by Zoe Bishop

Created on: December 28, 2009

Mobile technology has progressed at lightning speed in recent years. Developers are always coming up with new features to add to device software, and voice mail is no exception. As little as 3 years ago, voice mail was the least exciting and innovative part of any mobile phone. It wasn't hard to use, but it wasn't interesting or convenient. However, Google and the Droid have totally changed this. There are so many more options to listen to your voice mail with the Droid. There are, however, a few things that you will need to do first to be able to use certain functions. The first thing to take a look at is the Android app Google Voice. This is available for free download from the Android Market.

Firstly, if you want to use the Google Voice app, you will need to have a Google Mail account. This is a very easy process that shouldn't take you very long at all. The first thing that you will need to do is to open up the Gmail home page, either on the desktop version, or on the Droid browser itself. You will see a blue link that says 'Sign Up For Gmail', you need to click on this link. A page will come up that asks for some personal information. These are all fairly simple questions such as your date of birth, postal code and name, things like that. The next thing that you will be asked to do is to create a username. This will be the first part of your email address. It is best to come up with something that is easy to remember. You may find that the user name that you want to use has already been taken so you may have to play around with this for a while. The next step is to create a password. You will want something that isn't easy to guess, but also something that is easy for you to remember. You will see a bar that will tell you ho strong or weak your desired password is. You will then be asked to create a security question to help protect your new email account. This is usually something simple like the name of your first pet, or your mother's maiden name. Finally, you will have to enter the Capatcha Code that you are presented with. Once this is done you will now have a new Gmail Account.

Now, assuming that you already have your invite from Google to set up the Google Voice account, the next steps are fairly easy to do. Click on the link in the invite email. Once the page has loaded, you will be asked to enter your Gmail username and password. Here's where the fun starts. You will be asked to create a phone number. You are allowed to choose any number that you want to be linked to your phone, provided it is not already in use. When you have created a number that you want t use, click 'continue'. After this you will be asked to put in a four digit pin number. This is what you will need to use to be able to access your email. The next step is to accept Google's terms and conditions to be able to continue. The next part is easy, you just have to enter the number that you want your Google calls to be forwarded to. This can be your home, office or mobile, whichever you like. Once you click on the 'continue' link, you will have to confirm the number that you have entered. You have to pick up the call once Google dials your phone and enter the random two digit number that they have provided. Google will also ask you on the call if you would like to set up your voice mail. You can do this now, or wait. Once you click 'Done' you are ready to go and can now log onto the Google Vooive dashboard. This is where the fun starts. You will see that Google Voice will not only transcribe all of your voice mails for you, but it will also email you the transcription. Not only does this save time, but it is a great little feature.

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