You are here: Home / Archives for google voice

How To Record Calls on Android Phones

March 22, 2010 By NotLost 2 Comments

One thing that business users expect on a smartphone is the ability to record a phone call.

There is plenty written about the legality of recording phone calls, and if you’re trying to secretly record calls, you could be asking for trouble.  However, not everyone wants to record phone calls for nefarious purposes.  Here’s a good resource about recording calls.

For example, I was just on a call this morning with a client and he wanted to know how we could record the conversation because he couldn’t keep up with everything I was saying and wanted to be able to go back and review the apparent wisdom I was pontificating.

We were on Skype at the time, so I just turned on Pamela (that’s what the software suite I used is called) and recorded away.

But how do you record a call if your on an Android powered phone?  There is no built in functionality to do it, and despite several hours of research, I haven’t found a single app (free or paid) that actually works on Android 2.0 or 2.1 for recording calls on the phone.  (My guess is you’d have to root the phone to do it at the moment.)

Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t do it.  You just have to use Google Voice to do it.  Unfortunately, that means you can only record incoming calls, not outgoing.  But if you need to record a conversation, this is the best way I’ve found to do it thus far (3/22/10).  And with Google Voice, it’s really easy, just press 4 and it will start recording the conversation.  You’ll find the conversation in your Voice control panel within a few minutes and you can send the recording to the other party easily from the control panel.

Now someone can tell me if I’m wrong here but if I were to call my Google Voice number from my cell phone, then use GV to do a three way call (which it can and will do for free), that would theoretically work, right?  Not exactly the simplest or most elegant of solutions, but if you really have to record an outgoing call, it just might work – if you know how to hack all that together, post it in the comments.

UPDATE 6/10: Just wanted to post an update on call recording on Android – no functionality exists yet (yes, there are apps in the Android Market that record phone calls, but none of them actually work).

The method I posted above to record outgoing calls actually requires two phones.  You’d have to make a call to your Google Voice number with a separate phone (any phone will work) or Skype (recommended since you can do it from a computer and don’t need a separate phone line). Then you can turn the recorder on by pressing 4 on your number pad, use 3-way colling to make your outgoing call, and finally you have a way to record the call.  If you’re desperate to record calls on your Android phone, that’s what you have to do until a reliable app is released or it’s natively supported in the OS, though I’m not aware of any native functionality for the latest Android OS version, Froyo 2.2.

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: Android, apps, call recorder, droid, google voice, motorola, record calls

Unlimited Calling Without An Unlimited Plan on Android

March 18, 2010 By NotLost Leave a Comment

I was browsing the Android Marketplace last night for new apps and randomly ran across this app called “Google Voice Callback.”  I wasn’t really sure what the purpose of it was but I downloaded it anyway.

I was actually hoping it would allow me to record outgoing calls on my phone, but alas, it didn’t turn out to work that way.  I did, however, learn it gives me the ability to make unlimited calls provided I have a few things:  A Google Voice Account, A Friends and Family Plan with unlimited calling to certain numbers, and an Android Powered phone.

As it turned out, I met all the requirements.  :-)

I remember thinking that Google Voice was relatively useless to me when I first got it but decided I should get a number anyway especially while the good numbers were still available so I did and there it sat until December when I upgraded from my Razr to a Droid.  Now I find Google Voice indispensable and this latest little trick only makes it more awesome.

Basically, this little app logs into your Google Voice account and uses the three way calling ability of the program.  First it calls your cell phone from Google Voice (basically you get a phone call from yourself, then as soon as you answer the call, it initiates the call to the person you were calling.)  It takes an extra ten seconds or so to make a call using this method, FYI.

Now the magic comes from that unlimited calling you get to certain numbers with your Friends and Family program.  Just make your Google Voice number one of your favorites and now you can call people anytime for free.

I already have a pretty beefy calling plan on my phone since I work as a consultant and spend a lot of time on my cell phone, however, I still manage to burn through my minutes pretty quickly, however, with this little trick I never have to worry about running going over on my minutes using this system.

I’ll probably still make most calls using my cell phone but any conversation that I know is going to take a while, I’ll go through the extra step of using the Google Voice Callback system… now if I could just figure out a way to record those calls…

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: Android, callback, droid, friends and family, google voice, google voice callback, unlimited calling, verizon

10 Must Have Android Apps

February 21, 2010 By NotLost 1 Comment

Must Have Droid Apps

I’ve seen a lot of people making lists of “must have” Android apps, and then they go and include stuff you definitely don’t need, but is certainly cool.

For example, on my phone I have the Tricorder and Lightsaber apps.  While they’re both cool, if you deleted them tomorrow, I’d be sad, but I’d survive.

On the other hand, if you took away my Google Voice Visual Voicemail (note: this is how you get Visual Voicemail for free – don’t pay for it, just get this App and a Google Voice account), I’d be without Voicemail.

So here is my list of what I think are some “must have” Apps.  Keep in mind that while I’m fairly tech savvy, I’m no expert on what should or shouldn’t be on a smartphone – I think all the features are cool.

Oh, and one more thing.  I’ve seen some people complain about how the phone (Motorola Droid and other Android phones like the Nexus One and HTC offerings) lacks certain features out of the box.  That’s the cool part – if you want to do it, there’s probably an App for that, and if there isn’t, you can create one!  It’s infinitely customizable to you.  That’s the real appeal to the iPhone and Android phones.

Anyway, must have Droid Apps…

  1. ChompSMS or HandSent2 – The built in SMS on Android sucks donkey balls.  It didn’t allow me to send a text to multiple people at once or to groups.   ChompSMS fixes that little snafu.  It’s the app I use most often.
  2. Contact Owner – Ever left your phone somewhere, but can’t for the life of you remember where it is?  I know I have.  And if not for the person how found it being ambitious enough to call contacts in my phone, I wouldn’t have found it.  This app is quite simple – it displays your name and contact info (including alternate phone number and email address) on the phone with an “if found, contact” message.  If someone finds your phone, they’ll know how and who to contact to return it.
  3. Wave Secure – Smartphones are expensive even when heavily subsidized by your phone company.  What would you do if it got stolen?  Well, being careful is the best way to make sure nobody steals your phone, but if they do, you’ve got WaveSecure.  If your phone is stolen, this App can help track it back down and will even notify people (that you pick) that your phone has been stolen.  It can even lock the phone down so that the thieves can’t access your personal information.
  4. Home++ – Android has three screens by default for putting shortcuts and icons on.   Honestly, once you start playing around with your phone, you’ll find yourself wanting more screens to better organize the apps you use most often.  For example, on my phone I have a screen just for music programs and one just for all the various programs for going online.  Home++ allows you to have up to seven screens and it does some other cool stuff too, but all I use it is for the extra screens.
  5. Pandora – While Android is certainly not iPhone for music, it’s certainly a capable device.  I really like my customized Pandora radio stations and being able to listen to them while I’m driving in the car (or wherever I happen to be) is awesome.  Last.fm and Slacker are also both good music streaming clients if you’d like more options.
  6. Voice Recorder – The Droid has no built in voice recorder.  No problem, just download “voice recorder” or “rehearsal”, problem solved.
  7. FoxyRing and Locale – There are two apps that have a similar function and Locale is definitely the more ambitious of the two, however I don’t need all the features and find FoxyRing is exactly what I need.  You’ll probably want at least one of them if not both.   FoxyRing is an app that measures ambient noise and adjusts the ringer volume accordingly.  In a loud bar?  Then the ringer will go off at it’s loudest volume so you can hear it.  Sitting in your living room reading a book?  Then the ringer will go off at a much lower volume so it doesn’t scare the bejesus out of you.   It also features a “silent” mode.  You can set times when the phone simply won’t go off.  In class at a certain time every day?  Just set the phone to be in silent mode.   Don’t want to take phone calls in the middle of the night?  Again, silent mode.  However, you can set the phone to allow certain emergency contacts to get through.  So if you want your mother to be able to call in case of a family emergency, but not your drunk friends, this is the perfect app for that.
  8. Mototorch – This is another simple app.  It uses the LED flash on the camera as a flashlight.  It’s simple, but handy.
  9. Gtask – Another simple app that synchs to Google tasks in your Gmail account.  There are a ton of “to do list” apps and really cool ones like “don’t forget the milk.”  For me, this simple one is all I need and the fact that it synchs to Gmail, which I use all day long is why I chose it.
  10. KeepScreen – This is an ultra handy app – and all it does it keeps your screen from turning off.  For example, if you’re playing music, but want to keep the controls up without having to unlock the screen every time, this program will do it.  You can set it so that when certain programs are running, the screen simply doesn’t turn off.  Be careful as leaving programs run will drain your battery faster than two shakes of a lambs tail, but it’s great when you just need the screen to stay on without having to touch it every few seconds.

Oh, and while this one is built in, if you use Google Calendar, you can have it text you a reminder if you have anything scheduled you don’t want to forget.  I didn’t know about it until recently, but now I use it regularly.

Those are some of my favorite “must have” apps.

I’ll probably make a list of ones that are “nifty” and “spiffy” but not quite as practical in the future, but that’s all I’ve got for today.

Filed Under: Android Tagged With: Android, apps, droid, free visual voicemail, Google, google voice, motorola, music, voice recorder