Google Voice Extension: Call & Text From Google Chrome

Make calls, send SMS, and click to call, all from your Chrome browser

The Google Chrome browser just got a whole lot cooler with the addition of the Google Voice extension!  I’ve been using Google Chrome a lot more lately simply because of it’s speed and fluid browsing capabilities, but now with the Google Voice extension, I’m a lot more excited about the Chrome browser.

The Google Voice extension for Chrome is so new that it’s not even found in their Extensions directory (as of this writing).

Some of the best features of the Google Voice extension are:

*  Click to call phone numbers from webpages that display a phone number.  This means, if you are looking at a web page with a phone number on it, just click it, Google Voice will first call your phone number, and then connect you to the number you clicked.

*  SMS / Text message from your browser:  with the Google Voice extension for Chrome, you can now send free, unlimited text messages right from your Chrome browser.  I’ve been starting to use SMS / Text messaging from my Gmail with the Google talk app, but with it now at the top of my Chrome browser, I’m super psyched!

*  Get quick access to your messages and message transcriptions.  This allows you to quickly view the text version of your voice mails, and also see if there are any new voice mail available.

Here’s more from the Google Voice extension page:

Features:

– Adds a button to the toolbar, which displays the number of unread messages in your Google Voice inbox.
– Gives you quick access to your most recent messages with transcripts.
– Lets you initiate calls and send free text messages by just typing any number or contact name.
– Makes phone numbers on websites callable via Google Voice by just clicking on them.

Known issues:
– When switching between tabs in the extension popup, the popup doesn’t automatically resize to fit. This is a known bug with Chrome itself that will be fixed soon.
– Extensions on Macs still have issues. Might not work perfectly on Mac, but you can try it.

Coming Soon to Google Voice extension:

Google also says that you’ll be able listen to new voice mail right from the extension module in your browser!  Now that will be a very handy tool indeed.

All of this seems to be an effort by Google to keep you engaged on the web, and more specifically, directly on their Chrome browser.  And as long as they keep building great apps and extensions like this, I’m happy to oblige!