My near-naked iPhone and a quick look at the first Google Voice app
The wonderful folks over at Proporta have sent me a few items to review and first up is their Maya case for my iPhone 3G (it will fit the iPod Touch and other products as well). My iPhone in its Incase Slider won't fit into this case, which made me realize that my iPhone would need to be naked in order to use the Maya case enough to review it. I couldn't bear that thought one little bit so I ordered a DecalGirl skin to give it at least some protection. This is not the first time I've used a DecalGirl skin, and while this brand wasn't my first choice since there are others that cover more of the iPhone, they had the design I liked the best (courtesy of DecalGirl's site):
While I'm at it, I'll do a review of this skin as well shortly.
If you've ever checked out the About page on my site, you've probably seen my Google Voice contact button (it used to be a GrandCentral button). If you have a Google Voice number and an iPhone, you might be interested to know that there is currently an app available to let you use your Google Voice account to make calls, and there's another one with more features due out soon. The one currently in the App Store is called GV Dialer - I mistakenly purchased this thinking it was the first Google Voice app I'd heard of, GV Mobile. GV Dialer works, but it does not offer the ability to use the text messaging feature now available in Google Voice, which GV Mobile does. Fortunately, GV Dialer was only $2.99, so I didn't waste too much money on it - I'll most likely ditch it for GV Mobile once it's available in the App Store.
A few quick thoughts on GV Dialer:
- I had a small glitch setting it up - it wouldn't let me scroll down to the email address field after entering my Google Voice number. I can make calls still, so the missing email address didn't affect its operation.
- I never needed to enter my password to start making calls with the application. UPDATE: At first I thought this was a major security issue in that someone else could easily use only your Google Voice number to make calls on your account, but it turns out that your iPhone's phone number must be registered with your Google Voice account, which makes it more secure.
- You can use this application instead of the original Phone application all the time - you can set it to ask you before making a call to use your Google Voice account or make the call through your cellular provider just as you would in the Phone app.
Here are a few screenshots:
The Ask on Call setting in action
