I previously talked about using SpinVox to read my voicemails, but since I use a lot of Google’s products anyway, why not try the new Google Voice as well? Its main purpose is one new number will ring all your phones at home, office, etc. However, I don’t want to give my friends a new number and I already carry my Nokia phone everywhere. I just want to use the voicemail-to-text service. I’ll show you how to set it up.

I’ll assume you already have a free Google Voice account. If not, sign up for an invitation.

Step 1. From your browser, go to Google Voice settings, change to Display my Google Voice number, and check Do not Disturb. Take a look at the screenshot below for visual aid.

Step 2. From your phone settings, Call forwarding – Voice calls:
Change If busy, If not answered, If out of reach, and If not available to your new Google Voice number. It might ask for the amount of time you want the phone to ring before heading to voicemail. I chose 20 seconds.

Call forwarding settings on Nokia 5800

That’s it! Your callers will now be forwarded to Google Voice for voicemail if you don’t pick up or not available. You will receive transcripts of the voicemails in your email as well as given a link to listen. You can also listen the old fashion way by dialing the Google Voice number from your phone.

Thoughts

Google Voice needs to improve its transcription technology because it’s not very accurate. SpinVox does a better job at transcribing more accurately. On the plus side, the Google Voice website provides a familiar interface similar to Gmail which I really like.

What do you feel about voicemail-to-text services? Would you (or already) use voicemail transcribing from Spinvox or Google Voice?

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I’ve been trying out the Spinvox voicemail service for a couple of weeks now and I think it’s pretty cool. The way it’s supposed to work is you receive an SMS text and/or email transcribed from a voicemail. It’s not necessary, 100% accurate, nor safe from spam, but it’s really handy.

Spinvox voicemail to email as seen on Nokia 5800

Sample Usage

Sheila was not busy at work, so she called asking if I can bring her the Rick Steve’s Italy guide for our backpacking trip later this summer. I told her I would right after I showered. A few minutes later, she realized she had homework, so she called again to bring her textbook instead. It went to voicemail since I was in the shower and couldn’t reach the Nokia 5800 on my desk. When I returned to my desk, I noticed a missed call and an email notification on the 5800. The email said:

“Hey babe, it’s me. I looked up my homework online so you don’t need me to bring reektis(?) but if you have time you don’t have to ___ can you bring me the Most Steep(?) Pathology Book the one that you gave me. That’s the one I need under the computer but you don’t have to bring it if you don’t. Ok. Bye.”

- spoken through SpinVox

Spinvox puts a question next to words it couldn’t transcribe. This usually happens to uncommon names. The word reektis(?) should have been “Rick Steve,” while Most Steep(?) was supposed to be Mosby. Pretty close, huh?

The Good

Thanks to Spinvox, I didn’t have to pick up the phone and dial to listen for my voicemail. It was already available in an email on my phone, and even the computer. This specially comes in handy if you have several new messages. By default, you receive the voicemail as text messages as well, but I turned that off since I already use push-email notifications.

Another good reason for this service, is that you’ll have a record of your voicemails. As long as you don’t delete the email, you can always go back to it and even search for it.

The Bad

Spinvox isn’t perfect. Some of my voicemails can’t be transcribed and instead I get a message telling me to call and listen.

+44———: Just left you a voice message that you need to listen to

Another issue worth mentioning is I get about one spam message per day from people who haven’t called me. I asked Spinvox about this and they said it is caused by auto-dialing systems that are annoyingly popular in the US. They can change the voicemail number but it doesn’t guarantee stopping the spammers.

Final Thoughts

Spinvox Voicemail is not for everyone, but it is very handy. To sum it up, Spinvox makes voicemail more accessible.

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