Why is Google Voice so awesome?

I'll admit that I barely use the Google Voice service's feature list. I don't really need another phone number nor all the call routing. The thing I love about this service though is the voicemail. Its feature packed and even more so since I have a phone with the Android OS.

First, a recent feature that Google implemented is being able to use your Google Voice voicemail as your primary voicemail on your mobile phone. Setup is easy. Just hit settings which should land you on the phone tab. Next to each of the mobile phones you have setup you should see a link to "activate" or switch that phone's voicemail. It will guide you and about a minute later the swap will be done. You can do this to multiple phones and combine all your phones' voicemails.

Now it operates just the same as your old phone voicemail. You can call it and get your voicemails (lame). Why lame? Cause there are other ways to get your voicemail now. Log into your GV account in your browser and you get the transcript along the recording in an easy to use fashion. Or if you're using a Chrome browser you can install the extension to get continual access.

OR....

The Android app gives you the same in a fashion that rival's the iPhone's visual voicemail. The Google Voice kicks the iPhone's butt because it gives you the transcript. As a message is playing back it highlights words as you read the transcript which helps with those hard to decipher recordings. Of course its not exact so if you can't understand it there's a good chance the servers at Google can't either but between the two you should have a good idea what the other person is trying to say.

Another cool feature is the free SMS. Doesn't sound like such a big deal but if you're on a budget you can make sure that your friends send you SMS messages to your GV number and not see a charge. And just as it is with the voicemail you can do this from the web, Chrome extension or Android app. On the Android app if you start a text message it will ask you if you want to use the phone's messaging service or Google Voice's.

The last feature I will bring up is the call blocking. I don't know about you but I still get a lot of 800 numbers calling me. I refuse to answer them. After they try their ploys to get me, I can log into Google Voice, see my call log and hit block on those 800 numbers. The next time they try to call they'll get something that sounds like the phone company's "We're sorry, this number as been disconnected" message. I know its fighting an uphill battle but gives me more piece of mind when fighting against people that are wasting my minutes.

Most of the other features are advertised a lot more and you can easily learn them from the Google Voice site. You can see them here.

Google Voice

Regarding the RT contest on Twitter, I will pick a random retweeter Monday May 10th.

EDIT: I'm going to extend the contest to anyone who "Likes" my page on Facebook. I'll combine the two lists and draw a random winner. Thanks in advance! Hopefully the link below will work.
Chad's Brain Dump on Facebook.