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***Official Galaxy Nexus Pre-Release speculation thread**

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It uses data. One reason why I don't use it for all my calls... No more unlimited for me :(

No it uses minutes. Google Voice is a relay center. It calls a GV# which calls the number for you.

It used just call one number (which changed occasionally), but that changed to have unique numbers for your contacts. The way it worked before (from what I've gathered) is that your phone would communicate with the server (via data) on what number you were calling. It then placed a call to the server (actually call) and the server bridged the call to your destination. That way works only if you have data.

Google fixed that problem by assigning your contacts unique numbers (unique between your contacts). That caused cheap people (yeah I said it OTD) to whine about not being able to exploit the free cell minutes using their friends and family option since every contact had different numbers. So those people stopped updating their app.

The latest app does have contact pictures and the ability to send texts to multiple people. It also has a way of sending suggestions to google.

I switched to Google Voice for my wife and me when I moved to smart phones. I figured adding $60 for data wasn't so bad when I got to drop $30 for texting.

I have my phone use tasker and an app I wrote detect wifi at work/home to setup my forwarding automatically. So when I'm at work and someone calls I answer my work phone. Or I use chrome to initiate the GV call to my work phone. At home I have two sipgate numbers ($3 a month for the second, the first was free) hooked up to asterisk and a python script which I run on a linux server. This allows me to dial out and people see my Google Voice number while still getting unlimited calls out at home.

Sometimes calls have some quirks (muddled or laggy), but that used to happen with cell phones anyway.


If you wanted to avoid using cell minutes you could setup a VOIP connection if you were to get an account with some one like sipgate. But you need a constant data connection and are at the mercy of latency, which 4G should make a worry of the past.
 
Well golly gee, I will be getting my Nexus soon.

original.0
 
back in my hayday, i built this guy (attached) to thrash around at a competition in opelika. i wish i was driving, but as the proj mgr i had to make sure the rest of the hooligans on the team were doing what they needed to. best time of college.

in other news. my OG can no longer answer phone calls. since the right side of my screen doesnt respond to touch, i can't move the slider far enough to unlock and answer.

Dear Verizon:


I feel your pain. Half of my OG Droids screen is dead too
 
If I've understood it correctly, if you've got a Friends & Family plan with unlimited calling to a few numbers, you could just set up your GV number on there, and you're effectively calling that for every single call you make, thus you have unlimited minutes.

Never done it personally, but I'd look into it if I used a lot of minutes.

Ninja'd by:



Never heard about it being a breach of contract though.

Yes, this is what i do for my business. i put my GV as one of my 10 FF numbers so the minutes do not count on calls in/out...
 
Just want to get a little frustration out so here is my rant:

Really Verizon, you are going to update the software on a 2+ year old OG Droid that is called "security update" that all I can really tell is for pulling root access?

I need root on my phone because the touchscreen is dying (left side doesn't work, already replaced the digitizer once and it helped a little) and I have to move the back button to the right side of the screen. The app that does this requires root access.

I have managed to suppress the update so I can keep root and let my OG Droid limp along another couple days before the Galaxy Nexus is released.

Please Verizon, don't spend time updating a completely out of date phone and work on getting the Galaxy Nexus released so I can finally upgrade my phone.

Ok, that is all, sorry for the rant but it was quite frustrating when that software update is available popped up on my phone that is over 2 years old (I got my OG Droid on the day it was released)
 
You can also put your GV number in your "fab5" if the carrier allows and have free unlimited minutes.

***Warning not recommended as can cause breeches in your contract**

That also get's slightly more complicated with the current version of GV as it dials a different number for almost every call. You have to use an older version of GV to get it to work now or something like a call back.

I'll be testing out Groove IP on the Nexus if it gets solid data reception in my area. I may end up using it on my home droid since it is connected to wifi all the time anyway.
 
Calls in or out will use minutes, but there are different ways around that. If you have a solid 3g/4g/wifi all the time in your area then you can always use something like Groove IP to place VOIP calls which won't use minutes.

this is why i almost exclusively use GV on my laptop not on my phone. aside from the VM features, i hardly use it on my phone.

i still haven't understood the whole texting via google voice tho. i have it selected in the settings, but everything still comes through the stock app on my stock OG droid. i'm expecting to see a "compose" button in my inbox...

i've searched high and low for an explanation, but you people seem much smarter than me on this. :confused:
 
Well, thanks Han for the info. I hope we will be hearing something from Steven today... perhaps we will get a confirmation of the release date from the source.

Now for a little of the choose your own story:

You think Verizon execs are out to get you, and will do anything to make you suffer. The Source breaks silence and says:

"Probably be the 11th or 12th, to give the Droid 4 a weekend to itself." Of course when that phone is a bust too, the push backs will begin anew to give it more time to sell. And then when they are finally going to release it, a new bug pops up, and it will have to wait for a fix, and go back through testing. The Verizon financial folks will be like, well since we aren't releasing CES phones until 4th quarter, lets hold this phone until, say, July, and have it anchor our 3Q results.

***OR***

You think Verizon really wants this phone on their network as fast as possible, and they really were just fixing unacceptable bugs. The Source breaks silence and says:

"Probably be the 11th or 12th, to give the Droid 4 a weekend to itself." Of course when that phone is a bust too, the push backs will begin anew to give it more time to sell. And then when they are finally going to release it, a new bug pops up, and it will have to wait for a fix, and go back through testing. The Verizon financial folks will be like, well since we aren't releasing CES phones until 4th quarter, lets hold this phone until, say, July, and have it anchor our 3Q results.

;) Sorry couldn't resist.
 
That also get's slightly more complicated with the current version of GV as it dials a different number for almost every call. You have to use an older version of GV to get it to work now or something like a call back.

I'll be testing out Groove IP on the Nexus if it gets solid data reception in my area. I may end up using it on my home droid since it is connected to wifi all the time anyway.

There's a long way around that for GV but there's an app called flexdialer that does wonders, look it up and try it out.

As for Groove IP I use that on my gtablet10.1 awesome
 
this is why i almost exclusively use GV on my laptop not on my phone. aside from the VM features, i hardly use it on my phone.

i still haven't understood the whole texting via google voice tho. i have it selected in the settings, but everything still comes through the stock app on my stock OG droid. i'm expecting to see a "compose" button in my inbox...

i've searched high and low for an explanation, but you people seem much smarter than me on this. :confused:

I have to use my GV app to send texts through GV on my OG Droid. Nothing from GV comes through the stock messaging app on mine.

Not sure if that was helpful but that is how I use it.
 
I use it for all my calls. I still have an Atlanta number as my primary number (for family and other VZW customers) and I give my Colorado GV number out to anyone I meet now. The Colorado number hits my phone just like any other call would and since I'm using an older version of GV I can route all outgoing calls to that one number and it goes through my F&F plan as a free call. Since we have unlimited text too, I have my GV text show up in the stock text app too. Anyone with my CO GV number doesn't know the difference.

Did you pay for the second #?
 
That also get's slightly more complicated with the current version of GV as it dials a different number for almost every call. You have to use an older version of GV to get it to work now or something like a call back.

I'll be testing out Groove IP on the Nexus if it gets solid data reception in my area. I may end up using it on my home droid since it is connected to wifi all the time anyway.

There is an app that is available in the market that allows it to use the correct number every time.

Also if you want to do it the long way. You can just dial your voicemail for GV. Hit the prompt to make outbound call... then dial the number. But the app makes it much easier. It does however take about 10-15 seconds from the time you select who to call, until your actually connect to the caller.
 
I have to use my GV app to send texts through GV on my OG Droid. Nothing from GV comes through the stock messaging app on mine.

Not sure if that was helpful but that is how I use it.

To receive messages via google voice, people have to send it to your google voice number. If they are sending it to your regular phone number, it will go through the stock messaging app.

To compose within google voice, just select menu, and then compose.

To set up GV correctly, you need to dial *71(area code)(phone number) during/after initial install/setup. It will dial that number, then hang up in like 2-4 seconds. But I believe this is to configure VM functions.

To change the receive options, go into menu and settings. There is an option to receive GV messages in your stock app, and also to disable this feature as well if you only want it through your google voice app.

Furthermore, if none of the above helps you, go into your google voice interface on the web and change the settings in there. I recall adding my phone and changing some settings to optimize my experience.

In sum, you should be able to send and receive solely through GV and avoid having to use std messaging completely.
 
Guys let's not pop the champagne bottle just yet. I mean how many times have we seen this the last two weeks with possible dates and etc? Sure we are getting close, but let's not set ourselves up for another let down. I truly hope we see it the 8th, 11th, 12th, or some time this month, but surely we've learned our lesson with these "rumors", "source", and "possible leaked" information to see it be worthless as they day arrives and comes and goes with nothing.
 
my last month's bill had this breakdown:

mobile to mobile used 104 minutes (I have unlimited so non factor)
night/weekend used 91 minutes (again unlimited)
Calling plan used 70 out of 450 minutes

ya....I don't need to do anything fancy with GV to try and trick unlimited minutes. Its all text messaging nowadays, phones aren't made to talking to people.
 
this is why i almost exclusively use GV on my laptop not on my phone. aside from the VM features, i hardly use it on my phone.

i still haven't understood the whole texting via google voice tho. i have it selected in the settings, but everything still comes through the stock app on my stock OG droid. i'm expecting to see a "compose" button in my inbox...

i've searched high and low for an explanation, but you people seem much smarter than me on this. :confused:

If I remember correctly (it has been a while) you need to go to the Google Voice site and into settings to change the options for receiving text on your phone. That should stop the text from going through your stock text app and prevent messaging charges.
 
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