After 14 long months, Google Voice is finally back in the app store with two great native apps. Under government pressure and increased competition, Apple finally relaxed their developer rules which opened the door for more creative and innovative programs. I’ve been using GV Mobile + and GV Connect for a week now, and they make making Google Voice calls as seamless as making an iPhone call.

So, what is Google Voice? And why should you bother using it when you have a cell phone with a great plan? For starters, Google Voice is an Internet based phone service that allows you to have one phone number (a Google Voice number) for all your phones. But how many of us have multiple phones these days? Not many. I just have one phone, my cel phone. So here’s what I use Google Voice for and how you might use it too.

if you’re looking to reduce your plan while still making the same volume of calls, Google Voice can help. When you place a call using Google Voice, it’s not using your minutes because you are talking using your data plan. While the data plan is $25 for 2GB of data, that should be enough to place many calls using Google Voice. And you can make Google Voice calls over WiFi or 3G without any fees. The other reason to use Google Voice is for International calling. While it’s not free, the cost is minimal. For example, calling Australia to a land line is $0.02 cents/minute and $0.14 cents/minute to a mobile phone. Very reasonable rates. You can buy minutes through your Google Voice account online. And another great reason to use Google Voice is free text messaging. And that’s pretty hard to beat.

I primarily use Google Voice for outgoing calls rather than incoming calls. Incoming calls to your mobile phone will always eat up minutes, regardless if they call your Google Voice number or your iPhone number. You can get a simple voice plan for as low as $40/month for 450 minutes. The other added bonus I mentioned is free texting. So how do you get a Google Voice account and set it up? You’ll need to request an invite from Google or find someone with a Google Voice account. To enhance Google Voice, I suggest having a Gmail account. You’ll be able to see text messages, transcribed voice mail and Google email all in one place. You can set up your Gmail account on your iPhone, making it easy to view all your communications in one place.

When you set-up Google Voice online, just forward your Google Voice number to your mobile number. Doing this forwards all Google Voice calls and texts to your iPhone. Voice mails will be left through your main iPhone voice mail. However, if you don’t forward your Google Voice number, you can be sent a text, email and transcribed voice mail to your Gmail account. Earlier I said you can access your Gmail account through your mail tab on your iPhone.

Now you an you see how easily your iPod Touch can become a phone as well using Google Voice. Setting up the Google Voice apps are rather simple. Just login using your username and password. Each app has a phone dialer, SMS, voicemail, history and settings page. One thing you’ll need to know is when you place a call using Google Voice, the app first dials out to Google Voice which in turn calls you back on your iPhone. Just answer the call and Google Voice will dial out to the party you called. It’s really that simple. The calls are clear and you won’t know the difference between using Google Voice or AT&T.

While I’ve only touched on some of the features in Google Voice, I’ve given you enough information to get started. I’m still experimenting myself by turning features on and off to see how it all works. If you like technology and want to be an early adopter, Google Voice is a great service that I’m sure one day will be a household name. By then, you’ll be telling all your friends how to use it yourself. In the coming weeks, Google will most likely launch a native app well. In the meantime, enjoy these two third-party native apps. They make using Google Voice a lot of fun while saving a a few extra minutes as well. GV Mobile + & GV Connect are available in the app store for $2.99 each.