Unlike most of the reviews you read about here, this one is about a service rather than a product. Because of its totally unique nature, Simulscribe can be used by anyone, whether you have an HTC TyTn II, Treo 700wx, or a less than smart phone (Blackberry, Sidekick, Razr, or etc).

What exactly is Simulscribe?

Simulscribe is a voice mail service with a very convenient twist. Replacing the voice mail provided by your carrier, your messages are transcribed using voice transcription software, and forwarded to your choice of email address, and/or sent as a text message. A recording in .wav format is attached to the email with the transcription so that you can listen at your convenience. You may never dial into your voice mail again.

Why, you may now be asking, would I want to see my voice mail rather than dial in and listen? It is normal these days to see people at a conference table in a meeting with their smartphones or PDA's out taking notes, or retrieving other material necessary to the meting. It is still considered rude (at best) to make a phone call during those meetings. Even if you know the caller has information critical to the outcome of the meeting, you don't answer the phone. But now answering is no longer necessary. You allow the caller to leave a voice mail with all the pertinent information, and two minutes later, that message appears on your Windows Mobile smartphone, perhaps pushed instantly by your favorite third party email program or by an Exchange server. You read the voice mail without any disturbance, and then announce that information.

The technology supporting SimulScribe is remarkable with about 98% accuracy. I have received voice mail from people with a range of accents: deep south to Boston, English to Israeli. The transcriptions are almost perfect.

The subject line of each voice mail gives you the originating phone number (if available), although with this technology you will never worry about missing the hurried call-back number given by your caller. The only downside here is when your friends call and don't mention who is calling because they're used to you recognizing their voice. If you don't recognize the originating phone number you may have to actually listen to the message before you know who left it.

Setting up Simulscribe is a breeze. Most carriers include a field in the Phone Preferences for the voice mail center, so all you have to do is change this to the number given to you when you sign up for Simulscribe. Those of us on the Sprint network have to call *2 and request Tech Support make the change for us to "no answer call forwarding". Not counting the 3 minutes I was on hold (Customer Service should be bypassed for this request), my voice mail number was forwarded to the correct Simulscribe number in two minutes. Once the number forwarding has been completed, you call your new voice mail number and set up your voice mail box with the outgoing message of your choice just like when you first signed up with your cell service.

Because Simulscribe is a service, a monthly fee is incurred. The basic plan includes 40 messages for $9.95/month. Additional messages are $0.25 each. Simulscribe also offers custom integration for all your voice mail: mobile, home, corporate. If you are a busy professional, this service could be just what you've always wanted.

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