Google Voice has been on a lot of people’s short-lists for a Google spring cleaning for the past few years. It’s a pretty awesome service which can transcribe your voicemail, assigns you a single phone number that you can give people to ring some or all of your phones, screen and automatically block calls from certain numbers, and much more.
But Google rarely updates the Google Voice app for Android… or acknowledges its existence in any way. But it looks like Google isn’t ready to kill Voice just yet.
Earlier this month the company announced an upcoming security change that would make it harder to check messages from an unauthorized device. Now Google has actually rolled out an updated version of Google Voice for Android.
Don’t get too excited — it’s just an update to fix a few bugs. But it looks like somebody at Google remembered that they have a Voice app. Maybe it’ll eventually be rolled into Hangouts, but hopefully it won’t just disappear and leave a bunch of people with useless phone numbers.
Here’s a roundup of tech news from around the web.
- Google Voice isn’t dead or abandoned… Android gets a bug fix update
Google’s app for making cheap international calls, sending free text messages, ringing all your phones at once, and reading kind of crappy machine-generated transcripts of your voicemails lives to see another day. [Droid Life] - Alleged Google Nexus 5 benchmark results show up online
This might be fake… or it might not. But whatever device gave these benchmark results, it was awfully fast. [Phone Arena] - Actions Semiconductor launches ATM7039 quad-core chip
Look! It’s another low-cost quad-core processor from a Chinese chip maker. This one has PowerVR SGX 544 graphics, supports 4K video decoding, and will probably show up soon in Chinese tablets. [AndroidPC.es] - Gmail for Android update brings cleaner conversations view, improved multi-select
The Gmail app for Android is getting a makeover, including checkmarks that make it easier to see when you’ve selected multiple messages. [+Gmail] - Roku lineup updated, new media streamers priced at $50 to $100
Roku has rolled out a new line of media streaming devices and simplified the naming. For $15 more than a Chromecast, you can get a box that does a lot more — but the higher-priced models offer far more features. [ZatzNotFunny] - At least 6 new Nokia devices coming next month
That could include a new phone or two (or six). But it could also include Nokia’s first tablet… which could mean that Microsoft won’t be the only company offering Windows RT tablets… until Microsoft closes its acquisition of Nokia. Then it’ll still be the only company making Windows RT tablets. [The Verge]
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Why Google hasn’t made Voice into a true VOIP client for Android devices is beyond me.