[sunetos]

I have to make a decision, and crackberry seems the most friendly place to help out. It is indirectly about getting a Q10, although the question technically applies to any new phone I could get: how do I choose between Google Voice support and good LTE coverage?

I have been an iPhone user for a number of years, but I am just as horrible on the "glass" keyboard as my first day using it. I hate it (I've tried so very hard to adjust, please don't tell me to get used to it).

I never got a Blackberry, but my favorite phone (excluding my tiny awesome flip phone, the bronze Nextel i830 that was all over TV shows) was my Palm Treo 700p. I installed every hack and upgrade and got that whole OS completely automated with keyboard shortcuts, and I loved the keyboard.

Anyway, I'm 90% sure I'm getting a Q10 (pending BB Live and WWDC). The keyboard looks glorious, and I don't use but a handful of my iPhone apps (I want that old mentality of a dedicated PDA-style life organizer and message manager). The problem is, I have to choose a carrier.

I got hooked on google voice at least 4 years ago, at least partially because of the chrome extension that let me respond to texts on my laptop (and use a real keyboard and not the horrifying on-screen iOS keyboard). I switched my carrier to Sprint to get full carrier support for gvoice which made my iPhones fully integrated with gvoice. I gave everyone (and most businesses) my gvoice #. I also search year-old texts to find things surprisingly often.

Here is the situation:

1. I am pretty dependent on Google Voice right now.
2. BB10 does not (and will probably never) fully integrate gvoice support into the OS.
3. I want LTE on a 2013 device. I have other LTE phones and am spoiled.
4. Sprint has unbelievably bad LTE coverage (I have Sprint and VZW LTE phones to compare).
5. Sprint is the only carrier in the US (world?) that integrated gvoice at the carrier level.

Gvoice has a pile of permanent bugs that bother me, too. I cannot believe MMS is still not supported, as well as extended character sets, after all these years. I would like to have these things back.

So I want a VZW LTE Q10, and I also want tight gvoice integration. This is not currently possible. Which one should I give up? Thanks for your advice, and sorry about the long post.

a d a m

[luckynando]

Cliffsnotes: OP wants to use Google Voice on a Q10 and wants to know if it is possible?

He also wants good LTE coverage.

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[offyoutoddle]

In the end its a decision you will need to make yourself. What I notice from your post is that you put point 1 as needing google voice - so just how much is 'pretty' important to you - and that's something no one else can answer but you unfortunately.

Certainly from what I have heard of it, i think Google voice didn't really work out the way google planned - international texting was talked about and never developed, it never rolled out much further than the US despite what google whispered about doing, and they are just as likely to dump it like other products that have come and gone. If it was me I'd plan to wean myself off google voice, and embrace the newer LTE technologies - sprints coverage will most likely improve, and they are not the only game in town. One thing is sure, you can probably rely on LTE being around longer than google voice.

Its just an opinion. Good luck.

[sunetos]

Thanks, that's good advice. I'll probably start figuring out how to wean myself off of Google Voice.

a d a m

[hnguyen]

I am very dependent on gv. No one knows my cell number only my friend and family know my gv number.

I use Gmail and all my contacts are sync with my phone. For almost all my contacts I have a specific gv number under the "Other" phone number section. So if my friends or family call or text it will display the name on the phone.

For return calls I just copy and paste it into the dialer for the html5 gv site. This has worked well for me so far. But I do wish there was an app that allows you to automatically dial out using your gv number. I hope google recognizes how awesome bb10 is and build all their apps for the BlackBerry world.

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[luckynando]

Let's be realistic guys. BB10 might be awesome, but why would Google develop software for competition? Would you?

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[sunetos]

Disclaimer: I work for Google but do not represent them and know nothing about their plans for gvoice. This is personal opinion only.

IMO, it is incredibly unlikely that Google will help integrate gvoice into any other smartphone platform than Android. They didn't really even do that tight of an integration for Android IMO.

I did think of another thing gvoice won't have that most of us might want soon: HD Voice. If gvoice can go its entire lifecycle so far without even supporting MMS, there seems to be no chance of it supporting HD Voice.

In fact, I've had some quality issues and outages and such that didn't align with Sprint's, that were probably gvoice issues. I suspect my call quality (and response time to start/end the call, which are poor) would be better with the carrier native calls than proxying through gvoice.

a d a m

[anon(3072139)]

Decision is yours but Google has a history of getting people hooked on their services and canceling the service. (latest case in point: Reader). I as many others have learned not to become dependent on Google services. My suggestion would be to plan to gravitate away from Google voice. Take that out of the equation and your dilemma becomes a no-brainer.

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