Google Voice is still Lacking
I’ve been a religious Google Voice user for awhile now, so it really bothers me that it is still lacking feature wise. Of course, I’ve been helping with some of these missing features (re: Google Voice for Outlook) but there are still plenty more missing as well as some minor issues I have with the service.
Multimedia Messaging (MMS)
For some reason, Google Voice still lacks this functionality. It can’t be THAT difficult, can it? I mean, the iPhone managed to add it before Google Voice, and if you really want to compete in the mobile business, its kind of necessary to have MMS, as SMS is pretty much irrelevant now.
Not only that, but any MMS that is sent to a Google Voice number is just lost. Couldn’t they at least be forwarded to my email address? I don’t like the fact that I could be losing incoming messages to /dev/null, and its even more annoying having to give out two different phone numbers (one for MMS and one for SMS).
Shortcodes
It is all well and good that Google’s own shortcodes work through Google Voice, but not so fantastic that nobody else’s does. I don’t want to be passing around two sets of phone numbers, and I’d love the ability to just set to spam a shortcode that is getting out of hand and won’t let me unsubscribe (if that ever happens). Developers pay tons of money to set up shortcodes, so why doesn’t Google Voice support them?
API
Google Voice is a Service. I use it with my cell, with my home phone, and with my computer. But in order to make desktop apps or things like Google Voice for Outlook possible, an API is almost necessary. I’ve managed to do it without one, but it still pretty much sucks.
Outlook Mobile Service
Companies charge tons of money for people to have the ability to send text messages through Microsoft Outlook. Adding the very simplistic SOAP server to the Google Voice backend would allow anyone with Microsoft Office to send text messages, forward emails, and receive reminders and notifications for FREE, something that is usually charged 10 cents or more per message. (Combine this with MMS as mentioned above, and it gets EVEN BETTER!)
Internet Fax Service
Google Voice already has “Receive Faxes” as a “Suggest a Feature.” Adding this and providing users on computers a way to send faxes would increase productivity and make the service even more useful to small companies and freelancers.
Keep in mind, these are just a few ways that Google could improve Google Voice, there are tons more.
What do you want to see added?
Somebody loves Google Voice Outlook Mobile Service~ ♥
BareBones Networking (Picture is linked) wanted to use my Google Voice OMS Code, so I took all day customizing the code and getting it working on his server, I’m proud to announce that he is willing to allow public use (please be reasonable with it though, please?) So head on over to the BareBones Networking OMS page, type in your GMail Login, click Setup, and follow Outlook (2007 or 2010)’s Instructions and you’ll be ready to send Text Messages FOR FREE through Microsoft Outlook.
I’ll set up a landing page/site soon that gives the whole setup experience a pretty web interface too (maybe with FAQ for the technically challenged).
Enjoy =)
The Mysterious 50500
Last Night I was working on a job site, and I had checked into it using Foursquare (twice, the first time a typo). I was wondering if there was a way to undo a check-in, or something similar. So, of course, I texted “help” to 50500 (the US Shortcode for Foursquare) and I got back the following message:
2 Vicinite alerts/wk, tones/video clips: $0.49-$9.99/mth+ msg&data rates may aply. Visit vicinite.com/index2.html or 8666443345. STOP 2quit.
Wait, what? That has nothing to do with Foursquare at all. What is going on here? So, I decided to google the shortcode for more information, and found out its ALSO used for Contxts, another service I used. Just to make sure, I texted “David” to 50500 and what do I know? His business card was texted right back to me, with the sender labeled as “Foursquare” due to me having set the number as Foursquare’s in my address book.
This is kind of fishy, in my opinion. How, and Why do these three services share the same shortcode number? They seem to have nothing to do with each other, either.
So then… how do they pull it off?
How Google Voice Could Gain a Head in the Business World
Google Voice, albeit still in Beta, is a very popular Google application for creating a single phone number to manage all your phones, with texting, and times to ring and not ring them. It’s very powerful.
One of the nicest additions is the ability to read and reply to SMS on your computer. I, personally, find this one of Google Voice’s best features. Even if you don’t have a Cell Phone – you can sign up for Google Voice and now you have free texting. What could be better?
Well, I can think of one thing – Connecting it with Outlook
Outlook has, in the last few versions, supported adding a SMS Bridge using whatever protocol it is they use in addition to a MAPI store. It wouldn’t be very hard for Google Voice to tap into this, and provide free text messages for all Outlook Users – It would even gain a competitive edge over other service providers, in that your text messages from outlook would come from your actual phone number, and replies to them would be sent to your computer and your phones.
Now, I was going to be mean and keep this idea all to myself – but not only do I NOT have hosting with SSL (I can’t afford it~) but I don’t know anything about the various protocols I would need to know in order to make this work.
So Google, don’t you think it’s time to take the Business World by storm with your revolutionary phone service?
(PS: I would also like MMS. Even the iPhone got it before you did, and that’s sad.)