Back in the early summer somewhere near the beggining of June I was in San Diego for the Uplinq conference put on by Qualcomm.  I was introduced to Craig Braun and thought the company he works for Shorthand Mobile has something very interesting going on.  They are brining data usage to people that may not usually be able to afford it utilizing sms in a very unique manner.  Watch the video and I think you’ll understand.

I have been a heavy user of phone minutes on and off for many years now.  At my peak I believe once I hit 5,000 minutes in one month.  That may not be a lot for some but boy was it a lot for me.  Anyways I have always been very cautious about giving out my personal mobile number let alone my home phone number, but in the beginning I didn’t have a choice, I traveled a lot and didn’t want to pay the $50 or so a month for a business line.  Then over the years I’ve tried different services but none of them fit me perfectly.  None of them radiated the feeling of a full blown company, it always came across like I was a one man operation and that was not the way it was or what I wanted.

I came across Phone.com late last year when I met their CEO Ari Rabban (he usually twitters on the company twitter account) at a wine dinner Andy Abramson hosted.  Ari told me about their virtual phone service and I was instantly interested.  Was this the treasure in my search for telephone gold?  So I went home that night and took a look at Phone.com.  It was great, for the price of 1 lunch I was able to get business class phone service for a month.  Problem was, I travel and rely solely on my mobile phone.  I mentioned this to Ari and he said “just hang on for a couple months” so I did.  Then about 2 months ago I was invited into a beta group to test Phone.com’s new Android app and walla, my problems were solved.  I finally had a business class phone system in my pocket and everywhere I went.  I had an automated system with customizable greetings, extensions and the ability to set office hours, so my phone won’t ring in the middle of the night (some people just don’t understand time zones).  The best part was, I can have all of it on my Android phone.

Well the day is here and I’m finally able to talk about it publicly (I was under embargo until today). The new Android app is everything I have been wanting.  It gives me the ability to make calls from my cell phone which is nothing new, but it shows my work number in the caller ID not my mobile phones’ number.  This is one of the biggest selling points for me.  I like having ubiquity and not multiple numbers.  Along with that same point, I now have a work number that I can receive SMS (text messages) on, I have been testing it and it is flat out fast.  What’s nice is I can send SMS from the Phone.com website (as well as my phone of course), keeping me from having to type out messages on my phone.

Some additional points to note about the Phone.com Android app:

• Extremely simple set up
• Shares address book with phones built in address book
• Ability to send SMS from the phone showing your Phone.com number
• Very competitive international calling rates (some countries are even free)
• Cheaper minute plans then the mobile phone providers offer
• Unified inbox for voicemail, sms, and fax where you can read/respond to all of them
• Listen to and read (they convert VM to text) voicemail on the phone
• Office number is always with me
• Doesn’t seem to drain my battery
• Set up and initiate conference calls from your phone (this is amazing)

Keep in mind there is a Phone.com iPhone app as well that runs over VOIP, I will try to get my hands on an iPhone to review it.

In closing, I have been using this service for a few months now and really enjoy it.  I would personally recommend the Android  app from Phone.com to anybody looking to save money on their phone service.  From small to medium businesses to someone who may just want a second number but not another phone, this is your answer.  I give it my stamp of approval.

Follow Phone.com
Twitter: @PhoneDotCom
Facebook: PhoneDotCom

Warning, I’m about to RANT:

I’m a huge fan of Google Maps.  It’s really a great stand alone app and it keeps getting better but I’m amazed that when they added Latitude they did not include (even just a basic form of) instant messaging with your Latitude friends.

Latitude shows you were your friends are on Google Maps, but how are you supposed to contact them if they are near by and you want to grab a drink?  I don’t want to have to call or SMS them, if I’m already in a Google application I should just be able to IM them from within the app.

With Google Voice now more widely available then it was before I think we should be able to SMS from within Latitude also.  It seems most of my friends have their mobile number showing when I click on their icon, so why can’t I send an SMS to it utilizing Google Voice?

That’s the end of my rant today, more to come later about more deep integration of services into our so called smart phones.

I was recently reading a Nielsen report and it has some very interesting facts that really make me ask my self when will the mobile telcos figure out what young people want and offer them plans that reflect their needs.

Did you know that the average US consumer now uses their mobile phone fore texting more often then making a phone call?  I’m not surprised but I figured it was still the other way around.

Teens aged 13-17 send average 1,742 texts/month and only average 231 calls/month

Young people aged 18-24 average 790 texts/month to only 265 calls/month

The opposite is true for folks aged 45-54 who only average 128 texts/month but make 193 calls/month

Notice how the 13-17 year olds send more then double the amount of texts but only make a few less calls then the 18-24 year olds.

After having a nice chat with an AT&T “high-up” last week I’m learning that AT&T sees these trends and is doing something about them.  They have 3 handsets priced to move into young peoples hands and guess what all 3 handsets have QWERTY keyboards on them.  This says something very important to me, AT&T is listening and making actual moves to embrace these numbers.  I’d personally like to see a very competitive new set of pricing for people that text more then talk but that may still be a ways off.  I’m just happy for AT&Ts current moves.

I’m most excited to get to report that AT&T my provider of choice will start selling the extremely popular Nokia E71 in the next few weeks.  I still won’t bet the farm on it but it seems to be true.  I’ve also heard rumors that it will run you $99 with a new 2 year contract.

UPDATE: I got to play with the Nokia E71x as it’s being referred to during CTIA.  It is a beautiful piece of gadgetry and I have high hopes it will be a stepping stone and an in road for Nokia and S60 to have a stronger presence in the US.

I have been using GrandCentral for years and when they announced Google Voice I was elated.  I could not wait for the new features including my absolute favorites being SMS and voice mail being transcribed to text and emailed and texted to you.

Well the SMS is great but the voice transcription is dreadful.  I didn’t call someone back last week mistakenly thinking it was a telemarketer.  It was Bena Roberts of GoMoNews fame and a very important mover and shaker in the business.  This kind of transcription mistake is not acceptable.  I have a suggestion for Google Voice that I really hope they listen to, OUTSOURCE TO SPINVOX.  Now I don’t work for SpinVox, but I’ve used it and on dozens of friends very high regard and reference for the SpinVox service I’m willing to give this advice.

Google don’t allow Google Voice to tarnish a perfectly fantastic service because you’re not willing to spend a few dollars.  Go test out SpinVox and if it beats your transcription (I guarantee it will) then please switch over.

I have been a user of GrandCentral for a few years now and I’ve always been happy with the service.  It has always been adequate for me to use as my business number but it has always lacked a few features.  Well As of 2 days ago GrandCentral has been transformed and renamed Google Voice. Most importantly to me they have added SMS support.  Now I can receive SMS on my work number and have it forwarded to my mobile or email.  This is fantastic and the best part of all of this is that it’s still FREE.  Yes you heard me some companies charge big bucks for this kind of thing but Google is Google and they aren’t charging anything for the service.  If you want to make international calls there is a fee but for incoming it is fantastic.

Andy Abramson goes into more detail on his blog.  Thanks GC and GV, “One number for life”!

My good friend Cian over at GoMo News wrote about NeuStar during Mobile World Congress and I’m just reading about it now.  I’m really excited because of what they are doing.  NeuStar is incorporating presence into the Telecom Italia (TIM) service.  In your handsets phone book they will show you how your contact wants to be contacted.  Anything from a phone call, to sms to IM or beyone.  I think this is genious, why aren’t all the telcos incorporating this service.  Take a read and see what Cian has to say.  He says it better then I do.

Suddenly it seems like everywhere I turn everyone has a phone with a QWERTY keyboard.  I am curious why that is.  Is it the new statuesque?  Does this mean everyone is writing emails on their phone?  Or are people just texting with their QWERTY handsets?

I have asked a few people and one or two of them have said it’s because _____ (fill in a provider name here) was just offering the phone for free or really cheap.  I asked why not a phone with just T9 and they just responded with a plain old “why not???”  Why not get a business class phone, it’s the same price as something else….. Free.

So basically I see high school and collage students walking around using Blackberries just to make/receive calls and do sms.  Does this make sense?  I’m not sure.  A senior at the local university told me she thought it would help after she graduated when looking for her first job.  By already knowing how to use a Blackberry she figured it would look good on a resume (CV for my non North American readers).  Okay, I have to take a step back now and breath.  Yes she really plans to put on a resume that she is proficient in using a Blackberry.  Just like putting down that she knows how to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  I guess it would go between proficiencies in Microsoft Windows and Apple OSX.

Okay back to everybody having a QWERTY device.  Have you noticed an upswing since the Fall?  I sure have.  I mean for G-d sakes, do 6th graders really need handsets let alone a QWERTY handset? Oh well I guess I’m old fashioned.

While looking for a pic to use for this post I found a great post on Lady Geek.  The author talks about preteens wanting Blackberries.  I ended up using their pic because I thought it was so representative of what I’m talking about.

I want to thank Nokia and WOM World for  so graciously loaning me a Nokia E71 to review.  Now that they have it back (it’s been a few months now, I’m slow to publish sometimes) I am left without a work horse, everyday device.  I have been using a Nokia N78 but there are vast and meaningful differences between the N series and E series of phones from Nokia.  I would really like to have another E71 and rumor is that AT&T may start selling it, if that’s the case I would purchase one without hesitating.  I know the E71 is for sale on contract with a bunch of carriers around the world and if anybody out there is considering purchasing one I would highly recommend it for most people.  Anyone who does much emailing, Twittering, or sms from their handset would probably like it.  I personally did a great deal of reading email and responding to some of it.  Nokia Email has really made the device even more useful.

I’m not sure where this post is going but I guess I just wanted to share my sadness.  Anyways, go out and purchase an E71 right now, you won’t be sorry.  I hope something comes in the mail soon to fill my void, preferably a Nokia E71NAM (hope my wife reads this).

Wow, it’ been a while that I’ve been using GrandCentral (one number to rule them all, by forwarding your calls to upto 5 US #rs at once) and I have always been quite happy with their service.  In the last few months though I have been getting perturbed that they don’t forward SMS/text messages to my mobile like they do voice calls. This is 2008 almost 2009, I can’t believe it’s to difficult for a Google owned company to receive 140 characters and turn around and forward those same 140 characters to a mobile phone.  Honestly I would even be content if GC would forward a text to my email address.  I use my GrandCentral number for business and most people just assume it’s a mobile number.  Problem is, some people in turn will text my GC number and guess who never receives a text message???  ME!  I had this exact situation happen to me while I was in Spain earlier this year.  A friend sent me an SMS and she never heard back from me so she figured I was just ignoring her.

GrandCentral, fix this problem now and if you only have a band aid of emailing me the SMS that’s fine.  I want that as an option when you do bring out the full service anyway.  For now I just want to be able to receive SMS anyway possible.  Make it happen.

We can talk about sending SMS from our GC #rs in the future.