Google Voice App

[Jared DiPane]

So recently I started using the Google Voice App. It took me a bit to get used to how it worked, and what settings I wanted and all. Finally, got it all set up, and I am a bit disappointed honestly. The lack of push style sms is bothering me. I know I can select to have the SMS sent to my device, but then I have an inbound and outbound chat, and yes, that does bother me and big time. I could do the send SMS as email option, but that as well seems silly. Its an SMS client, why can it not deliver like an SMS.

I noticed there is an option to check every 5 minutes, I guess I could live with that, but wonder the impact it will have on my battery.

Have any of you tried this? If so, what were your results?

 

[j7469]

I have it set to check every 5 minutes and my battery life is fine. I haven't noticed any drop off since I starting using Google voice.

 

[Jared DiPane]

Sweet. I have it set up to try it out, but I was just unsure if it would just suck the life out of my battery or not.

 

[anon(2112)]

I've set mine to refresh every 5 minutes for the past month or so and have not noticed any noticeable reduction to battery life.

 

[Roy Aguilera]

Does not hurt battery when set at 5 minutes.

 

[Jared DiPane]

Does not hurt battery when set at 5 minutes.

Awesome. I was not sure how much of a damper, so I figured I would seek help from the experts.

 

[corydunbar]

I have it set at every five minutes, but I haven't noticed any delay in receiving messages or battery drain. They have been just as fast as native sms.

 

[anon(10090)]

Remember it's still in "invitation-only" beta right now. It's a concept piece right now, and it's a good concept.

 

[VDub2174]

I didn't even know you could set the time interval until I read this thread.....lol

 

[Jared DiPane]

Remember it's still in "invitation-only" beta right now. It's a concept piece right now, and it's a good concept.

understandable, but i come from a BB where the SMS is push just like a native SMS would be...

 

[that1bb]

Do you have to know someone from Google to be invited? Anyone here work for Google? ;-)

 

[Jared DiPane]

Check out this thread

Just may help ya out.

 

[mo-bile#AC]

I'd love to see it have a pop up badge notification like Handcent has. It tells you the message, who it's from, and lets you respond to it right from the notification. All without having to unlock your phone and opening the app.

 

[Jared DiPane]

I'd love to see it have a pop up badge notification like Handcent has. It tells you the message, who it's from, and lets you respond to it right from the notification. All without having to unlock your phone and opening the app.

I agree, that would be killer. I would probably use it more if it would push the SMS instead of pulling them.

 

[Cory Streater]

That's the first thing I disable after I install Handcent. To each their own I guess

 

[Jared DiPane]

Still never tried Handcent. Do you have to read the message in both that and the messages folder? Cuz that will drive me nuts.

 

[Cory Streater]

No you can turn the pop up off and just read them in the Handcent messaging folder. I absolutely love Handcent, but mostly because it fixes the 160 character limitation that Verizon seems to have in my area.

 

[mclarryjr]

Tried handcent for a few weeks just didn't care for the look of the icon so I'm sticking with stock.
As for Google voice its a great app for just being beta and I haven't seen any more drain on my battery.

 

[MBSMD]

I've been using Google Voice set to refresh every 5 minutes for the past two days. I don't think I can detect a drop in battery life (thankfully, because I was worried as well).

Messgaes sometimes come right away, sometimes it's taken up to 4 minutes... so it seems like the app is pretty spot on for the 5 minute interval.

But, the nice thing is that messages pop up right away on the Google Voice web page. I use Chrome as my main browser and I've got the GV extension installed. The second an SMS comes in, the computer will make a "bing" sound. So nice to be able to respond to an SMS right from my laptop or desktop.

I've had my GV account for nearly a year, but haven't done much with it until I got my Droid a couple weeks ago. Now I don't think I could live without it.