Another reason why we love Gmail
Google announced thursday that it has started rolling out an SMS messaging feature for its Gmail web-based email users.
The SMS function is enabled through Gmail Labs, which is accessible via a tab on Gmail's settings page. The SMS interface runs in Gmail's chat window on the left navigation pane.
To send an SMS message, the user just types an SMS-capable mobile phone number into the chat window. That triggers a Send SMS pop-up menu.
Google assigns each Gmail SMS user a persistent phone-like identification number so that SMS recipients can send SMS messages back to the Gmail user later.
SMS messaging is just the latest of Google's Gmail Labs toys. In the past month, Google has launched seven new Gmail features, including Gmail Gadgets, message emoticons, Gmail for mobile 2.0, canned responses, new contact manager features, advanced IMAP controls, and Gmail Goggles.