Scott McNulty abd Poque pick Visual Voicemail 'feature of the year'

Pogue: Visual Voicemail 'feature of the year'

Posted Dec 28th 2007 8:00PM by Scott McNulty

There is no doubt that the iPhone is innovative (heck, even
ComputerWorld thinks so), and there is also no doubt that David Pogue,
New York Times tech columnist, is a big fan of Apple's products. It
should come as a surprise to no one, then, that Pogue has included the
iPhone on his list of the most important new features in tech of 2007
(the 'Pogies,' as he calls them). Note that this list highlights
breakthrough features, and not innovative devices as such.

Visual Voicemail, one of the iPhone's signature features, was given
the nod as the best new feature of 2007. I can't argue with Pogue on
this one, Visual Voicemail has really helped me out (and I don't even
get that much voicemail. I'm a sad, unpopular man).

Visual Voice mail in the USA is available only on AT&T's iPhone.

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4phun <[email protected]> wrote in news:2d3a6963-e5a7-4929-9f58-
[email protected]:

> Pogue: Visual Voicemail 'feature of the year'
>
> Posted Dec 28th 2007 8:00PM by Scott McNulty
>
> There is no doubt that the iPhone is innovative (heck, even
> ComputerWorld thinks so), and there is also no doubt that David Pogue,
> New York Times tech columnist, is a big fan of Apple's products. It
> should come as a surprise to no one, then, that Pogue has included the
> iPhone on his list of the most important new features in tech of 2007
> (the 'Pogies,' as he calls them). Note that this list highlights
> breakthrough features, and not innovative devices as such.
>
> Visual Voicemail, one of the iPhone's signature features, was given
> the nod as the best new feature of 2007. I can't argue with Pogue on
> this one, Visual Voicemail has really helped me out (and I don't even
> get that much voicemail. I'm a sad, unpopular man).
>
> Visual Voice mail in the USA is available only on AT&T's iPhone.
>

Except it's not new technology. It's been around for years.

At 29 Dec 2007 16:06:13 -0800 4phun wrote:


> Visual Voice mail in the USA is available only on AT&T's iPhone.


Wow. I'd better stop using it with T-Mobile USA on my WinMobile phone,
then!

I still have my sign-up confirmation e-mail from Callwave.com, dated
4/20/07- over two months BI (Before iPhone) and I was, frankly, VERY late
to the VV party. (I held off signing up with Callwave for several months
because I used to use T-Mobile's "FaxMail" service to receive incoming
faxes in my voicemail box.)


I actually quasi-ditched Callwave's "official" VV in exchange for their
Gizmo-Project partnered "Area 775" service that integrates mycellphone
service with VoIP and VV. Any unanswered cell call rolls to my VoIP client
(if online) or to VV if not. This is particularly effective if I'm out of
T-Mo coverage, but have WiFi access- the VoIP Client in my T-Mo MDA phone
will ring just like I had cell service, and roll to my VV if I don't
answer, all without my having to do anything (past the initial setup.)

On Dec 29, 8:46*pm, Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote:
> At 29 Dec 2007 16:06:13 -0800 4phun wrote:
>
> > Visual Voice mail *in the USA is available only on AT&T's *iPhone.
>
> Wow. *I'd better stop using it with T-Mobile USA on my WinMobile phone,
> then! *
>
> I still have my sign-up confirmation e-mail from Callwave.com, dated
> 4/20/07- over two months BI (Before iPhone) and I was, frankly, VERY late
> to the VV party. *(I held off signing up with Callwave for several months
> because I used to use T-Mobile's "FaxMail" service to receive incoming
> faxes in my voicemail box.)
>
> I actually quasi-ditched Callwave's "official" VV in exchange for their
> Gizmo-Project partnered "Area 775" service that integrates mycellphone
> service with VoIP and VV. *Any unanswered cell call rolls to my VoIP client
> (if online) or to VV if not. *This is particularly effective if I'm out of
> T-Mo coverage, but have WiFi access- the VoIP Client in my T-Mo MDA phone
> will ring just like I had cell service, and roll to my VV if I don't
> answer, all without my having to do anything (past the initial setup.)

You do know that iPhone VocieMail is actually stored in the 8 Gigs on
the iPhone. And you do know that you get a picture of the caller
attached to the VM notification on the iPhone, don't you?

It is not like other carriers like Verizon where you have to call your
Voice Mail service and listen to each VM in turn.
You can pick and choose who you listen to and when. Basically this is
possible because each AT&T iPhone comes with over 7000 MB more data
storage than almost other smartphone phone OTB.

At 29 Dec 2007 18:28:38 -0800 4phun wrote:
> On Dec 29, 8:46*pm, Todd Al
> You do know that iPhone VocieMail is actually stored in the 8 Gigs on
> the iPhone.

Yes. I know what Visual Voicemail is and how it works. Do you? It's a
neat feature, but it's smoke-and-mirrors. At it's core it's simply call
forwarding with a "secret" push-e-mail account. Calls you don't answer on
your iPhone are forwarded to a special server at AT&T who records it, and
pushes the recording as an e-mail attachment to you via a "secret" push-
mail account on your iPhone, hidden behind the VV interface. The
attachment is stored on the iPhone and plays with a tap.

Non-iPhone owners have to use 3rd-party services to get the same thing.. My
phone is set to forward all unanswered calls to a phone number supplied by
Callwave. Callwave records my message, then e-mails it to my phone's push
account as an attachment. I get the e-mail with a subject like:
"UNIV OF SF left a 31 second message"

(Caller ID name info is added by Callwave- if name isn't available, number
is supplied.) I click on the attachment and the audio is played from the
phone's storage memory. Callwave even trans ribes the message in the e-
mail body's text, so you dob't even have to play it. (Admittedly it's
often wildly innaccurate, but it's helpful for owners of "dumbphones" who
can receive the transcript of the VM message via text message, and then can
decide whether or not to call in to retrieve it.)


> And you do know that you get a picture of the caller
> attached to the VM notification on the iPhone, don't you?

Wow. Even if you don't have a picture of them is stored on your phone? ;-)

Admittedly my phone doesn't display the caller's picture with VV, only in
my contacts. You've got me there!

> It is not like other carriers like Verizon where you have to call your
> Voice Mail service and listen to each VM in turn.


Again, any Verizon customer, (or AT&T customer, or any other carrier) with
a phone that has a media player and e-mail can use VV from a variety of
vendors. WinMo phones, Blackberries, Symbian OS, Palms, etc.- all it takes
is e-mail and a media player.


> You can pick and choose who you listen to and when. Basically this is
> possible because each AT&T iPhone comes with over 7000 MB more data
> storage than almost other smartphone phone OTB.

True, but since my VV messages consume approximately 1kb per second, my
paltry 2GB storage card can still manage to hold a little over 500 HOURS of
recorded VM.

Like many other Apple fanboys, you simply don't realize what technologies
are out there until Apple implements a Version of them, and then you
believe the PRs that call them "new." To be fair- it did take Apple to put
VV on the map. Poor Callwave has been pitching it for over a year via full
backcover ads in the cellular trade papers (which is how I heard of it)
offering it to any carrier or MVNO that was interested and, as you know,
none of them bit. Apple saw an opportunity to use it for differentiation,
and it's now a "talked-about" feature. (At least to Pogue, anyway. If
Apple invented an iPod that could actually squat and take a crap on your
desk, Pogue would write that it was an important feature too!)

On Dec 29, 8:46*pm, Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote:
> At 29 Dec 2007 16:06:13 -0800 4phun wrote:
>
> > Visual Voice mail *in the USA is available only on AT&T's *iPhone.
>
> Wow. *I'd better stop using it with T-Mobile USA on my WinMobile phone,
> then! *
>
> I still have my sign-up confirmation e-mail from Callwave.com, dated
> 4/20/07- over two months BI (Before iPhone) and I was, frankly, VERY late
> to the VV party. *(I held off signing up with Callwave for several months
> because I used to use T-Mobile's "FaxMail" service to receive incoming
> faxes in my voicemail box.)
>
> I actually quasi-ditched Callwave's "official" VV in exchange for their
> Gizmo-Project partnered "Area 775" service that integrates mycellphone
> service with VoIP and VV. *Any unanswered cell call rolls to my VoIP client
> (if online) or to VV if not. *This is particularly effective if I'm out of
> T-Mo coverage, but have WiFi access- the VoIP Client in my T-Mo MDA phone
> will ring just like I had cell service, and roll to my VV if I don't
> answer, all without my having to do anything (past the initial setup.)

This is useful information for just about everyone with any decent
phone. For about $10 a month you can add a form of voice mail to any
phone including a landline.

If you already have an iPhone it is a simpler interface and the cost
is already included in the AT&T plan for iPhones.

At 30 Dec 2007 07:51:51 -0800 4phun wrote:

> > I actually quasi-ditched Callwave's "official" VV in exchange for their
> > Gizmo-Project partnered "Area 775" service that integrates mycellphone
> > service with VoIP and VV. *Any unanswered cell call rolls to my VoIP
client
> > (if online) or to VV if not. *This is particularly effective if I'm out
of
> > T-Mo coverage, but have WiFi access- the VoIP Client in my T-Mo MDA
phone
> > will ring just like I had cell service, and roll to my VV if I don't
> > answer, all without my having to do anything (past the initial setup.)
>
> This is useful information for just about everyone with any decent
> phone. For about $10 a month you can add a form of voice mail to any
> phone including a landline.

If your cellphone already has a data plan, it's free- Callwave's VV has no
cost, and you can grab a free push e-mail account, if needed, from
mail2web.com.


> If you already have an iPhone it is a simpler interface and the cost
> is already included in the AT&T plan for iPhones.

Yes- iPhone users are already paying $20 for data, and VV is probably the
biggest reason AT&T and Apple forced data on iPhone owners- it's a feature
that requires a continual data connection to work properly.

I don't know if the iPhone's interface is "simpler," since using an
existing e-mail account allows you get all of your messages- e-mail and
voice from one place- a unified messaging system rather than treating them
separately.