Google Phone 8.0 adds voicemail sharing and minor visual tweaks

The Google Phone app is probably one of the most important in our devices. After all, a phone’s main feature is making calls… or at least it used to be. Either way, this application was updated on February 10 and most of us were left wondering just what the search giant did to it. It turns out it was more than the reported “bug fixes”.

After some digging and a teardown, the guys from Android Police found a few features you may be interested in. These include voicemail sharing, a different “new contact” icon color and a future ability to send files during a call.

Ever wanted to save a voicemail or share it with a friend? This is usually a complicated process that requires finding some loopholes, but the new Google Phone app gets rid of all your voicemail woes. Simply open the voicemail and scroll down to find the “Send to” option. It’s even possible to store the actual audio file wherever the user sees fit. One can put it in the cloud or a secure external hard drive, for example.

As always, the new feature will come with its technical difficulties/bugs. For starters, reports claim the file is stored without a format clarification, but it is an MPGA. Another issue you might encounter is support for voicemail from the app. Some carriers and networks don’t go through the original app for voicemail (e.g. Project Fi).

The last reported issue (and possibly the most annoying) is that sometimes the downloaded file appears to be empty. It is just a file with no information on it.

In terms of clues discovered in the app, Google seems to be working on the ability to send a file and make a call simultaneously. This could be used to send an image of a location when calling someone, or possibly make the call a bit more personal with a special touch on the call screen.

Overall, the new app has some pretty small features, but some may be very useful to a handful of users. Hit the comments to let us know if any of these new features will do you any good.