“We’ve heard,” says Google’s official blog today, that “college students, in particular, really appreciate getting their voice mail sent to their e-mail, sending free text messages, and reading voice-mail transcriptions, rather than listening to messages (especially handy while in class).”
And not-so-coincidentally, Google has a service that does just that. Google Voice for Students gives a person all this for nothing—as long as that person has an e-mail address that ends in “.edu.” The rest of us, well, just have to know someone well-connected to get an invite.
Actually, it’s a nice service. You get a new phone number, and can forward all your other phones to that, and get all your mail in one place. And once you stop being amused by the way the transcription feature sometimes turns your friends’ words into things they didn’t really say, you will find it to be useful. Maybe on your new Android phone, also from Google? Which gives you Gmail, also from Google? And that you searched for and bought with a search engine, also from …
7 Responses to Google Gives Students a Portable Voice
diggs808 - May 14, 2010 at 5:30 pm
“The rest of us, well, just have to know someone well-connected to get an invite.”I have a Google Voice account with 3 invites left…I’m not well connected. :-/
pstoyka - May 14, 2010 at 6:34 pm
hey you not connecetd…can you send me an invite pstoyka@gmail.com?That would be awesome…If not I understand.Thank you,Pamela
g8briel - May 14, 2010 at 6:35 pm
It is easy to get a Google Voice account. Just go to https://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/I got mine within a day. It is the same thing they are advertising with the product for students. My guess is this is their way of creating buzz.
cdjunkjunk - May 15, 2010 at 4:46 pm
The transcription service is beyond atrocious. I’m astounded they still have it out, seemingly with no improvement over the last 6+ months. (If anything, it seems worse.)Go with YouMail until Google Voice gets their act together. Sure, transcriptions cost a few bucks a month, but mine have been nearly flawless, and the basic service is free.
emmadw - May 17, 2010 at 5:28 am
g8rbiel said:”It is easy to get a Google Voice account. Just go tohttps://services.google.com/fb/forms/googlevoiceinvite/” … as long as you’re in the US! (My first thought was that it was language related, giving difficulties of transcription anyway, different languages would make it more difficult – but then I realised that not all voice mails in the US would be in English! COuld be in anything!) Anyone seen how it copes with Spanish? CHinese???
a_voice - May 17, 2010 at 10:59 am
It is important to remember that there are privacy implications in these services. They are valuable services, and I am not saying that we should not use them, but we should go in with the right expectations. We should not act surprised if the world “accidentally” learns about our call history and recorded voicemail and conversations.
pdfryer - May 17, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Google Voice needs work, but a GREAT concept. I’ve been using it since January.