Disqus
You might remember I mentioned a short while back, that I was going to be writing a post on SpinVox – now, this isn’t the first post IntoMobile has dedicated to them (see here and here for example), but, it is the first usage review from a UK perspective!
I signed up for the service about 2 weeks ago now, and since then have been watching with glee as my voicemails turn up as texts. Oddly, for the first few days I didn’t get a single voicemail (very unusual for me), so I thought the service was broken, but sure enough it was working, and on day 4, in came the first texts!
There are a lot of good things about the service, and a couple of things that are not quite so great – first the good:
- I love not having to dial up my voicemail – yes it’s useful to get messages when you miss calls, no it’s not useful to have to waste time getting them played back to youThe speech-to-text system works pretty well – not perfect, but pretty darn good!
- Your voicemails are still stored as traditional messages to be accessed by a call, so if you want to dial up too, you can
- The service cost is quite reasonable
- It’s genuinely useful – you wonder why this isn’t a standard feature offered by all operators
So there are a couple of less great points, and in fairness I feel I should list them:
- Sometimes there can be a bit of delay getting your converted message – when I just missed grabbing my handset in time for a call, I was expecting the converted text shortly afterwards – but occasionally more than a few minutes elapsed before I got the message
- The initial setup is a bit fiddly – that’s not a criticism of SpinVox per se (since part of it is changing your voicemail quick dial key, typically the “1″ key, to a new number), but still I would suggest it’s more manual than say getting new WAP/MMS settings sent to your phone
Overall though, I’m happy, impressed, and liking the service – and heartily recommend to UK readers, and those other readers who have a supported country – speaking of which, you can check that out here.
Ben
About The Author
Ben Robinson
Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.
