Gmail Enables SMS Messages from Chat for US Phones. No, Really.
If you're a big SMS user, you've no doubt encountered this situation: you're sitting at your desk in front of your computer, you get an SMS message, you pick up your phone and respond. The conversation continues as you hack away on your handset keyboard, making typos and resorting to l33t speak to convey your message. All the while, a full-size keyboard - and possibly far fewer typos - sits inches away.
Now, you may have the option to rectify that situation with a new Gmail Labs feature that adds SMS messaging to Gmail chat.
You may remember having heard about this feature back in October. It got a lot of publicity and a number of users were eager to try it. There was only one problem: thanks to some last minute glitches the feature didn't release when expected. Now, those glitches have been resolved and the Gmail chat SMS functionality is in the wild - for US phones, at least.
How do you use it? After activating the feature through Google Labs, simply establish a mobile phone number for the contact with whom you want to exchange SMS messages. And begin firing messages their way.
The mobile user will receive a message from a unique phone number beginning with the 406 area code. So they'll be able to save it to their contacts and send you messages in the future. If they don't want to be getting messages from you, they have the option to block them.
With the new feature, you'll be able to continue conversations with people who have left their computer mid-conversation. What's more, the next time you get an inbound SMS message while you're sitting in front of your machine, you'll also be able to jump into Gmail chat to converse using your full keyboard - instead of your mobile. And that may mean a more meaningful conversation for both of you.
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
Hopefully the rest of the world isn't far behind.
Posted by: Catchwa | December 15, 2008 3:47 AM
Why this feature not applied to other Gmail users around several countries ,I am waiting for this feature to roll into India.
Posted by: venkat | December 15, 2008 3:57 AM
Sounds like a great feature. Any idea about when it's set to get to the UK mobile networks?
Posted by: Paulina | December 15, 2008 5:10 AM
This is not exactly a new feature in other web based services. Besides Nokia (and others I'm sure) have software that allows user to send and receive sms-messages trough their computers via bluetooth.
_____________________
I want to use one gadget for: phone, email, banking, insurance, passport, idenity, biometrics, IM, surfing, music and video. And should be able to connect to anything. To work!
Posted by: Paul | December 15, 2008 6:02 AM
This is pretty sweet, at least for me in the US. The ability to SMS from gmail is a nice upgrade from Google Send to Phone FF plugin.
Posted by: Vanessa, Phantom CTO | December 15, 2008 8:45 AM
Please make it international......!?!? Why would you roll out something only in the US??? It's 2008 (almost 2009)... time to think globally... and would expect that from Google... International please...!!!
And, please make it available in Google Apps............................................
Posted by: Joseph | December 15, 2008 6:27 PM
Google RockS!!!!!
Posted by: Google Fan | December 20, 2008 10:16 PM
hi
Posted by: vinod | December 25, 2008 4:58 AM
Sounds like a great feature. Any idea about when it's set to get to the UK mobile networks
Posted by: منتدى | January 1, 2009 4:44 AM
Actually you can do this w/out a gmail gadget. Every cell phone has an email address attached to it. It is your10digitphone#@yourproviderextension. The link below is a partial list of these extensions. I am in Canada and use Virgin so if I send an email to 416XXXXXXX@vmobile.ca it goes to my phone as a text msg. I also have gmail set to forward a copy of my email to this address so I get a text when a new email arrives.
http://holyworldwide.com/dustinhedrick/?p=430
Posted by: Greg | January 9, 2009 1:58 PM