Android Quick App: Better YouMail (beta)

Everyone knows us Android users love the visual voicemail, but if YouMail Visual Voicemail leaves you wanting, then you're definitely going to want to check out Better YouMail.

Say the developers, Best IT Guys:

YouMail provides a public API for their service, so we decided to make our own app that used their service. You’ll notice that there is a heavy iPhone influence on the graphics, but there are also some features that other visual voicemail apps don’t have. We specifically designed the app to have the most streamlined layout, so that most of the common functions could be accessed with as few clicks as possible.

Let's examine some of these extra features after the break.

To say there's a heavy iPhone influence on the UI is an understatement. Despite that, I've got to commend Best IT Guys for their work. This layout is much more appealing to navigate through and definitely more efficient.

To start, the message player is underneath your messages list. This might not seem groundbreaking, but it's actually a wonder more visual voicemail apps don't incorporate it. It allows you to instantly start listening to your message when you select it and saves you a press on your 'Back' key because a new menu doesn't open.

You can also see that there are "Call" and "Delete" buttons right on the message player. This is another one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" options. While you probably never noticed other apps don't support this, once you use it, it's one feature you'll not want to live without.

Perhaps my favorite addition to Better YouMail, though, is the "Call & Delete" option. You can access this one of two ways: either via the menu by long-pressing any message or by swiping from the 'Call' button to the "Delete" button on the message player. Both are very fast and it's a really neat idea that takes one less step out of dealing with your voice messages.

Better YouMail also supports all of the standard YouMail greetings options and message transcription (if you choose to pay for it) and has an included widget that displays the number of new voicemails you have.

At $2.99, Best IT Guys might be asking for a bit much for a visual voicemail app, but with these additions to the already stellar YouMail client (and I'm sure more are on the way), Better YouMail is definitely the way to go if you're looking for one of the best visual voicemail experiences on Android.

Joshua Munoz