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Visual Voicemail: Is This The Best They Can Do?
One of the exciting features of the iPhone is the visual voicemail. I don't own an iPhone so I can't comment, however Vonage has just launched their own version of visual voicemail. Today I received my first voicemail which was transcribed using their program. Is this really the best they can do? This voicemail comes from a family friend who speaks perfect clear, crisp English.
First the version from Vonage Visual Voicemail:
"Hey. Elements bonds a chair and it's Oh new time on wednesday. I have been. Think work for both calling or writing but i don't. What you think it's because i don't they took get off and. i hear the new name in your greeting night. Hope that means that. Something that should doing is clicking well 4 I was. Real excited for your browser presentation in philadelphia nope that's still going well. What should drop me a note. By email or do me a call at Test over to reach me on now. By the way is and you can use just forever. Is (removed but wrong). For through. 16 that's 1 of those grand central City the rings or my office of my home on my mobile all at the same time. Switch it back and forth fifth. It's grand central as far as in boy that's a real certain support services so it's not something you've already spoken to. Anyway talk to you soon hope or get an email and This. Make sure we stay in touch. Bye bye."
Can you figure it out? Here is the actual voicemail transcribed by me:
"Hey Allen, It's Bob, its about noontime on Wednesday. I have been neglectful in calling or writing but I don't want you to think it's not because I am thinking of you often. I hear a new name in your greeting and I hope that means that something you are doing is clicking well for you. I am excited to hear about your presentation in Philadelphia Why don't you drop me a note by email or give me a call at – the best number to reach me at – (ph removed) it's one of those grandcentral numbers which rings on my home, the office and the cell at the same time. GrandCentral is part of Google and it's a really super service worth looking into if you haven't already. Anyway talk to you soon I hope or get an email and let's stay in touch. Bye Bye."
So you iPhone'rs, please report in if the VV function is more accurate on the iPhone. Clearly the Vonage version isn't ready for prime time.
Update via Robert Seidman’s iPhone: Visual voicemail doesn’t work like you think..its still all audio but if you get 10 voicemail you see them in a list like a list if songs. You see who called and can play in any order you want or ignore altogether. No annoying prompts or having to skip over msgs you don’t want. Its a great feature but isn’t speech to text.
Let's see, I have been a customer of Vonage for over a year, have multiple services with them and a bill close to $100 a month. I like the service a lot. Three visual voicemails so far, thie one I posted is the best, the other 2 are actually worse!
How did your blogspam even make it to Digg? You don’t even know what “Visual Voicemail” is.
This looks like it is simply a “plug” for Google’s GrandCentral and another Vonage hater trying to bash Vonage’s name and trash talk one of the leading innovators in the VOIP industry if you ask me. I have been using Vonage’s Visual Voicemail and have been satisfied. Granted, it is not perfect and there are incorrect words here and there. All in all I am happy with it. I have never had any of my voicemails ripped apart like this guy is saying happened to him. This is the first release of the Visual Voicemail application and I bet it will just get better with future releases. I say go Vonage! Keep up the good work with your innovative products!
Yes, you are correct, as I updated the post, the iPhone's visual voicemail is not the same product as the one offered by Vonage.
While Youmail may not offer voice-text transcription (which is still fledgling technology regardless of provider) we do offer an online visual voicemail service which is available to all cellphone users. This service is comparable or superior to that on the iphone. It allows you to listen to, manage and record voicemails and voicemail greetings online and from your cellphone.
CallWave offers a free service that let’s you get your voicemail in email or online and also transcribes your messages into text and sends them to your handset. Instead of sending an entire transcription, CallWave uses an automated speech recognition technology to pick out the “gist” of the message and just send the most important elements. A full transcription is also available online. It’s still in beta but the transcriptions come out pretty well. Check out what other people think of our new Vtxt service on our blog: http://www.callwaveblog.com./ Or try Vtxt for free here: http://www.callwave.com/widgets/ureg.aspx
The iPhone\’s visual voicemail is simply a system where you can see a list of all the messages you have and select which ones to listen to and which to delete. This is a benefit compared to other cell phone systems where you need to listen to each message sequentially, but it is not a feature like the transcribing that you are describing.
http://www.apple.com/iphone/phone/?feature=feature02