that “Use by default for this action” box before I chose GV for both texting and calling.
For the most part the transition to Google Voice with GV is going well for me, save a couple oddities that take some getting used to.
First, to place a call, you tap your contact, and GV calls you first. You pick up, and then it rings your contact. That’s the only way to have your GV number show up on the caller ID on the other end-but it’s still weird when you’re used to just picking up a phone and dialing.
Update: Commenter Oren points out that in GV’s settings, you can choose “Dial out” instead of “Call back” as the method for calling a contact. That option calls Google Voice, which prompts you to “dial the number of the person you want to call.” Hang in for a moment, and do nothing, and GV will ring the contact you chose automatically. Awesome, thanks, Oren!

Second, when you text message a contact from your GV number via GV, and that person replies, you can reply back to their message-but the “From:” number is an unknown 406 phone number. Again, you can save that Google-Voice-to-contact specific number in their contact record, but it introduces yet another phone number into the scenario.
Google Voice is still young and needs more work to grab the folks without high tolerances for multiple-phone-number complexity in exchange for the convenience it provides. But for the early-ish adopters on Android, the GV app is a good bet.


brijmin on Tech











February 10th, 2010 at 7:56 am
I love Google Voice. There SMS feature in truth got me into it. I can send off free text messages to Bangladesh, India, and USA. It saves me good money on my texting program from Verizon Wireless because I can utilize that to send now. I think Google always does a wonderful job of giving customers what they want and need. I have discovered in the future they are mixing Voice with the Android. Plus they purchased a new VoIP company which they will integrate with the other two to give some quality features. I need to get me a Androind now haha.