Edwin Landy

I've had my Google Voice account for a while now, and I have to say that I'm liking it. I've had some time to play around with some extra features...specifically its support for Gizmo5. I have to say that it has changed the way that I look at my mobile phone. I can fully understand Apple's fear over Google Voice. He're what I've learn while playing around.

Google Voice Has Been Working Fine

I keep waiting for a service interruption or something that really turns me off to Google Voice, but so far I've got very little to complain about. Really, there are only two things: 1. I can't record a voicemail message on my computer and then upload it to Google Voice and 2. I can't send a SMS message to multiple people (but, hey, they're free). I really love Google's application for the Android operating system. The application allows me to listen to my voicemail messages straight from the application, includes transcriptions, and lets me dial out using my Google number without having to do anything special. This function is great, because the last thing you want to do is have your cell phone's number show up in your contact's caller ID when you're trying to get them to call you back on your one Google Voice number. If only iPhone users could be as happy as I!

Steve Jobs is a Douche (Did I spell douche right?)

I have never been a big fan of Apple. I'm not saying that they have bad products, it's just that they don't pass the smell test. I mean, what kind of company limits the number of buttons I can have on my mouse to one? Ridiculous. I have to admit, though, that I would have gotten an iPhone if it had a keyboard. I held off on buying a smart smart-phone (all I had was a blackberry) until the G1 came out, because it had a physical keyboard. Man, did I make a lucky decision! It turns out that I really didn't need a physical keyboard (but I do like it). The virtual keyboard on the iPhone is pretty good, I hear. But, the iPhone sucks for another, more important reason: It's locked down by an insane one-mouse-button-loving freak. I would be red-faced, gun-cleaning mad right now if I had an iPhone when Apple denied the official Google Voice application. I have no evidence that proves that Steve Jobs made the decision, but it had to be that douche that did it. They had a non-official Google Voice application in the app store before Jobs came back from his leave, then in comes Jobs and out goes Google Voice. How irresponsible are they? Why would they do such a thing? These are questions I asked myself before I installed the Gizmo5 client, and I realized how Google Voice can be used to wean people off the TelCos' systems.

Telephone Companies are What I Use When I Don't Have a Wi-Fi Connection

When you use your Google Voice account with a regular phone, all your calls are placed on your phone carrier's line. Even with the Android Google Voice application, behind the scenes Google calls you on your cell phone's number and then just forwards you to the number you dialed. There is no way of getting around this, unless you use a Gizmo5 account. Gizmo is a VOIP provider, and they're the only one currently supported by Google. With Gizmo, I can make and receive calls from my computer for free. That's really no big deal, a lot of companies have come and gone that allowed me to do that. The exceptions are that this service actually works, and now I carry a computer (my G1) with me everywhere I go. Of course, the telco's won't allow me to make calls through Gizmo while I'm on their 3G network, so I will still have to use them when I don't have a WiFi connection. But, the future looks bright. We are closer to finally having Internet freedom on our mobile devices. Hopefully it comes sooner than later.