In this post, one of the problems I described with mobile app testing was that I’m frequently away from my computer when I’m actually using my mobile device. So how do I report a bug, or feature idea, when I’m at the grocery store?
I have to run back to my computer, sign in, and enter it all into our bug tracking software. Or, tippy-tap an email message to our team (which gets lost in their inbox).
Why not just call? Oh yeah, because that’s not scalable (and too many ideas happen at 4am). So in our upcoming Golden Monkeys app, we added a link that points to Google Voice.
Now, no matter where I am (insert iPhone reception joke here), or what time it is, I can just push that button and leave a message. Back in the lab, our team logs in and listens.
Mobile Lab listens to feedback via Google Voice
What’s really nice is that Google Voice actually transcribes everything, so we can just read the text of the messages if we want (yeah, that’s an inside joke for all the Google Voice users out there who’ve received hilariously inaccurate transcripts).
Speaking of Google Voice translation hilarity, http://sayagain.tumblr.com and http://gvtranscripts.tumblr.com never cease to amuse me.
A GV transcript from our HVAC guy: “Hey Dad, It’s natural. Camped I had you down for the next appointment, so please give me a call.”
For an even better experience, check out Twilio’s OpenVBX and the Highrise related plugins:
http://openvbx.org/
http://github.com/thevinci/HighriseVoicemail-VBX
http://github.com/thevinci/HighrisePage-VBX
http://github.com/thevinci/HighriseDial-VBX
Random idea of the day (not knowing much about Google voice this could be rubbish!)
Could Google voice be used on email. i.e a button on the email links to Google voice which enables the recipient to respond by voice on their mobile etc. This may capture a response where it could have previously been lost.
Yes, I think in concept, we’re attempting to offer the same thing with our recent Comments feature:
http://blog.mailchimp.com/add-facebook-comments-to-your-mailchimp-campaigns/
but I imagine there are some cases where voice might be a good option too. Combine that with an API, and things could get pretty interesting.
I found this out on google voice forum… and just tested with MailChimp…
It works in a pretty wonky way but does work… with some further thought I am sure you could clean it up more. The author also stated some issues with his method and IE but I did not get into that… Firefox and Chrome is does work however weird it may be…
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/voice/thread?tid=2c4af0b5426fe944&hl=en
Hope this helps a little… Good luck!
Awesome!
So would that work with the iphone / android native email clients?
I haven’t tested it with and iphone or android based phone but I really don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work unless an email client was the culprit…
This is a really great idea… google voice is quite handy on a number of fronts… I think I will stick with listening to the voice mails though… Reading their transcripts are a bit like playing whisper down the lane… you start out with “I like PB&J” and end up with “Monkey PJ’s are the bomb…”
great idea.
i’m excited to see what is possible as google voice rolls out to their google apps platform.
This message just appeared on my Profile Page at Facebook. Does this mean that my Mail Chimp signup form and the tab for it will soon be deleted? Any way to prevent that from happening? I just figured out how to get the form to post. Bummer.
“Application tabs going away
Soon, Facebook will no longer support tabs for applications. Find your favorite applications in the left hand navigation on your Facebook homepage.”
Diane, I’ve responded to the question you posted on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/mailchimp/posts/452463655776
seems to be a good idea but what about the compatibility issues with multiple platforms? would it be feasible?