Google Unleashes Google Voice WebApp for iPhone
Google has released the long-awaited Google Voice WebApp for iPhone (and Palm webOS), something they said they’d be doing in the wake of their exclusion from the iTunes App Store.
Similar to Google’s other, marvelous WebApps like Gmail, it leverages the advanced web technologies built into iPhone Safari to provide an optimized UI through which make calls from your Google Voice number and send SMS. Or so we hear… TiPb HQ has been trying to try it, but it’s been “fail city” according to Dieter, with lots of network request errors. (At least on the iPhone, his Palm Pre is doing better).
“It’s a very pretty “Network Request Failed” pop up dialog box. Quite impressive,” he says. (See it after the jump.)
According to TechCrunch, however:
It is built on HTML5 with most of the functionality of the original iPhone app, except that it cannot access the local contact list in your iPhone’s address book. It lets you manage a separate Google Voice contact list which is kept in the cloud instead. Google Voice voice routes your calls through its servers and acts as a new hub through which you can manage calls and forward them to various phones. You can also manage your settings and various phone numbers. The HTML5 makes it very fast, allows for local caching of data, and supports the voice tags necessary to play the audio voicemails through the browser.
You can access it via http://m.google.com/voice. If you’re a Google Voice user, let us know how it works for you, and how it compares to a native app like GV Mobile for Jailbreak.
Video after the break!
And Dieter’s error screen:
January 26th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Finnaly they did this, I am going to try it now thanks guys!
January 26th, 2010 at 10:42 am
Works for me! I’m on the original iPhone 2G (8GB) and I just made a phone call with no problem.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Would someone at TiPB please send me a GV invite?
January 26th, 2010 at 10:44 am
Oh, and I had my iPhone Jailbroken in the past and the GV Mobile App worked fine too. The functionality between the GV Mobile and the Google Voice WebApp is pretty much the same.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:45 am
still on for user outside the US unfortunately..
January 26th, 2010 at 10:45 am
not*
January 26th, 2010 at 10:49 am
I gots it
January 26th, 2010 at 10:52 am
I’ve been using the web app for at least a month now and it generally works fine. Yeah, you can’t access your iPhone contacts from the app but that is all the more reason to use your memory.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Much better than the old UI, but still not as good as GV Mobile for jailbroken iPhones. GV Mobile has small improvements that seem to make a big difference, such as being able to set a default startup tab, using your iPhone’s contact list, and using multiple GV accounts without having to sign in and out.
It requires the new, $2 version of the app, but it is well worth it. For people that don’t want to jailbreak, the new web UI is good enough… but I won’t be satisfied until someone manages to enable GV to take over all calling functions completely (i.e. dial out using GV from anywhere in the phone, not just the GV Mobile app).
January 26th, 2010 at 10:53 am
It finally worked for me, I like this so much better than the old one
January 26th, 2010 at 10:58 am
Works for me…..iPhone 3G 16GB on the 3g network in central Illinois.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Seems to be about the same speed as GV Mobile+. I like the idea of choosing a contact and being able to email or view recent emails from that contact but when I choose those it just goes to my inbox. Shouldn’t it go to Compose or show search results?
If your gmail contacts are synced with your iPhone contacts then the contacts are all the same anyway, so that works for me.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:07 am
I was able to send an SMS from my iPod touch from it. Kind of cool, makes those send SMS apps kind of pointless. I think I’ll be using that from now on to avoid SMS charges.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Super duper slick. I love this, I am fine with getting sms pushed to me via gmail and now that i can call direct without having to launch an app dial a number and then wait to be called back!! Direct outgoing calls!! Mother -F Yeah!!
January 26th, 2010 at 11:20 am
THIS IS FANTASTIC!! I wish there were an app like iGmail now for this that would allow you to avoid safari/offer offline support. GV Mobile+ is still great, but the new google app offers stuff GVM just can’t, like AMAZING synchronization through the contacts portion. When I click on a contact, there are email options which are awesome and take me to Gmail.
I suspect–and hope–that this will kick apple right where it hurts. Shame on them for trying to stifle innovation.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Interesting. When my co-worker and I go to the dial pad, a pop up message states that this phone’s number is not listed and to go to my inbox to register, however it already appears in my registered number list. Anyone else experiencing this?
January 26th, 2010 at 11:39 am
@dealbreaker yes, i get the same note. i went and deleted my number on my desktop then re-added it. that didn’t work. after the popup you can still go to the dial pad and tr to place a call. it gives me an ‘iphone’ popup to call/cancel a random number – that is different every time???
January 26th, 2010 at 11:39 am
To add to my last comment: this new app is much better than the old web interface. It is much less clunky and functions wonderfully.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:42 am
So i just tried this on my iPhone 3GS. Gizmodo stated, “Unlike the Google Voice app now, which calls your phone first and then connects the other party, you actually dial out directly into the Google Voice service, which then hooks you up with who you’re trying to reach.”
Not so with me. When I called a number, it then prompts me stating, “Please press Call below to Connect to Google Voice” which then calls another number from my phone.
what gives?
January 26th, 2010 at 11:47 am
or maybe i am missing the point. i figured if i was calling through the app that i wouldnt have to use my minutes on my AT&T plan.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:50 am
added to my home screen
January 26th, 2010 at 11:51 am
Lame.
January 26th, 2010 at 11:51 am
@bryan: Others can correct me if I am wrong, but I don’t think this is a VoIP app. Bridging the AT&T call with the person you dialed through Google Voice is pretty powerful, and lets the person you’re calling really just see your GV number.
That is handy if you want people to generally use your GV number, which is the point of GV: One master number to rule all your numbers
January 26th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Perfect! Dial your number, app preps the server and gives you a number to dial out on your phone. Confirm the action and your phone dials out instantly connecting you to the recipient. Much, much faster than any of the native apps I’ve used or the old web app!
Thanks Google!
January 26th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
Should do the full screen thing like the google wave and black swan apps
January 26th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Bryan- it’s a call relay service. you can use it to/from a normal home phone as well
January 26th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Just tried it,works great. Seems to call the same relay number. This plus AT&T a-list = unlimited calling plan. Much better interface than the last one we had.
January 26th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Works great on my 3gs!!!
January 26th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I did have one question. I know you get free/unlimited texts and calls to the US but does it use my AT&T minutes when I call from my iphone?
January 26th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
@Bryan:
Yes, it does appear to work that way, which pretty much makes it equivalent to dialing them directly, other than the caller ID that they see.
It might make sense if international calls were allowed, but other than that its sort of a waste.
They had a TCP connection thru wifi, why not just send it over that and just dial out from GV? That way iPod Touch users could use it as well.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
@BMFarrell84
Yes. It uses your minutes. FAIL.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Anyone feel like sending me a gv invite?
January 26th, 2010 at 2:10 pm
its not nearly as good as the GV for jailbreak but its a good step forward.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Interesting, we tried it earlier today and it worked just fine. It might depend on the number that your GV calls are routed through – today we noticed that ours were now going through an Austin, TX number. It’s likely that Google got some heat from wireless carriers and is trying to prevent folks from using their MyFaves/etc and GV for unlimited airtime.
http://www.stuffaboutlife.com/?p=687
January 26th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
Still waiting for VOIP. I can use my ‘unlimited’ AT&Tinutes just fine w/o this. Points for tech cpetence, however.
January 26th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
Works great over here on the iPod Touch 2G (8GB) although, making a call out to my phone doesn’t work.
January 26th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
Works great and I honestly like it more than the jailbreak app. Better interface, layout and you can see the text transcriptions of your voicemails – something that GV Mobile was sadly missing. At least the non-paid version was.
January 26th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I can’t play my voice mail – anyone else been able to get this to work?
January 26th, 2010 at 5:05 pm
Canada?
January 26th, 2010 at 6:27 pm
I have the GV jailbreak app which rocks!
January 26th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
I already had the gDial Pro, worked just fine. Was curious to see how the Google version worked. I like it, however I now am unable to use the gDial Pro. getting error message that says “Invalid username/password” which is not the case. Wondering if anyone else is having the same issue & if Google blocked access
January 26th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
No, gDial Pro is working fine now. New changes happen with this new layout but the developer got it working now
. Just download the latest gDial Pro to fix the error.
January 29th, 2010 at 3:51 am
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February 10th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Please someone send me a GV invite. I have been waiting forever! topher.reed79@gmail.com