I’ve been a Spinvox enthusiast for over a year now. I had previously completely turned Voicemail off on my phone, and Spinvox gave me a reason to turn it back on. You can read more about that here. Google Voice recently became available, including speech-to-text transcription, so I wanted to pit the two of them against each other. Google Voice is apparently only using software for recognition, while Spinvox maintains that it uses a combination of real live people and software, which should offer a better transcription experience.
Using the same phone, I called my cell phone, and left the same message with both services: ‘Hey dude, this is Ricky Cadden, call me back at 817-472-8391. Just seeing what you were up to.‘ The number is made-up, fyi. Here’s what I got from either service:
Google Voice:
hey dave this is rick you can call me back at (817) 472-8391 just see what you’re up to
Spinvox:
Hey dude, this is Ricky Tedon(?). Can call me back at 18174728391. Just See what you’re up to.
Sadly, neither service got the entire message correct. Google Voice misheard ‘dude’ for Dave, and completely left my last name out of the message. However, the number is formatted ‘prettier’ with Google Voice. Spinvox does a bit better, getting most of the message correct, and actually acknowledging that I said my last name. While Spinvox didn’t get my last name correct, they were kind enough to put a (?) tag, so that I would know they weren’t sure of that part of the message – handy. The number is presented in a raw format, but my Nokia N79 was still able to see that it was a phone number, so that I could just click to call it, similar to the Google Voice message.
Ricky Cadden 
Humans vs robots? Humans win!
Humans vs robots? Humans win!
Nice write-up, Ricky. Using google voice, can people send you sms to that number? If not then all my friends would have to use 1 # for voice & 1 for text??
Thnx
Nice write-up, Ricky. Using google voice, can people send you sms to that number? If not then all my friends would have to use 1 # for voice & 1 for text??
Thnx
@justin – yes, one of the cool things about Google Voice is that it now forwards SMS, so if your friends send a text to your Google Voice number, it’s forwarded along to whatever other number you have setup.
To be fair, Spinvox and Google Voice are setup for entirely different purposes – Spinvox, while they have other products, are mainly setup for traditional voicemail replacement – and they rock at that. Google Voice, on the other hand, is designed as a number that you could freely give out and use as if it was a regular mobile number.
@justin – yes, one of the cool things about Google Voice is that it now forwards SMS, so if your friends send a text to your Google Voice number, it’s forwarded along to whatever other number you have setup.
To be fair, Spinvox and Google Voice are setup for entirely different purposes – Spinvox, while they have other products, are mainly setup for traditional voicemail replacement – and they rock at that. Google Voice, on the other hand, is designed as a number that you could freely give out and use as if it was a regular mobile number.
I’m a SpinVox lover as well (got to get my post up about them asap after reading this, doh). I had looked at GV, but don’t see a point for it with my particular usage. Very cool compairson nonetheless.
By the way, first time hitting this site via mobile in some time; I like the formatting and design here. Really, really well done.
I’m a SpinVox lover as well (got to get my post up about them asap after reading this, doh). I had looked at GV, but don’t see a point for it with my particular usage. Very cool compairson nonetheless.
By the way, first time hitting this site via mobile in some time; I like the formatting and design here. Really, really well done.