Please note that Google Voice is not a VOIP service. Basically, it’s a service that lets you manage a free phone number that Google gives you. Since the app relies on the Internet connection (3G, EDGE, Wifi, etc), so you still need an actual phone plan.

The GV Mobile features including:

• Dial numbers (domestic for free and international at a variable rate) via the iPhone’s address book or typing in on the keypad
• Send SMS messages
• Retrieve and delete recent call history
• Playback and delete voicemails
• Take calls from different phones other than your iPhone
• Add, delete, enable, or disable the phones that Google Voice forwards calls to

Google Voice is currently in beta and invite only.

[via Engadget]

Developer Sean Kovacs writes:

Richard Chipman from Apple just called – he told me they’re removing GV Mobile from the App Store due to it duplicating features that the iPhone comes with (Dialer, SMS, etc). He didn’t actually specify which features, although I assume the whole app in general. He wouldn’t send a confirmation email either – too scared I would post it.  I’ll see what I can do to get it back up there gang…

But TechCrunch suspects:

Of course, it’s not hard to guess who’s behind the restriction: our old friend AT&T. Google Voice scares the carriers. It allows users to send free SMS messages and get cheap long-distance over Google Voice’s lines. It also makes it trivial to switch to a new phone service, because everyone calls the Google Voice number anyway.

[via Apple Insider | image credit]

Our Latitude web app provides all the core functionality you might expect: you can see the location of your friends on a map and modify your privacy settings so that you control how your location is shared and with whom. In fact, if my friends and colleagues back in London haven’t yet noticed my absence, they’ll see in Latitude that I’m currently vacationing on the beach in Australia. Hi guys, remember me!?

You’ll also find basic Search and Directions functionality to help you get around the world. And just like our Google Maps for mobile client apps (and more recently on desktop Google Maps), you can press the “blue dot” to be taken to your approximate current location on the map with My Location, thanks to Safari now supporting the W3C Geolocation API.

[via Google Mobile Blog]

Google wrote:

This new version is faster and easier to use. It supports tabs as well as more of your favorite gadgets, including those built by third-party developers. Note that not all gadgets — like those with Flash — will work in mobile browsers.

One of our favorite new features is the in-line display of articles for feed-based gadgets. That means you can read article summaries without leaving the page. You can also rearrange gadget order or keep your favorite gadgets open for your next visit. None of these changes will mess up the layout of gadgets on your desktop computer, so feel free to play around and tune your mobile experience.

“You’ll press the oneSearch field and see the large gray button prompting you to press and speak your inquiry,” CNET writes, adding that like most voice input systems, this one isn’t without its computational errors — especially in recognizing voice accurately.

Other features in YM version 1.1 including:

• Instant Messaging
• Share Photos
• Stealth Settings
• Custom status message
• Recent conversations archive
• Special idle state
• Landscape keyboard mode
• New “Report a Problem” feature

[via CNET]

To label an email, select a message then tap ‘Label as…” from the drop-down menu on the Floaty Bar. In the pop-up menu, select the label(s) you would like to use and tap ‘Apply’. Please note, you can add and remove existing labels to your emails in Gmail for mobile, but labels can only be created, renamed and deleted in the desktop version.

[via Google Mobile Blog]

The new version’s features offer:

• Faster performance (in opening an email, navigating, or searching).
• Ability to open recently read messages.
• Compose emails over a weak or non-existent, network connection.

You can enjoy the new features of Gmail from this video:

[via Brighthand]

This app, which cost 99 cents,  allows you to send and receive free SMS messages to US numbers using your iPod touch or iPhone. Just use your Google account, no other signups.

For now, Infinite SMS will continue to work, but when the block goes into effect, you’ll start getting an error every time you try to send a text message…

Google has claimed no grievance with Infinite SMS other than its success. Their given reason for the block isn’t abuse or wrongdoing; it’s that we brought too many users (and thus too much cost) to an experimental service.

[via Network World]

MultiCal’s features include:

• No syncing required.
• No need to replace your iPhone calendar and contacts.
• Easily switch multiple accounts and calendars on or off.
• View and compare multiple calendar layers.
• Simultaneously view co-workers, friends, family, or project calendars.

User can’t change appointments or schedules from the application, but should log into his/her Google account on a computer to do it. MultiCal is available now on the App Store for $1.99.

[via I4U]

Because it uses HTML5 standards, rather than something unique to the iPhone 3G, it means that the software can be run on any other device which adheres to those standards.  That enables developers to code a single app which will run on multiple platforms, with the GUI and functionality identical on each; Gundotra demonstrated the GMail app running both on the iPhone 3G and on the recently-announced HTC Magic, which uses the Android OS, since both use the Webkit browser engine.  That same engine is also used by Palm for their Pre smartphone, and as such the app will run on that handset too.

As well as offline support, there’s also a floating toolbar that tracks the user’s email browsing, together with support for message labeling.  However despite appearing release-ready in the demonstration, Google have made no announcement regarding when the offline-capable GMail app might be released.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmjxmOtNZCk[/youtube]

Once you set up Sync on your phone, it will automatically begin synchronizing your address book and calendar in the background, over-the-air, so you can attend to other tasks. Sync uses push technology so any changes or additions to your calendar or contacts are reflected on your device in minutes. The connection is always on so you don’t have to manually sync your phone after Sync has been set up. This means that when your colleague changes the time of the TPS report cover sheets meeting, you’ll know about it right away.

Since Sync is a two-way service, you can make changes on your phone or in your Google Account. Your calendar and contacts are always up-to-date, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Also, since your data is automatically backed up to your Google Account, it’s securely stored even if you lose your phone.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt_-qHczCMg&eurl=http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-sync-beta-for-iphone-winmo-and.html&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[via Google Mobile Blog]

There’s an interesting story behind this mobile book search project:

If you use Google Book Search, you’ll notice that our previews are composed of page images made by digitizing physical copies of books. These page images work well when viewed from a computer, but prove unwieldy when viewed on a phone’s small screen.

Our solution to make these books accessible is to extract the text from the page images so it can flow on your mobile browser just like any other web page. This extraction process is known as Optical Character Recognition (or OCR for short).

Just point your mobile browser to http://books.google.com/m. Happy mobile  reading!

[via Google Mobile Blog]

With this service, you can:

• See where your friends are and what they are up to.
• Quickly contact them with SMS, IM, or a phone call.
• Maintain complete control over your privacy.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-Oq-9enE-k&eurl=http://www.google.com/mobile/default/latitude.html&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

[via MacWorld]

Google was quick to dismiss more serious claims that they were linking to dynamic frameworks, however. So what’s the big deal about undocumented APIs? Well, whenever Apple updates their software, the application code could break.

Plus, this raises questions about applications accepted into the App Store by Apple. If Apple knew Google was using these APIs and let the application through anyway, it could point to a sort of favoritism. However, Google might just end up rewriting the code if Apple ends up enforcing the SDK terms.

Not sure how to spell something? Well that is no longer a problem with the Google mobile application.  This app works better than we could have imagined, picking up uncommon words that may not even be in the dictionary. We found that often times a phrase was easier for the application to pick up than a single word.

Google voice search can also tell the difference between say “three” and “their” depending on the context you use it in.  Even in a crowded food court with plenty of noise the application was able to pick up just what we were saying almost every time. If you have not already tried this out, stop, put everything down and go download it for yourself. This application will amaze you.