Google Call

Starting today, you can call any phone right from Gmail, says Google, at a company press conference today. Dialing a phone number works just like a normal phone. Just click “Call phone” at the top of your chat list and dial a number or enter a contact’s name. It’s similar to Skype Out.

Gmail voice and video chat uses your computer’s microphone and speakers. But until now, this required both people to be at their computers, signed into Gmail at the same time. Now you can call any phone. Right from Gmail. So far it’s only available for desktops computers.

Google Voice is free between the United States and Canada for at least the rest of the year. Calls to Mexico are 10 cents a minute. International calls placed through Gmail have per minute fees ranging from .02 cents to $4.99.

You will need to install the Google Talk plugin for Windows, Mac and Linux. Google plans to roll this functionality out over the next few days.

To make a call, just click the Call phone link in Gmail and enter any number or name from your address book. You can take the call or even listen in as the caller leaves a message, in a single step right from your computer.