Google has add new feature in Gmail, its called Google Voice. The service provisions a phone number, chosen by the user from available numbers in selected area codes, free of charge to each user account. Google voice is configured and maintained by Gmail.
Google Voice features:
- Call screening – Announce and screen callers
- Listen in – Listen before taking a call
- Block calls – Keep unwanted callers at bay
- SMS – Send, receive, and store SMS
- Place calls – Call free within the continental US and to Canada
- Taking calls – Answer on any of your phones
- Phone routing – Phones ring based on who calls
- Forwarding phones – Add phones and decide which ring
- Voicemail transcripts – Read what your voicemail says
- Listen to voicemail – Check online or from your phone
- Notifications – Receive voicemails via email or SMS
- Personalize greeting – Vary greetings by caller
- Share voicemail – Forward or download voicemails
- Conference calling – Join people into a single call
- Call record – Record calls and store them online
- Call switch – Switch phones during a call
- Mobile apps – Try our apps for Blackberry and Android phones
- Mobile site – View your inbox from your mobile
- GOOG-411 – Check directory assistance
- Manage groups – Set preferences by group
Read the following Google Voice announcement from Official Gmail Blog:
Google Voice helps you manage
your communications with a unique phone number that rings all your
existing phones, a single voicemail inbox with online access and
automated transcription, and lots of handy features
like the ability to block spammy calls and easily record personalized
greetings for your callers. Think of it as Gmail for your phone calls
and text messages (watch this video to learn more). Google Voice is currently available via invitation, which you can request here.
For those of you who already use Google Voice, you’re probably used to
receiving voicemail notifications via email. A couple of minutes after
someone leaves a voicemail on your Google Voice number, you’ll receive
an email showing who called, an automated transcript of the voicemail,
and a link to play the message. You can click the link to listen to the
message right from your computer.
Previously, clicking "Play
message" opened a new page in your browser, but starting today, you can
play voicemails right in Gmail. Just turn on the Google Voice player
from the Gmail Labs tab under Settings and whenever you get a voicemail notification, the player will appear right below the message itself.
Best of all, your message status will stay synced: messages played from
Gmail will appear as read in your Google Voice inbox and won’t be
played again when you check new messages via your phone.
