Last week at the I/O developers conference, Google introduced Hangouts, a cross-platform unified messaging service. Although, the service didn’t quite incorporate all of Google’s messaging services at time of launch, it has been confirmed through Nikhyl Singhal’s Google+ page that Hangouts is in fact, “the future of Google Voice.” 

Hangouts is designed to be the future of Google Voice, and making/receiving phone calls is just the beginning. Future versions of Hangouts will integrate Google Voice more seamlessly.

In addition, if you already changed your Google Talk service to Hangouts inside of Gmail, you might have noticed that it does not support outbound voice calls. According to Nikhyl, Google’s real time communication product manager, this is also getting fixed soon. “We’re working hard on supporting both, and outbound/inbound calls will soon be available,” he said in a G+ post.

This should come as excellent news for all of us that have been either a.) been dying for a Google Voice update or b.) ready for Hangouts to become their one and only messaging application.

Via: +Nikhyl Singhal

Google Hangouts Confirmed to be Future of Google Voice is a post from: Droid Life

Yes, one of Google’s most ignored yet important apps, Google Voice, received an update this afternoon. Unfortunately for all of the service’s users, the update includes nothing new and is simply a stability or bug fixer. The changelog only says that it “improved the reliability of SMS delivery.”

No Babel love. No UI update. No MMS.

Play Link

Google Voice for Android Receives Update! is a post from: Droid Life

If you are a big fan of Android, you probably know how awesome Google Voice is in letting you create a second number that you can use through your main device for free. However, if you are looking for something a little more, disposable, Burner has just launched on Android and looks pretty slick. The app allows you to make a new number on your device and load it with pre-paid minutes, but if the CIA is ever on your tail you can “burn” the number and get rid of all your data. 

Now, we all might not be running from the government and trying to hide, but for people who are looking to sell things on Craigslist without giving out their actual cell number this could come in pretty handy. You can keep loading your new number with minutes and texts as long as you need them and it functions just as your normal phone line.

The app is free, but adding a line will cost you. If you’re looking to get a disposable number without the disposable phone, hit the link below

Play Link

Click here to view the embedded video.

Burner Releases on Android, Lets You Live Out Your Inner Spy Fantasies is a post from: Droid Life

Whenever Google Babel does arrive for public consumption, we’re starting to believe it will be everything we have ever asked for in a unified messenger service. We’re talking synced notifications, cross-platform conversation experiences, a new UI, photo sharing, quick access to live video chats, and on-the-record chat history viewing from anywhere. According to sources of ours who have shared new information with us (including a feature list), we’re getting all of this and more. 

Google Babel as a product is a collaboration of work by the Google+, Android, Chrome and Apps teams. Through their combined efforts, as was previously reported by us, we’ll see this unified service launch in Gmail and as Android, iOS, and Chrome apps. What’s particularly interesting, is that Google is talking about the iOS app as being the first time they have built a “first class iOS experience” when it comes to a messaging service. I can’t say that I’m familiar with their current iOS offerings, so I’ll leave the iOS experts to weigh in on the quality of Talk (if there even is an app) and G+ Messenger.

We’ve also learned that Google Voice support is “eventually” coming to Babel, however, the service initially only brings together Talk, Hangouts, and Messenger. This was an inclusion we were hoping to see from the beginning, but won’t, from what we understand. No specific details on how Voice will blend into Babel were given, just that it’s coming later on down the road.

Continuing on – there will be notification syncing across devices and platforms. For example, if you have a browser open on a desktop, laptop, tablet, and phone that are all attached to Babel and receive a message, once you check that message on any of the devices, the notification will disappear from the others. As someone who operates a half-dozen devices at any time throughout a day, I can’t tell you how important this feature is. It may be the most important.

We’ll also see a brand new UI that promotes conversations and is applied across all versions of Babel. You’ll be able to send photos, use 800+ emoji (not an exaggeration), look back at any on-the-recrod conversation from any device, group chat, and of course, carry all conversations with you to and from any device.

Here is a feature list according to a Google memo (colorful commentary is theirs, not ours):

1. Brand new UI. We’ve designed a new UI that’s applied across all clients and promotes conversations.
2. Stay in sync.  With just one conversation list and experience across mobile and desktop, everything is always in sync. Install the Chrome app, the Android app, and iOS app.
3. Desktop app.  Stop laying whack a mole across blinking browser tabs. With the new Chrome app your conversations continue outside of the browser.
4. Keep a group conversation going to coordinate with your team, and start a Hangout with a single tap whenever you need to talk face-to-face.
5. Be notified…just once.  Get notifications on your two phones, tablet, laptop, and desktop. Open it on one and watch the others disappear. If you’re actively using your computer or phone we’ll even intelligently notify you on just one of those endpoints. Magic!
6. Message more than just text.  Add a photo to the conversation and/or send some of the 800+ emoji to your coworkers. Kittens and poop are particularly helpful in explaining complex issues.
7. Get nostalgic.  Scroll back in time and relive any (on-the-record) conversation, on any device.
8. More ways to talk.  For the first time we are building a first class iOS experience. Try out our very early preview on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

I will say that the screenshots posted yesterday by TechRadar appear to me to be the real deal. From what I have seen, the emoji box does slide up from the bottom, though I’ve also seen the box with a black background. Conversations will look the same – threaded with profile pictures of the participants.

Still no word on a release date.

New thoughts on Babel?

Google Babel News: Google Voice Support “Eventually” Coming, Synced Notifications, “First Class” iOS Experience is a post from: Droid Life

Yesterday, the official Google Voice extension for Chrome received an update that introduced experimental desktop notifications. To our knowledge, this update has nothing to do with a unified Google chat service (internally called Babel) and is simply a stand-alone update and feature for the Google Voice extension. The notifications, if you are on a Windows machine, will look just like the picture we have included above. Again, to our knowledge, this has nothing to do with Google’s new unified chat service that is currently being dogfooded to employees. 

Via:  Google Voice Extension

Cheers Dominick, Josh and Tyler!

PSA: Google Voice Chrome Extension Updated Yesterday With Desktop Notifications, It’s Not Babel is a post from: Droid Life

Fellow Google Voice addicts, your DashClock extension dreams have finally been answered. Released this morning, we have an app called “Google Voice for DashClock” that does nothing more than display your last received message and number of unread new messages. You can also tap on items in DashClock to open the app. It’s incredibly simple, but is exactly what we have been waiting for – “we” as in those of us attached at the hip to Google Voice.

One thing to keep in mind, is that it requires you to enable it in Accessibility (Settings>Accessibility>DashClock Google Voice Extension). Also keep in mind that the app requires no special permissions, meaning it shouldn’t be able to capture any of your data. It should simply be relaying information from Google Voice to DashClock.

Play Link

Cheers Miguel!

Google Voice Extension Now Available for DashClock is a post from: Droid Life

Developer Francois Beaufort, the guy who first pointed out that Chrome would be receiving Google Now-like notifications, posted up the screenshot you are seeing above to his G+ account, today. In the shot, we are seeing at least two things that have grabbed our attention – rich notifications in Chrome OS and an icon that looks a lot like one that would be for a messenger client of sorts. 

First, on the right is a shot of what “rich” notifications will look like in Chrome OS. As you can see, it shows very much in the style of Google Now. It also seems to be showing notifications for missed calls (Google Voice?), users who have circled you (Google+), and messages from friends (Gmail or G+ Messenger). Unified messaging center? Umm, hell yes.

Taking that a step further, the icon in the launch bar by the Google Drive icon is something we haven’t seen before. Beaufort mentioned in his G+ post with the photo that he “doesn’t know yet” what that icon is, followed by a winking smiley face. What’s he hinting at here? In the comments of his screenshot, a number of G+ users are praying for this to be a unified messaging app from Google. For far too long have we had to deal with separated Google Talk, Voice, Messenger, Gmail, G+, etc.

But will it actually happen? At some point, it only makes sense that Google would try to release a unified messaging service. In fact, it should have been done long ago. But since they seem to have neglected Google Talk for the last two years, we can only hope that means they have been working on their next big solution.

Oh, and that argument is also helped by the fact that the icon looks like four messaging icons piled onto one another.

What do you think? Are we finally getting an all-in-one messaging solution from Google?

Via:  +François Beaufort

Cheers Dave!

Is This the Icon for a New All-in-One Messaging Service From Google? is a post from: Droid Life

When Android 4.2 was released yesterday to a handful of devices, many of you noticed that Google Voice was having issues. In fact, if you created a new text message, then tried to add a contact, it would Force Close immediately. Thankfully, Google was quick to react and has already released an update to the Play store which fixes it.

One thing should be noted, though – after updating, I was forced to setup my Google Voice again. I’m not sure if that was supposed to happen or not, but it did. Remember, setup for Google Voice in Jelly Bean has changed slightly. We have instructions here.

Play Link

Cheers T!

Google Voice Update Fixes Crashing Issue in Android 4.2 is a post from: Droid Life

This may be embarrassing, but I have to admit that when I first set up Google Voice on my Galaxy Nexus running Jelly Bean, that I was confused once I hit the Voicemail part. To hopefully help some of you skip the pain, I thought I would toss out this quick tip. It’s not unbelievably difficult by any means, but there is an extra step that you will want to make sure you complete. So here we go! 

Instructions:

1.  When you hit the “Set up voicemail” screen, tap “Configure.”
2.  At the “Call settings” screen, tap “Voicemail.”
3.  At the “Voicemail” screen, first tap on “Service.”
4.  Choose “Google Voice” and then head back to the “Voicemail” screen.
5.  Choose “Setup” and watch it switch over to your Google Voice number.
6.  Hit the Back button until you get back into Google Voice setup.
7.  The app will then finish and your voicemail will be setup correctly.

How to Setup Google Voice in Jelly Bean is a post from: Droid Life

Click here to view the embedded video.

Folks who are not taking advantage of Google Voice’s feature of saving messages to the cloud, may want to take a look at Uppidy. If you want to make sure you never lose an important text message or special picture you have received ever again, then check out the short video. The service automatically saves all of your messages to the cloud, then makes them available from any device, including your PC, from anywhere you are. It sounds perfect for the people who are constantly flashing new ROMs or getting new phones.

Sign up here.

Cheers Curtis!

Uppidy Saves Your Text Messages to the Cloud for Safe Keeping is a post from: Droid Life

If you love Google Voice as much as Kellex does, you should head on over to the Market and grab the newest version that just went live.  The update allows you to prefetch voicemails so they can be listened to offline, send multiple recipients the same text message, and receive better text message notifications. Was hoping for some MMS support, but I guess we will be waiting a tad-bit longer for that luxury.

What’s in this version:

1. Prefetch voicemails so they can be listened to even when there is no data coverage
2. Allow sending text messages to multiple recipients
3. Improved text message notification

Market Link

Cheers Siang!

Google Voice Updated – Better Text Notifications, Multiple Message Recipients is a post from: Droid Life

Official. The Google Voice team just acknowledged the rumors from this morning that they have found a work-around for MMS (multimedia messaging service) messages. If you are a G-Voice user, you will need to cruise into Settings and choose the option under “Voicemail & Text” to “Forward text messages to my email:” to get this to work. That will allow your friends to send you MMS messages (pictures, video, etc.) and have them arrive in the email account that you have chosen to receive forwarded texts to. The plan is to have this become a part of your Google Voice inbox, but this will have to do for now.

This new feature is currently only available to Sprint customers. They are working with other mobile operators to bring it to everyone though, but that could take some time.

Via:  Google Voice Blog

Google Voice Team Makes MMS Support Official: Working with Multiple Carriers, Hoping to Have Inbox Support Soon is a post from: Droid Life

Update:  The Google Voice team has announced this feature. Full write-up here.

Die-hard users of Google Voice have long yearned for some MMS support. Things may be looking bright on the horizon as Google Voice is now starting to send notifications of incoming MMS messages through your email inbox. You won’t be receiving the message itself, but if you forwarding your texts to your email account, then you’ll receive an email notification of the message. That’s a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately this newest development only seems to be working on non-Verizon carriers at the moment, but we are hoping it makes its way to Big Red shortly. Kellex is the biggest user of G-Voice I know, so as soon as this feature hits Verizon, trust me when I say Droid Life readers will know first.

Via: Life Hacker

Google Voice MMS Support Slowly Rolling Out? (Updated) is a post from: Droid Life

We talked about how the lack of Google Voice support for Honeycomb has been a little frustrating in this post, but we assumed that Google was working on it and would one day bring joy and happiness to our tablet experience.  Sure enough, it’s now looking like that time could be sooner than expected, according to Zeke over at the Google Support forums.

Hi everyone,

Glad to hear from so many Xoom early adopters! As you’ve noticed, Google Voice isn’t available for Honeycomb yet. We’re working on it, and I’ll update this thread as more info is available.

Thanks,
-Zeke

Hopefully “we’re working on it” means tomorrow.  OK, that’s a little greedy.  Wednesday then?  I kid, I kid.

Via:  Google Support

Cheers to everyone who sent this!

Google Voice for Honeycomb is in the Works is a post from: Droid Life