The Google Voice app is pre-installed on most new Android phones, and by setting it up, you're getting pretty tight phone and SMS integration. But you can get more from Voice with some clever shortcuts, widgets, and contact tweaks.
Get Good at Calling and Texting by Voice Alone
Most SMS apps don't work if you're using Google Voice as your exclusive SMS service, but Google's Voice Actions do allow you to send Voice messages using just your voice. Make it convenient for yourself, though.
Press and hold the Search button from almost any screen to activate the voice prompt, rather than hunting and pecking the microphone button. Practice spelling out your friends' names the way a robo-voice would say them: "Text Chris Moh-yer—What time for lunch?" It took me a while to learn how Google/Android thought my friends' names sounded, but now texting friends with just one hand on the phone is pretty easy.
If you're prompted to enable "Voice Recognition Personalization," go ahead and approve. It adds a good bit of accuracy to Voice Actions, especially, I've noticed, in recognizing your verbs like "Text" or "Call."
Make a Quick-Access Shortcut for Switching from Voice to Standard Calls
If you can't make a data connection from your Android, or at least a good data connection, Google Voice might not be able to connect your call. This improved with the Voice app storing some of your Voice-specific numbers in a cache, but data issues still pop up sometimes. At other times, the voice quality or delay through Google Voice's servers just might not be so hot.
So press and hold an empty spot on your home screen, choose the Shortcuts category, and scroll down to find "Toggle Google Voice." Each time you tap this shortcut, Google Voice changes its calling settings, through a cycle: Use Voice for every call, no calls, only international calls, or letting you choose each time. So now you can switch off Voice calling when you need call quality or connection at a premium.
Grab the Voice Plus App for Caller-Specific Voice Settings
When you're making the transition to Google Voice, you can be stuck at a point where some people have started using your Google Voice number exclusively, but you're stuck with some stragglers. You might have other situations, too, where you'd want to call someone through your direct, this-specific-phone number. With the Voice Plus app, you can choose specific contacts that get called in a specific Voice/non-Voice way, or even set up entire area codes that you always call with Voice or not (handy for those living near borders).
Check Out the Handy Voice Widgets
If you're newer to Voice, you might not have noticed an update that delivered two pretty handy widgets to your home screen. One is a strip with shortcuts to useful Voice functions—voicemail, SMS, settings, and turning on "Do Not Disturb" to send everything to voicemail temporarily. Another widget provides at-a-glance looks at your most recent voicemail transcriptions and SMS. To load them on your home screen, press and hold on a blank spot, choose Widgets, then pick out the Voice app you want.
That's our best advice on getting even more from the AndroVoice setup. Android owners and Voice lovers, what setup tricks are we missing?