Take a Message for the Netherlands and Belgium
One of the handiest exclusive features of Google phones looks set to become much more widely available soon. The Take a Message smart voicemail feature is being prepared for more Android devices as well as dozens of additional countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium, according to new indications, Android Authority writes.
The feature is currently limited to recent Google Pixel phones in a few English-speaking regions such as the US and the UK. But references to support for many more markets have been found in new code snippets from Google's Phone app. Besides the Netherlands and Belgium, they include Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovakia. As well as Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia. Full transcription would even become available immediately in some of these countries; these would include Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Japan.
How it works.
Take a Message actually works like a modern version of voicemail. When you miss a call, your phone's AI assistant picks up. The caller can then record a message, while afterwards you can not only listen back to the recording but, in some countries, also read a transcript directly.
The latter makes the feature especially practical. You no longer have to listen to an entire voicemail to quickly understand what the conversation was about. Moreover, the system can recognise spam or suspicious calls.
A more limited version seems to be planned for the Netherlands and Belgium for now. In this, you will get the recording of the message, but not yet a live transcription as in the US. Still, that would already be a big step, especially since traditional voicemail with providers feels rather old-fashioned for many people.
Not just for Pixel
Interestingly, the feature is unlikely to remain exclusive to Pixel devices. The app's code explicitly refers to support for "non-Pixel" devices. This suggests that Google wants to bring the feature to smartphones from other brands as well.
Exactly which devices will get support is not yet clear. However, it is obvious that modern Android smartphones with recent software will be first in line. In the past, Google often released new AI features on Samsung devices first before other brands followed. There is therefore a chance that the same will be true for this feature.
Google itself has not yet officially announced the expansion. We may hear more about it soon during Google I/O, where the company traditionally presents new Android and AI features.
