I'll get to the review of the actual app.
If you have a google voice number, this is a must once you get it set up right. You will have to make some changes to your GV settings online so you can receive calls to this app. If you have your GV number forward calls to your "normal" cell number, then this app will still use your minutes. You have to forward the calls to your google chat so that when your google voice number gets dialed, it will ring on this app.
Having the ability to use this since it's tied into GV, over wifi is great. If you didn't know, GV doesn't work over wifi. It has to use a cellular signal like 3G/4G.
Since I'm active duty military, when we deploy overseas, most places and most phones don't have global capabilities. Also, carrier plans for overseas can be expensive. Now, wifi is available in a lot of places overseas so this turns your smartphone or even an android device that can use wifi, into a phone as long as you have a microphone on it or attached to it VIA a headset. This enabled me to call home on my phone if I didn't want to lug around my laptop. As long as I can connect to a wifi signal, it worked. Of course, the better the signal and strength of the wifi, the better the app will work. If it can work in Iraq, it can work in the U.S.
I can't comment on the bluetooth since I haven't used it.
NOW. The ONLY negative. Amazon app store takes FOREVER to update the apps. The developer updated this app on the Android Market on May 23, 2011. It is now June 3rd and Amazon still hasn't updated to 1.1.4 The dev. team is very active on Androidcentral.com's forums and they are there to help out with any problems you may have.
So, if you are reading this and haven't bought the app but have been looking for something like this app, get it BUT get it from Android Market place. NOT here.
EDIT* The dev. team just updated to 1.1.5 and what does amazon have? 1.1.4 and that was just updated today. Let's go Amazon. It can't possibly take this long to update an app once the developer submits to you. Get it together. GrooVe IP
Honestly, I was a bit dubious that this app would work, having tried some of the other Byzantine work-arounds for getting Google Voice, VOIP, etc working on Android tablets. Initially, I had outgoing calls but no luck with incoming ones. After exhausting my ideas and the documentation, I contacted the app's manufacturer but was not expecting much. Who does support these days, after all?
Instead I was FLOORED by the speed and thoroughness of the response I got. They systematically eliminated possible problems and did not give up until everything was working exactly as described. It's one thing to put an app "into the wild" and quite another to offer this level of fast, knowledgeable and thorough support.
I highly recommend Groove IP for anyone needing a Google Voice / VoiP solution. It'll change how you look at your Android tablet.
it works as advertised. I am using Wi-Fi from Colombia to make calls in the US. the call quality is very good. there is minimal delay. the quality of the call depends mostly on the quality of the Wi-Fi connection. I use an HTC EVO.
I have tried both sipdroid and csipsimple and GrooveIp is far better and worth the $5 for several reasons:
1) It is the only app that works directly with google voice, the others use sip providers
2) It is the only one that is actually free (sort of ironic). Because it uses google voice as a voip service by calling through google chat(maybe this is used only to create a recieving destination for the incoming calls not sure) rather than a sip provider (which i think is used to call your google voice number and then place a call, this is a guess). Anyway the point is that sip accounts and minutes cost money, it's just that when you make a pbxes sip account using sipdroid you recieve a "free" 2000 minutes/month pbxes account. As we should all know nothing is really free, there is a catch. The pbxes account will frequently "deactivate" (for lack of a better word), and you have to go into your browser and enter in your pbxes account and press submit on personal info again to reinstate the account. Anyway, i believe it is a measure to try and get yout to upgrade the account to a paid account. This really limits the number of free calls you make and/or recieve and is quite a nuisance.
3) Voice quality on Groove Ip is far better than what i experienced with sipdroid. Because it works directly with google voice rather than also using a sip protocol. I think the thing users need to remember is the voice quality can only be as good as google voice allows it to be, no more, no less. Google is allowing us to make free calls in the US and Canada so the quality is going to be of the "free" nature. It wont have the features of skype, but where google voice excels is its functionality (It allows you to use one number) and the voice quality is more than acceptable for causal phone calls (sometimes its flawless but other times good enough). I think this is due to the high variablity caused by using a cell phone (its not stationary like ur pc and if the other party is using a cell phone as well, its not equipped to handle variablity perfectly. Nonetheless, the dev for this app has provided many features (including echo cancellation, speakerphone, bluetooth, tablet support, audio processing, ect. to try and improve the voice quality to allow you to utilize google voice optimally. That is all you can really ask for.
4) The dev is very active. There are constantly updates and this app has improved alot over a short time of two months; i believe it is now fully functional and that is why i bought it. The user experience should only improve from now on. Sipdroid is an opensource project so alot of issues are left unaddressed, also it is more complicated because it has to deal with sip providers.
Note: I have only used Groove Ip with wifi, as i dont use 3g/data plan, so i have no experience using Groove ip with a mobile data connection.
Note: Alot of people (atleast i have haha) have trouble with incoming calls on both sipdroid and Groove Ip because of intermitent wifi connectivity problems when the phone goes to sleep. These problems are assoicated with the android OS and dependent on the hardware of the phone, and in my oppinion are not a reflection of the app. The dev has and is continuing to address this problem anyway and there are quite a few wifi fixer apps in the market that adequately resolve these issues as well.
I suggest Groove Ip for those of us who are really trying to make use of google voice (I use prepaid phone service so every minute counts). If you just want to save a few minutes here and there than i guess sipdroid is acceptable, its not as hard to setup as people make it out to be. However, The setup for Groove IP is virtually just entering your gmail account once.'
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