What is Google Voice doing about the iPhone ?
I am a heavy user of Google Voice but the iPhone support is awful – it’s that basic.
There are four options:
- the dial interface to Google Voice – the average call takes about 24 digits !
- the Google Voice web app – runs in Safari and looks it
It suffers from log-in limitations of iPhone Safari, and it’s just a web site - the GV Mobile+ native app – only available if you Jailbreak your device
- the Black Swan VoiceCentral "client side web app" – checks for updates via the web but stores most of it’s function and data in LocalStorage, but suffers from cross-site JavaScript restrictions which puts a "man in the middle" and its $6/yr (every year)
There are likely two directions for Google:
- deliver their own "client side web app" – direct from the GoogleVoice site
- deliver "some other app" that has Google Voice features in it – this might happen given their acquisition of Gismo5
I’d be happy with either of the "possible" Google Voice directions. I’d vote for a real app, especially since I have a Gizmo5 account. I’d vote for a "client side web app" almost as fast !
Easy answer is Android – once you configure google voice you just use the phones native dialer app
I’d buy an app for a phone. I would not buy a phone for an app
I’m thinking Android. I have a Sprint HTC Touch with no contract, a 69 dollar Everything unlimited plan and seemingly unlimited free replacement phones under my insurance. (good thing they seem to go out every 6 months or so). Been very happy with it and sprint. But my phone is no longer made and these replacements are getting more and more obviously refurbished and last fewer and fewer months. so..was thinking maybe a nice googleicious phone, on sprint or another provider to go with the nice googledog contract I just got to exercise the little beasts at the office. You don’t like the android OS?? or is it the phones? or is the pull of the iPhone?
My take on the iPhone vs Android is part practical and part paranoia. On the practical side, I have collected the apps I need to do what I do. Some were free, some were not. Collectively, they do A LOT of stuff. Transitioning from an iPod Touch to an iPhone is “just more good stuff”. There is no learning curve. Going to an Android phone means finding all those apps (and in a number of cases the apps don’t exist and may or may not in the future. The paranoia part is the bad taste that was left in my mouth after 8 months of “trying to the the right thing” and switch from Windows to Ubuntu. In the end, I gave up. While Ubuntu was very good, there was no denying it added work to my life for no gain. I learned a lot, trying to use Linux but I had to do a lot of debugging, tweaking, editing, configuring, and more to have the same level of functionality that I had with Windows. I suspect, the same could be true with an Android phone.
So it comes down to “if a new iPhone and a new Android phone will cost me the same and the contracts will cost me the same, why *wouldn’t* I buy an iPhone?”