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Google Testing Voice Calling In Gmail

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the can-you-hear-me-now dept.

Tootech writes "Google could be adding the ability to make phone calls from the Google Chat interface. Google is testing a Web-based service within Gmail that will allow users to place phone calls from their in-boxes. It's launched from the Google Chat window on the lower left-hand side of a Gmail page and allows users to place and receive calls from within their contacts through a user interface that strongly resembles the one used in Google Voice."

21 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. Finally by gedw99 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    this is great news. anyone know if it will be global, and not just US based ?

    1. Re:Finally by Superken7 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yep, I am still waiting for google voice to be available over here...

      I don't like it when they roll out new products which are only available in certain countries. Checkout (android paid apps) and voice for instance :(

    2. Re:Finally by mark72005 · · Score: 2, Informative

      Personally, I found Google voice to be underwhelming. While the feature set is nice, as is the convenience, the sound quality is not great on the voicemail. I also had several people report that (while I was receiving some messages) they would sometimes be routed to a message that said my mailbox was not set up.

      I quit and went back to using the regular carrier service, I need more reliability...

    3. Re:Finally by Ironhandx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Its great news, and it isn't.

      I for one use chat so that I don't have to talk to anyone... including the option to talk to the person isn't making my day any better.

      This is a very useful calls for cheap feature, but I hope they add a way to disable it. Maybe a sort of "mute" button but the mute hides your ability to talk to the other person.

      I know that sounds anti social, but I spend a good portion of my day glued to a phone for business reasons. I don't feel like being glued to one again at night for family reasons.

    4. Re:Finally by Defenestrar · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Keeping more than one version of anything requires effort and more people...

      It doesn't mean that I still don't mourn the keyboard commands in Pine

    5. Re:Finally by davester666 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Are you sure it's Google's fault? The Telco incumbents went after Skype using the CRTC to limit what services Skype could offer in Canada. Bizarrely, the CRTC ruled Skype can't offer SkypeIn [where you get a number that other people can call you] because Skype doesn't provide proper 911 service [why they would tie a service where you call them with a service for others to call you].

      It could easily something similar for GoogleVoice...

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
    6. Re:Finally by Guspaz · · Score: 2, Informative

      Google Voice went public in late June.

      Google Voice was originally GrandCentral, which supported Canada. Google bought out GrandCentral, and removed support for Canada as part of their transition. They kept support for one area code in Alberta, however, for reasons no-one is quite sure.

  2. Re:Product merger perhaps? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    except for buzz, where everybody turned it off because it interfered with the GMail experience.
    And BTW, wave.google.com has been a failure, wave as a technology and protocol still rocks. GMail, docs and other google products are being reworked to have wave technology under the hood, and companies are starting to use the wave protocol and its technologies to deliver rich collaboration.

    BINGO!! I've got Bingo!

  3. Re:Product merger perhaps? by duguk · · Score: 4, Funny

    BINGO!! I've got Bingo!

    Dammit! I was only waiting for 'Synergy'!

  4. How to tie this into targeted advertisements? by perpenso · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The real question is how will they tie this into targeted advertising (their real business)? Is it just a screen where they can display ads based on the personal profile they have already developed or do/will they use voice recognition to do keyword searches based on conversation content? This is not necessarily tinfoil hat territory, the already do this with gmail. The text of a gmail message is scanned(*) for keywords so that they can do contextual (targeted) ads on your gmail page. Voice recognition is a difficult but interesting and fun research area that might appeal to some at google. It might be interesting to keep an eye on the end user agreement.

    "Ad targeting in Gmail is fully automated, and no humans read your email in order to target advertisements or related information. This type of automated scanning is how many email services, not just Gmail, provide features like spam filtering and spell checking. Ads are selected for relevance and served by Google computers using the same contextual advertising technology that powers Google's AdSense program." http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6603

  5. Re:Open Handset Alliance by darkmeridian · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why would it? Making a phone call from your computer has always been available using Skype. Gmail Voice would not be creating a new market. Perhaps it would widen the market but it wouldn't be a completely new threat to cell phones. Anyway, Android is allowing cellphone manufacturers to get in the game against iPhone. Before Android, it didn't seem like anyone had a chance against the Blackberry/iPhone juggernauts. Now all the best non-iPhone/Blackberry devices are based on Android.

    --
    A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
  6. Re:Product merger perhaps? by mark72005 · · Score: 4, Funny

    My card sucked, I still needed "alignment", "visibility", and "win-win"

  7. Are computers a convenient place to make calls? by eviljolly · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I've been using Google voice as my primary number for over a year now. It has it's downsides, but for a free service it's great. I like that I'm not tied into a single phone or carrier. No matter where I am, as long as I have a phone I can set it to receive calls.

    I don't know how much I would even use calling built into Gmail, but I surely won't complain about added functionality. The problem I've found with using computers as phones is that you are tied sitting down in one location, most likely stuck with a headset on since using speakers would result in lots of echo. Applications like Teamspeak and Ventrilo make sense because usually when you're using them, you're already at a computer.
     

  8. Less creepy methods more likely by supermariosd · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Voice recognition might be an option, but I think it's more likely that they'll get their revenue from charging for non-Gmail-to-Gmail calls (calling "real" phones) and attracting more users to Gmail (and thus Gmail's targeted advertising) with the new feature.

  9. Not sure why by jDeepbeep · · Score: 2, Informative

    Calls would only be being placed with those in your contacts book. Your contacts would have to be poisoned first somehow, and not everyone who emails you is put into contacts unless you compose mail to them, or reply to them (ergo creating a discussion).

    PS: in a literal mood, but i did recognize you were being humorous ;)

    --
    Reply to That ||
  10. Yo Dawg by halfaperson · · Score: 4, Funny

    I heard you like to chat, so we put a chat in your chat so you can chat while you chat.

    --
    Jesus had a UNIX beard.
  11. Re:Open Handset Alliance by iammani · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Making a phone call from your computer has always been available using Skype.

    Available, yes. Free, no!

  12. What is wrong with SIP by Rich0 · · Score: 2, Informative

    The thing I don't get is that they don't have any support for SIP (well, there is Gizmo, which is closed to just about everybody). They're inventing fancy web-interfaces for voice calls (anybody know if they work without flash?), but they can't support SIP - a protocol specifically designed to handle these kinds of situations. Indeed, if they used SIP and you ended up calling somebody else using SIP they could save all the bandwidth by directing the phones to just talk to each other.

    It seems like Google is tending to take the MS route - they don't just want to provide a service, they want to control how you can access it. Sure, some of their products are more open - maybe they just can't figure out what kind of company they want to be.

    Google - please just give us a SIP interface. I don't care if you even advertise it - just bury the settings in some help page and everybody else will build the front-ends for you...

  13. Re:Open Handset Alliance by mauriceh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But Skype and Fring sold us out on VOIP calling on Android.
    Now to do Skype on Android you have to be on Verizon.

    --
    Maurice W. Hilarius Voice: (778) 347-9907
  14. Re:Open Handset Alliance by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Insanely cheap. And ad free. Google's free services are ad supported. If you don't want ads, you have to pay. So precedent says you'll have two choices - pay for voice calling or put up with ads when you make calls.

  15. Re: sound quality by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2, Insightful

    However, I am faced with a total cell hole disaster on AT&T's network, so anything at all would be a quality improvement!

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine