Vodafone Germany surprises with its own visual mailbox
by Sean Cooper 
posted Aug 29th 2007 at 6:51PM
While not the same as the iPhone's visual voicemail, we're pretty sure Vodafone Germany subscribers will be happy to check this out. When new voicemail messages arrive, they are dropped on the handset via MMS as an audio clip. Users can then listen to their voicemail on the handset by simply clicking the user's message they are not screening interested in hearing. This free service is available now for all Vodafone contract subscribers, with CallYa customers getting it this fall. Who said good things don't come for free?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
L @ Aug 29th 2007 7:26PM
Well, "3" Austria has sent all my voicemails to my handset via eMail for 2.5 years now. For free too if I may add...
sr1329 @ Aug 29th 2007 8:38PM
Yeah we are so behind here in the US in mobile telecommunications. Even in 3rd world countries the network will message you if you missed a call due to being out of range but not here.
Anyhow I found a free service that takes my voice messages and E-mails them to me as an attachment while also texting me a computer voice to text interpretation. I would prefer an MMS though.
sr1329 @ Aug 29th 2007 8:42PM
Now don't go saying that's because being out of range happens all the time in 3rd world countries. Believe it or not most have better urban coverage than the US. It will text you if your phone was off as well.
On cingular someone tried to call me 5 times and never did the phone ring. They didn't leave a message and the only way I knew that someone had even called me was due to my service that e-mailed me. Finally after 2 hours I got 5 text messages also (from the service).
beanspants @ Aug 30th 2007 11:30AM
if they didn't leave a message, then it probably wasn't that important, right? talk about a pointless service. like i need a text message from every jerk who misdials when they call me.
Dennis @ Aug 30th 2007 2:48PM
Visual Voicemail was available in the U.S. for free before the iPhone launched. Check out the SimulSays beta by SimulScribe www.simulsays.com - it enables users to sort through and pick each voicemail to listen to as well as READ their voicemail - a step up from the iPhone's "visual voicemail". SimulScribe and Arizona Bay partnered up to develop the app for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry. It lets you listen to your voicemail in any order, receive e-mail notifications, archive your messages, and otherwise manage them in a visual way on your smartphone. It also integrates with your smartphone's address book. If you don't have Window Mobile or a late model blackberry you can always use SimulScribe, the voicemail-to-text automated transcription service that lets you read your voice mail messages as text. SimulScribe costs $9.99 per month, plus $0.25 per message over 40 for that month. You can integrate SimulSays with SimulScribe to scroll, click, listen and READ your voicemail.
Here's three reviews by PC Magazine:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2173819,00.asp
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2151175,00.asp
check out this iPhone visual voicemail vs. SimulScribe video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVAX5OtbllU