Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Google Voice In Gmail

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I knew that Google had made and update recently that integrated Google Voice with Gmail but I had not experienced this feature until last night. What a useful and wonderful surprise that was...

I was working in my office at home and had left my Droid upstairs. I started hearing a "ringing" sound that was unfamiliar and realized it was coming from my computer. This ringing sound made me recall that Google Voice had been updated with a new capability so I flipped over to my browser tab that Gmail was running inside. What greeted me was the following (well this is a screen grab and the number does not match what I saw...)


Okay... didn't expect to see that! I'm not sure what Screen does so I clicked Answer. It was not clear to me what Answer would do either :-)  Well, it picked up the call, I could hear the caller on my PC speakers, and the caller could hear me through the microphone on my webcam. Clear as a bell, as if they were in the same room. I finished the call and then "hung" up.

Nice work, Google!!! Love the integration and the clarity of the call. I later asked the caller what the quality sounded like on their end and they said it was like I was in the same room. If you use Google Voice and Gmail then I highly recommend turning this feature on inside Gmail.