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I was recently given the opportunity (thanks to Sean) to begin using a pre-release version of GV Mobile for the iPhone and so far I have been loving it. Once approved, GV Mobile will be available in two versions, the full-featured version that is going to sell for $2.99 and another “light” version that will be available for free. For the purpose of the review, I can only comment on the full-featured version as that is the one I have installed.

Anyway…

Upon launching the app for the first time you will have to perform a basic setup, which really just consists of logging into your Google Voice account and entering the phone number that you are calling from. Simple and easy, there is even a “Remember Me” toggle that you can use to have your login information remembered, or forgotten.

Then once you are all setup, you will see several icons on the bottom of the app display which include the Keypad, SMS, History, Voicemail and Settings.

• Keypad: What can you really say, you use it to dial the numbers you want to call. You have the option to simply dial the number using the keypad or dial one of your existing iPhone Contacts, which you will have access to from a button in the lower left corner of the dialer.
• SMS: Again, pretty simple, you use this section to send SMS messages using your Google Voice number. You can manually enter a number in the “To” section, or click the little “+” symbol to gain access to your iPhone Contacts. Then type up your message and click Send. Any replies to your SMS message will be forwarded to the default SMS app on your iPhone. Additionally, there is also a nice little counter that keeps track of your remaining characters.
• History: This shows both the incoming and outgoing calls for your Google Voice account. It will display calls that you made from your iPhone as well as calls the you made with other phones. To return a call from the history, just click on the listing. You can also use the familiar swipe of your finger to delete individual items from the history.
• Voicemail: Offers access to view your voicemails in a visual voicemail like setting. You are able to listen to your voicemail messages and swipe your finger to delete voicemails. You can listen to your voicemail using the regular phone, a headset or the speaker.

Aside from GV Mobile, there are also three other Google Voice apps for the iPhone that I am aware of. They include VoiceCentral, GVdialer and a third that I cannot name just yet.

While I have not played with all of the Google Voice apps for the iPhone I can say that based on what I have personally used, seen and read, GV Mobile seems to be the overall leader so far.

VoiceCentral I have not used personally, but have read some reviews. GVdialer is currently available, and based on the description and feature list it seems like a good app — but not for the $9.99 they are asking for it. The final app is one that I am currently beta testing (under NDA) which is why I cannot name names just yet. I will say that it does not (in its current state) compare to GV Mobile.

Unfortunately, GV Mobile is still being held up in the review process, but it is definitely going to be worth your wait, it is easy to use, reliable and fairly priced.

I will let you know when GV Mobile becomes available in the App Store, but you can also check out the developers blog over at SeanKovacs.com.