The New Voice Isn’t Quite Ready To Be Your Only Number

The New Voice isn’t Quite Ready to be Your Only Number

BY GreenBot Staff

GreenBot Staff

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All Articles by GreenBot Staff

Published 31 Jan 2017

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Voice was sprung from an extended stay in digital purgatory. Google unveiled a refreshed design for the website of the mobile app. It updated the look and dropped in a few new features. It was long overdue. Voice was so old and neglected. The version right before the update looked like this. Voice had been abandoned by Google for a long time. Voice now is modern and suitable in line with Material Design standards. You also now get support for group messages, adding images with MMS, and quick replies for those running Android Nougat. The real question, however, is if Voice finally lives up to the promise made. When the service was unveiled eight years ago; to be your one and only phone number.

A Little History

When Voice launched in 2009, phone communication was entirely different. Many people needed a 3×5 card to list all their phone numbers:

An office line
A company-assigned mobile device
A personal cell phone
A home line

It was a mess, and very easy to miss a call.

voicemail

Voice tried to fix all this by offering you a phone number that could simultaneously ring any of your devices. It could also help SMS messages. Limited MMS came much later so that you could, in theory, keep all your communication in one place. There was also centralized voicemail, so any of those phones enabled someone to leave a message for you. Retrievable from anywhere via an Android, iOS, or web app. Voice was built to be accessible across platforms. As time passed, mobile technology improved, and Voice didn’t quite keep up. The service languished without major updates, with the most significant move being a half-hearted merger with Hangouts. That was likely to reverse now that it is pivoting Hangouts toward the enterprise.

A Fresh Coat of Paint

The new Android app looks good and is easy to navigate, consistent with Google’s Material Design guidelines. The messaging section takes a lot of ideas from Google’s Messenger SMS app, using color variation for each conversation. There are two other sections, one for voicemail and the other for phone calls.

Googlevoice

New Look

As it did before, the voicemail will transcribe your messages so you can read what the caller said. Voice has sometimes given ridiculously bad transcripts, although the last few I received were pretty reliable. Voice finally looks like it belongs on a modern Android smartphone. Unlike on the iOS version, there’s no dialer. For that, you’ll need to use the Hangouts dialer or use the phone app. During setup, Voice will ask if you want to use your Voice number. To make all, some, or none of the calls. Decide how often you want to use Voice for making phone calls. While the makeover is excellent. There isn’t much in the way of killer new features or must-haves to make you switch from your current number. One area that stands out in need of future enhancement is messaging. I rely on changing the color for each contact to keep conversations straight. It’s something you can’t do with Voice. There’s also no way to import your existing text messages into Voice. Which means you have to go with a clean slate. If you want to transition to making your Voice number your main one. Also, someone would call my Voice number if I had Gmail open on the desktop. Sometimes the call would come through Hangouts on Gmail instead of my phone. Call quality was good, and it was convenient to check your voicemail call log from your desktop. But the inconsistency was a little weird. Place outgoing calls with the dialer.Most people don’t leave voice mails anymore, opting to send a text instead of realizing you’ll call back once you see the missed number. I have friends and colleagues who explicitly state something akin to don’t bother leaving a message on their voicemail messages. I don’t check this.

So, Who’s It For?

At this point, nothing compelling makes me want to abandon my primary number and go full-time with Voice. You’re most likely to feel this way if you have a Pixel. As Hangout’s dialer app smartly blocks spam and puts a search right into the dialer caller ID. Voice is most useful for those who want a second number for a small business. Or a secondary number to give contacts you’d rather not have your main line. Where Voice can succeed is by building superior features. RCS messaging would be nice. Recently there was a rumor of VOIsupport Wi-Fi calling. A flurry of updates with new features may make it enjoyable. But it’s unclear what exactly the long-term plan is for the service. Between Voice, Allo, Hangouts, and the company’s messaging strategy is still as murky as ever.