GOOGLE VOICE WITH MMS ROLLING OUT SLOWLY

If you use Google Voice in place of your carrier’s text messaging, you’ve probably noticed that it’s missing MMS capabilities. You can text back and forth to your heart’s content, but receiving or sending pics or videos isn’t an option. Well, soon you’ll be able to say it wasn’t an option, as Google is (gradually) rolling out MMS support for GV users.

Before you get too excited, the only MMS messages that can currently be received are those coming from Sprint users. Note that Sprint needs to be the sender’s carrier, not yours. In its current state, any MMS received from Sprint users will be forwarded to your email inbox, provided you have email forwarding activated for your GV account. Google says that they are also “planning on” making them show up in your Google Voice inbox at some (unspecified) point in the future.

When this rolls out, it will help make Google Voice more of a legit replacement for standard texting plans. The timing of this rollout could very well be in response to Apple’s iMessage, that was just launched with iOS 5. As it stands now, iMessage allows pictures and videos to be sent between iOS users, while Google Voice messaging is just now showing these early signs of moving in that direction.

Google also says that they are working with mobile operators not named Sprint in order to further get the ball rolling. This isn’t the first time that Sprint has shown a willingness to collaborate with Google, as they have been allowing their customers to integrate Google Voice into their phones (using their GV number for their Sprint phone, or vice versa) since earlier this year. It will be interesting to see how long it takes AT&T and Verizon to follow suit on the MMS accessibility (if at all).

VERIZON CONFIRMS VoLTE FOR NEXT GEN NETWORK

Verizon has confirmed to CNN that it will utilize Voice Over LTE (VoLTE) for its next generation voice network. The company is expected to make a public announcement, and host demonstrations, at next week’s Mobile World Congress. In the future, Verizon hopes to route all voice and video calls, text messages, and data packets over its LTE network.

“Calls between VoLTE-equipped smart phones will sound better,” notes Verizon. “The ‘high-definition’ audio fidelity will be a major selling point.”

The report also notes that VoLTE will allow simultaneous voice and data usage — a capability currently unavailable to most CDMA handsets. Verizon declined to comment on how it plans to price and roll-out VoLTE, but we’re sure it will be a slow transition. [BGR]

HTC THUNDERBOLT FIRST VERIZON PHONE TO DO VOICE AND DATA SIMULTANEOUSLY

At CES, Verizon had mentioned that "some... but not all" of its first LTE handsets would support the simultaneous use of voice and data. That's not news for 3G customers on T-Mobile and AT&T, nor WiMAX customers on Sprint -- but for Verizon subscribers, this is a very novel concept, indeed. Well, we can chalk up the mighty ThunderBolt from HTC as one of the models that'll support it, if leaked training materials for the phone over on Android Central are to be believed. On a related note, the very existence of these materials gives us hope that we'll be seeing it on store shelves before too long.

GOOGLE'S FREE CALLING THROUGH GMAIL EXTENDED A YEAR

Google announced their free calling through Gmail in the US and Canada will be extended for another year. The free calling promotion was set expire at the end of this year, however ”In the spirit of holiday giving and to help people keep in touch in the new year,” Google will add another year to the promotion.

The promotion applies to all calls made from within Gmail, and is completely separate from Google Voice, which also affords free calling to the U.S. and Canada. Gmail’s recently added voice calling feature is thought to be a prelude to the eventual addition of VoIP services to Google Voice. [BGR]

NATIVE GOOGLE VOICE APP APPROVED BY APPLE

Apple has approved a native GV app.  GV Connect is slightly different than GV Mobile which caused a stir a few months ago when it was denied by Apple.  GV Connect app has a ton of features, excluding push notifications.

• Place calls using your Google Voice number rather than your mobile number - enter number directly, select a contact from your device's contacts, or call back any number in your history.
• Send and receive text messages (SMS) from your Google Voice number.
• Listen to voicemails and recorded conversations right on your device (allowing you to pause, rewind, or fast forward to any point within the message) - voicemails will also show the transcription of the message when available.
• Mark messages as starred, attach notes to conversations, block/unblock senders, or delete conversations.
• Easily search in your history by contact, message, or note.
• Messages are stored on your device for offline access.
• Composing notes and text messages can be done in landscape mode.
• Quickly change various Google Voice account settings (call forwarding, do-not-disturb, message notifications, …) directly from within the application.
• Automatic checking for new messages while the application is active.
• Direct access to your device's contacts without needing to synchronize them with Google
• All communication is done with the Google Voice website directly, no need to hand over your account information to a third-party.
• Full support for fast app switching in iOS4 and high-resolution graphics for retina displays.
• GV Connect stores your account password securely in your device's keychain for faster login when launching the application - communication is done via secure connections (SSL) to the Google Voice servers and no contact information (other than the contact's phone number which is required to place a call or send a message) is sent to Google. All operations are fully synchronized with your Google Voice account.

GV Connect is available from iTunes for only $3. [Gizmodo]