WHOA! GrandCentral Becomes Google Voice

[phandroid]

Way back in September of 2008 we told you about GrandCentral, called it Google’s Forgotten Acquisition and talked about the huge implications it could have for Android. Now I’d like to add one more thing… told ya so. Google has just rebranded GrandCentral as Google Voice.It’s only available to existing GrandCentral customers at the moment, [...]

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[johnkzin]

My two questions, when I saw this posted on Howard Forums, were:

1) Can I port my T-mobile number to it (sounds like "no")

2) How soon, and how well, will it be integrated into Android.


Sounds like a great service. Just have to wait and see how soon Android fully integrates it.

 

[Rob]

1) No. The idea is that people call a NEW number - your Google number - and your Google Number will FORWARD to your real phone number. With Google being the intermediary they can do various things with the communication but they need to "own" that number in order to do all the great things Google Voice does.

But maybe, just MAYBE, you could port your current number over for use on Google Voice and get a new number for your actual phone since you won't be giving that number out anyway? I have a feeling they won't be able to do this but if they CAN... I think A LOT of people will switch.

But you can switch your # between carriers now so I don't see why you SHOULDN'T be able to do this?

2) Forget about being integrated into Android... this isn't even available to the public yet! First things first. I think we'll see a public launch of it and then a gradual integration with Android... adding features here and there.

Google Voice on Android will be like Visual Voice Mail on Crack and Steroids hanging out at the Playboy Mansion.

 

[Cryptic79]

Cracky, Roidy VVM at Hef's...mmmmmm.

 

[Cryptic79]

On a serious note, are there Grand Central invites? If so, anyone want to hook your favorite Mod up?

 

[johnkzin]

1) No.

Isn't that what I said, in the parens at the end of my question?

2) Forget about being integrated into Android... this isn't even available to the public yet! First things first. I think we'll see a public launch of it and then a gradual integration with Android... adding features here and there.

Google Voice on Android will be like Visual Voice Mail on Crack and Steroids hanging out at the Playboy Mansion.

a) first you say "forget about it", then you go on to describe how it might happen. Make up your mind

b) Yes, visual voice mail on crack, and the ability to seamlessly carry on SMS conversations as I switch back and forth between my phone, work desktop, home desktop, and netbook. That last one being the part I'd care most about.

VOIP doesn't impress me. Visual Voice Mail doesn't impress me (I'd rather have "voice mail emailed to me as mp3 attachments", which can have a similar effect as Visual Voice Mail). Not having an artificial partition between TXT and IM impresses me.

It also sounds like this would make the Sidekick Pay-Per-Day plan pretty ideal (unlimited web and messaging for $1/day) ... if only it were available as a G1 pay-per-day plan.