You Can Now Make Phone Calls From Gmail

Google had said to be working on incorporating Voice with its existing VoIP service and Gmail. As noted by CNET, Google could be ready to turn Gmail into a communications hub by adding the ability to make phone calls from the Google Chat interface. So that is no more a rumor, Google has not only made an official announcement about it but also made it live in US.

Robin Schriebman, Software Engineer at Google, wrote.

Gmail voice and video chat makes it easy to stay in touch with friends and family using your computer’s microphone and speakers. But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time,”

Given that most of us don’t spend all day in front of our computers, we thought, ‘wouldn’t it be nice if you could call people directly on their phones?’ Starting today, you can call any phone right from Gmail,” he added.

However, the new feature is still available only for US users, although Google says that it plans to launch in internationally soon. The most interesting part here is the rates offered by Google, international calls will be billed at low rates, starting at $0.02 per minute. The feature is included with the Gmail Chat app that now comprises a phone dialer enabling users to call any phone. You don’t need a Google Voice account to use the new call feature in Gmail. However, if you do have one your Voice number will be used as your caller ID.