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What the heck is a “weblication?”  The answer is in Riverturn’s new Google Voice web application that looks more like a native app, in fact, it fooled everyone I showed it to.  The new app brings the Google Voice experience to your iPhone, allowing you to place calls, send and recieve SMS, and even browse recent calls.  Even better, Riverturn did it by working around the App Store and its oft illogical approval process.  Take that Apple.

In fact, the whole effort is very impressive.  The app is actually running in Safari, but most users won’t realize it (I had to keep reminding myself).  Voice Central, Riverturns name for the service, has the look of a great app but, according to Riverturn, runs faster thanks to the data running through their servers.  Finger swiping delete calls, little icons on the bottom provide good-looking navigation, to contact details with the stock wallpaper background, Riverturn managed to make the Google Voice web app look like child’s play next to Voice Central Black Swan.

User simply navigate to the Riverturn website and the weblication loads in and users add the link to the home screen.

There are some limits to a weblication.  For starters, Safari (which is running Voice Central) can’t access your contacts.  Instead, Voice Central suggests syncing your data with Google Voice’s contacts to get around this inconvenience.  Apple prevents this so websites don’t have access to your contacts.  Another limit is a confirmation box pops up when you initialize calls, again set up by Apple to protect users from websites initiating calls without users consent.  And finally, voice mails are played through the speaker, not the earphone.  Little issues but something to be aware of.

Users can now download the program and register for free.  A premium version is available that brings contact images through, allows a setting change for Do Not Disturb, unlimited history, inbox searches and product support (free version is supported via forums only).  Premium is a whopping $6/year, on sale from $10/year.

Product page: [Riverturn]