Most of the reviews of BlackBerry related products and services that we have done over the years here on RIMarkable are little more than a paragraph or two on what the product is, what it does, and link where you can download it and try it out for yourself. This is not the case when it comes to our review of SimulSays, a visual voicemail application for the BlackBerry from SimulScribe. We have totally put SimulSays through the paces and I have to report that I am thoroughly impressed.
What is SimulSays?
SimulSays is a visual voicemail application molded in the same vein as what you may have heard about the iPhone’s visual voicemail. Normally, when someone leaves a voicemail on your BlackBerry, you get a voicemail indicator icon that lets you know that there is new message waiting for you to listen to. SimulSays takes this a step farther by transcribing the voicemail message and sending it back to your BlackBerry as an email message. The SimulSays application running on your Blackberry recognizes the transcribed emails sent back to your device and allows you to scroll through and manage your transcribed messages in any order that you like.
What is really cool is that if SimulSays, via caller ID, can match the number of the person leaving a voicemail to a contact in your address book, you can easily reply to that contacts transcribed voicemail simply by hitting reply.
With SimulSays you still have all the regular voicemail features that you are used to. You can call into your voicemail as well as listen to and manage your messages. Additionally, you can listen to your voicemail via the web, as well as view the transcribed text of the message. You also have the ability to download a .wav file of each of your voice mail messages.
Installation and Configuration
The setup of SimulSays is pretty straight forward. Sign up for an account where you will be asked for your email address, a pin number, and your wireless carrier. Download and install the SimulSays BlackBerry client. Then forward your voicemail to the SimulSays servers using a code provided based on your wireless carrier. You can easily turn SimulSays off by entering in a code on your device that will revert back to your carriers voicemail system.
Once the your account is created and the SimulSays BlackBerry client is installed, open the client, enter in your email address and PIN, and you are good to go. (Note: This is not your BlackBerry PIN but the PIN you created when you set up your account.)
My take on SimulSays
SimulSays notifies you when a new voicemail message has come in almost immediately and transcription takes about 3 to 5 minutes depending on the length and clarity of the voicemail message being transcribed.
I’ve been playing around with SimulScribe for around three weeks or so. It, honestly, has become one of the most used third party apps on my BlackBerry, just this passed week I really got to put the service though the paces as I was in conference that lasted 2 days. Being towards the end of Q1, many, many voicemails came in, 80% of which I was able to reply back to with a simple email to the person that left the voicemail without ever having to get up and walk out of the meeting.
You even get a number that you can give out that will send people who call it directly to your SimulSays voicemail.
To say that SimulSays truly impressed me would be an understatement.
How much does SimulSays cost?
There are three different plans for SimulSays. SimulUnlimted, as the name implies gives your unlimited voicemail transcription for $29.95 per month. Simul40 gives your 40 transcriptions for $9.95 per month. SimulPerMessage doesn’t require a monthly fee and costs $0.35 per transcribed message.
Final Thoughts
As I said before, I am thoroughly impressed with SimulSays. The pricing initially seems a bit steep, however, is actually quite comparable, if not a bargain, to other services with similar features. I’ve noticed that the SimulSays client doesn’t parse incoming emails immediately, however, I believe this is because the client would drain your battery if it constantly polled incoming messages. You never notice it unless you see the SimulSays message come in and if you do, you can can simply hit the Reconnect Now button.
I would like to see a future update of the BlackBerry client with configurable tone and vibrating alerts. I carry my BlackBerry in my pocket so, I don’t know that I have voicemails until I either see the red light blinking or look at the today screen.
All in all, SimulSays is one BlackBerry application that I would actually pay for myself. If you want to try it out, there is a 7-day free trial that you can access directly from the SimulSays.com website, however, we have set up a free 30-day trial for RIMarkable readers.
Give SimulSays a try, and, as always, come back and tell us what you think via the comments.
Thanks for the review, Robb. I’ve often wondered if these visual voicemail systems for the BB work, and now I have a much better idea.
I installed and setup SimulSays with my BB8830 on Verizon. I made 3-4 test voicemail calls and even when I talked very fast I found the transcriptions to be very accurate. Maybe 1-2 words total missed when I really tried to get the machine to mess up. I am going to try the 30 day trial and then evaluate it. I didn’t install the client, I’m totally fine just getting an email with an attached audio file (WAV, MP3, or another format) and the transcription.
I would recommend trying it too.
Hi Robb,
Thanks for the great review of SimulSays, we really appreciate it.
I would like to point out that SimulSays does have configurable tone and vibration alerts. In order to set up SimulSays to vibrate and/or play a notification tone, go into profiles, and select edit. Then scroll down to “SimulSays Message Notification”. Here you can select different in and out of holster notifications including the tune, volume, number of beeps, repeat notifications such as the flashing red light, and number of vibrations. This should make it easier to know when you get a voicemail right away.
Once again, thank you for the great review!
Thomas Lesnick
Manager of Client Services, SimulScribe
Is a human being transcribing the message or is it definitely a machine? I’m just worried about privacy.
It’s is voice recognition software.
can simulscribe download old vm’s?
Simulsays is GREAT, in theory, but TERRIBLE, in practice. Before I bought it, I loved the idea. Over the last 2 months of use, I’ve grown to despise the app. Hopefully, my experience will help someone not waste money on this. Here are the comments I just submitted during cancellation:
I could not be more dissatisfied with this product as used on my Sprint HTC Touch Diamond phone. There are two main reasons I am canceling. First, the interface is HORRIBLE. Not only is the UI inconsistent and marginally functional, but it looks primitive, at best. Messages rarely ever play the first time ‘play’ is clicked. Often, they stick part-way through and I have to rewind and push play over and over. Many times the application just crashes. More annoyingly, the audio only plays over the speaker (like music) instead of through the earpiece (like calls and VMs). So I can only check my messages when I’m alone, which isn’t often. Beyond these problems, the Interface designers have done a horrible job for windows mobile and this fact is amplified when compared to the stylish Touch Flo interface on my phone. All the graphics are text-based and pathetically unpolished. It appears as though ZERO effort went into styling the look and feel. I’m sure a middle-school computer science class participant could produce a more appealing front-end. The website is nearly as bad. Were the ‘logout’ and ‘back’ buttons I’m looking at, right now, designed by kindergartners? Even your logo is a graphic design nightmare. ALL OF YOUR GRAPHIC DESIGNERS NEED TO BE FIRED, IMMEDIATELY. Hire someone competent and sales will spike, guaranteed. Look at the iPhone’s visual voicemail interface and capture at least a fraction of their quality UI design. The last reason I’m canceling, is because of Sprint. They setup the VM forwarding in a way that generates $0.20/min charges during each forwarded voicemail call. Even though I have the “simply everything” plan. After discussing this with several tech support reps, there is no way around this charge. Last month, my bill was $20 higher for using this service. This is no fault of yours but I cannot continue to pay so much money for something so poor in quality. If it had the visual appeal of a modern application, I’d even consider $25 because I LOVE LOVE LOVE visual voicemail. Sadly, I just hate, hate, hate your interface. Seriously, please consider firing your graphics people. ASAP!!!!