Great article on using Google Voice

Overhaul Your Phone with Google Voice

Back in September, we tested out a Google Voice app for Palm WebOS phones called gDial Pro. The free gDial Pro just recently updated to version 0.8.9, and is available now in Palm's App Catalog. While gDial Pro still isn't quite as integrated into the Palm Pre as Google's native Google Voice app is for Google's own Android platform, it remains a good option for Google Voice users on Palm's comeback platform. In addition to fixing some dialing bugs, the developer made a ton of other user interface adjustments, including changing the wording in the Preferences screen to make gDial Pro a little easier for new users to set up. Web dialing, the smoother dialing option of the two, is presented as the default in an expandable, advanced-features window.

Other notable additions include now being able to dial a number in the same U.S. area code without having to dial the area code. gDial Pro will also now alert you to new voicemails. Importantly, you can also listen to voicemail messages from within gDial Pro without first calling out to Google Voice.

Not long ago, my colleague Rafe Needleman ranked a handful of native Google Voice applications for mobile phones, declaring Google's own Google Voice app for Android phones the winner. No big surprise there, as Google owns both the voice service and the mobile operating system, and can snugly fit the Google Voice dialing option into the native dialer. Let's throw another app into the mix, this time it's a Palm WebOS app called gDial Pro.

The free gDial Pro Google Voice client has been around in ahomebrew version for a while (a version you can install outside of the App Catalog environment,) and recently became available in Palm's App Catalog. It is a glossy, dark-themed app that, rather than replicate the in-box design of Google's Android app, concentrates on outgoing calls and texts, in addition to a communication history.

We’ll never argue with more apps showing up for the Palm Pre – after all, they just pave the way for a software download frenzy on the Palm Pixi when that arrives later in 2009 – so we’re glad to hear of another two webOS titles fresh to the Palm Beta App Catalog.  First up is gDial Pro, an app which can be used to access and manage your Google Voice account; second comes iLike Concerts, a tool which looks out for your preferred artists and flags up nearby performances.

Interestingly, contrasting with Apple’s disappointing attitude toward Google Voice – they rejected a client for the iPhone – Palm are comparing the unified number service to their own Synergy sync system.  With gDial Pro you can manage voice calls and SMS, choose which numbers Google Voice redirects to, and there’s even a dialler to make calls from the Pre itself.

These are just two out of a total of ten new titles that have been added, including three games, a Forbes news app, a currency converter, an ebook bible and a wallpaper app.