Zane Burnett reviews Google Voice, Part Deux

This segment of the overview, installment 2 of 3, will go over Google Voice’s voicemail capabilities.

The voicemail functions described by Google offer the user with many options, mostly designed to increase the level of ease with which one can access their voice messages.

Voicemail Transcripts
With the transcript functionality enabled, Google utilizes it’s innovative speech-to-text technology to transcribe voicemails that are left for you. Admittedly, the technology isn’t perfect, so Google warns users that they may encounter a few transcription errors every once in a while. Enabling/disabling this feature is simple, as it requires the user to either check or uncheck a box, telling Google what your preference is.

Perhaps even more fascinating is the potential that this type of technology has. While the speech-to-text craze finally seemed to gain a solid foothold at the beginning of 2009, the race now seems to be towards who can perfect it. Currently, Google uses the same technology for this feature as it does for its free directory service, Goog-411. With such a precise technology in place, it could potentially unlock countless possibilities for people who cannot hear by allowing them to see transcribed versions of their voicemails. Conversely, it could also work in the favor of those who cannot see, as the technology is also aimed to render text-to-speech.

Listen to Voicemail
Those of you with an iPhone are very familiar with the ability to see a sorted list of voicemails by name, giving you the capability to quickly scan which ones you want to listen to by simply pressing the “play” button. This enables the user  to quickly access the desired voicemail without having to cycle through prompts on their phone.

Google Voice takes this a step further. In your Google Voice inbox, you will not only see a list similar to that of an iPhone’s, but you will also see the transcribed version of all voicemails beneath each person’s name. You have the option to read the transcription and/or listen to the actual voicemail at will. Furthermore, you can search for a voicemail. For example, if you were looking for the voicemail that your boss left you last week, you could simply enter “boss” on your Google Voice search bar and it would return all saved voicemails that were left by him/her.

Notifications
This feature is fairly self explanatory. Depending on your settings, Google will alert you via SMS and/or email once a voicemail has been left on your Google numbers. The message will include a text rendering of the voicemail itself, along with the ability to play it aloud.

Personalized Greetings

Just another night out with Ivanka and Keira…

Every budding professional is tasked with the excruciating decision of whether or not they should abandon their youthful livelihood and change their obnoxious voice mail greeting from “Shouldn’t you be out partying right now?!?!?! I AM!!! LEAVE A MESSAGE!!!”

…to the more sterile “Hello. You have reached the voicemail of Zane Burnett. I’m currently away from my phone (because I’m professional) so please leave your name, number, and a short message, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.Thanks a lot.”

Thankfully, with Google Voice, you can maintain all aspects of your personality accordingly and without compromise. In the admin panel, users can select custom greetings by individual or group. Meaning, if you want

your boss to hear one voicemail greeting, but would like your mother to hear a more personalized, tender version of why you can’t pick up the phone, it’s quite simple to do. On the same note, you can select custom greetings by group. Using the same example, one can opt to have all contacts listed as “work” hear one voicemail greeting, while contacts listed under “family” hear a completely different one.

Share Voicemail

Lastly, Google Voice gives you the opportunity to share your voicemails with the world.  You can forward the voicemail as an email, you can download the voicemail for storage, or you can embed the voicemail onto your own personal website or blog… creating yet another reason to listen to your best friend at 3:00am and never, never, never dial anyone who isn’t listed as “Taxi” in your phonebook.