Update: After I published this post, Google added very strong language to that form insisting that transfers to GApps accounts are NOT SUPPORTED (caps theirs). I'm not sure why it worked for Dustin and myself. Your mileage may vary.

Even though this request form says it doesn't work for Google Apps accounts, I can confirm that Google is transferring Google Voice from regular Google accounts to Google Apps accounts right now. Thanks to a comment by reader Dustin Boston, I gave it a try this afternoon and within the hour, my Google Voice number, texts, and voicemail was ported to my Google Apps account. If you try this, a couple of things to know:

• You'll have to enter your 4-digit PIN into the request form. I forgot mine, had to reset it, got it wrong the first time, got a message saying so, reset it again, and then all worked. Write down your PIN. It's only 4 digits.
• You'll have to re-record your Google Voice name and greeting(s). They don't get ported.
• I maintain an Apps contact list, so this didn't really affect me, but Dustin recommends exporting your Google account contacts before the transfer so you can import them into your Voice account.

Here's the form to request the transfer [removed]. Even though it does say it doesn't work for Google Apps accounts, it did work for Dustin and myself.

Thanks to things like Labs and gadgets, you can get your Calendar in Gmail (and vice versa), Docs in Calendar and Gmail, Profile info in Google Reader, Google Voice SMS in your Gmail, and just about everything on iGoogle. Here's how.

Read the rest at Lifehacker »

First, log into Google Voice and configure it to forward text messages to your cell phone. When someone sends a text message to your Google Voice number, you'll receive the text on your phone--but not from the recipient's phone number. Instead, it will be a 406 number you've never seen before, with the person's name preceding the message (as pictured here). Add that number to your recipient's address book entry as "Other" or a custom label (like "GV SMS"). Each one of your text recipients will have a different 406 number.

From there on in, if you SMS that 406 number, your recipient will receive text messages from you--and it will look like they're coming from your Google Voice number. Their replies to any messages you send to that number will go back to your Google Voice number and come to you via the 406--meaning, your recipient never sees the 406 number. Like I said, it's a kluge, but it works.

At first glance the two things I like most about the official Google Voice application is label access and voicemail playback (which highlights words in the text transcription as it plays). It also feels snappier.

Over at Lifehacker, Kevin runs down what you get with the Google Voice apps on both Android and BlackBerry. Here's Google's official announcement video.

Grab Google Voice for Android in the Android Market on your handset. As for iPhone owners, a former Googler implied that Apple's approval process may slow up your Google Voice app. So hang in there and be patient--no doubt it's coming.

Google Voice mobile app for Blackberry and Android [Official Google Blog]

GV's About dialog says that GOOG hasn't released an official, supported API for the product, so it'll only work as long as Google Voice's mobile interface doesn't change. No doubt the Android developers at Google are busy at work building default hooks to Google Voice into a future release of the mobile phone operating system. But until Google Voice support comes out of the box, GV's the way to go.

Install GV from the Android Market (it's free), and hit up the settings to enter your Google Voice username, password, and phone number. From there, any time you make a call or send an SMS, you have the choice to use your Google Voice number or your cell phone number.

Here's what that looks like.

Tap and hold on a contact you want to text or call, and GV will ask which method you want to use, as shown.

Since I'm switching to my Google Voice number full-time, I checked off that "Use by default for this action" box before I chose GV for both texting and calling.

For the most part the transition to Google Voice with GV is going well for me, save a couple oddities that take some getting used to.

First, to place a call, you tap your contact, and GV calls you first. You pick up, and then it rings your contact. That's the only way to have your GV number show up on the caller ID on the other end--but it's still weird when you're used to just picking up a phone and dialing.

Update: Commenter Oren points out that in GV's settings, you can choose "Dial out" instead of "Call back" as the method for calling a contact. That option calls Google Voice, which prompts you to "dial the number of the person you want to call." Hang in for a moment, and do nothing, and GV will ring the contact you chose automatically. Awesome, thanks, Oren!

Second, when you text message a contact from your GV number via GV, and that person replies, you can reply back to their message--but the "From:" number is an unknown 406 phone number. Again, you can save that Google-Voice-to-contact specific number in their contact record, but it introduces yet another phone number into the scenario.

Google Voice is still young and needs more work to grab the folks without high tolerances for multiple-phone-number complexity in exchange for the convenience it provides. But for the early-ish adopters on Android, the GV app is a good bet. (Thanks for the tip, emailtoid!)