by I’m crazy about Google Voice, and I was thrilled today to wake up to a refreshed interface for the service. Gone is the ugly blue and white color scheme. Now we have the “unified styling refresh” with the grey backgrounds and slimmer feeling formatting that is so much easier on the eye. On August 26, 2010, Google Voice arrived in Google Apps, and today, Google Voice feels reborn yet again.
I really like the new Google styling for their services. Calendar and Gmail need to use a more condensed font because I’ve lost a lot of operating space with the new formatting for those services, but in Google Voice, everything just sits and feels right in the eye.
I’m a great believer in white space. I don’t like dark backgrounds. The new Google unified styling uses a light grey background, and I confess, it works. It looks good. It is easy to read.
Now I can’t wait for Google to finally start adding some for-pay functionality in Google Voice so we can use that service to control the perils of our lives on an even more granular level. We need to fax. We need to have multi-function lines. We need auto-attendants.
I also cannot wait for the new styling interface to finally land on Google Docs. I spend most of my days and nights in Docs and I’m hungering for a better interface. I’m burned out on blue and white.
Now I leave you with some musical inspiration from Fatboy Slim/Herve/Afghan Headspin remix — Machines Can Do The Work –because that song is now on my multi-repeat Spotify cycle for just how perfectly it fits in with the way in which I allow Google to manage my online life.
Great review, David! I like the new look of Google Voice.
I am anxious to get this interface update across all Google services. Right now, the difference between the old and new is jarring.
I’m sorry but the new look looks like absolute fucking shi*! I HATE IT WITH A VENGEANCE! How can I GO BACK TO THE OLD INTERFACE?
[Comment edited by David W. Boles for content.]
I think the new look of Google Voice is going to be the new universal styling for all Google services soon. Sorry you don’t like it.
I for one can’t stand the new style and have disabled it when possible. Unfortunately for google voice there is no such option to disable. Way to force your style beliefs on all users, google!
I know how you feel, Paul. I don’t like a lot of cruft. I find the new style quiet and pleasing to the eye. I’m sure Google — or someone else — will find a way to provide some sort of choice in modification for those who really don’t get the new look.