14 DAY TRIAL // Google is making a rather interesting addition to Google+ Hangouts, expanding the number of uses for the group video chat feature. Users can now call friends on their phones from inside the hangout and have them join the conversation.
There's nothing really new here, Google is just bringing together technologies and services it already has.
It added phone calls to Gmail quite a while ago and the same feature is now available inside Hangouts. It just works for calls to the US or Canada, which are free, but more countries may be added later.
"We are constantly listening to feedback so that we can make Hangouts even better for Google+ users, and we're excited by the really cool ways people are using the product," Google's Jarkko Oikarinen, the inventor of IRC no less, wrote.
"Today we’re making it possible to make phone calls from inside a hangout, so you can dial people into the room from wherever they’re at," he announced.
"This new feature is initially available inside Hangouts with extras (plus.google.com/hangouts/extras), and we currently support calls to the US and Canada (for free, in fact)," he said.
Using the feature is as easy as inviting a participant to the Hangout, except you use a phone number rather than an email. Those at the other end of the call become participants in the hangout, though there's no video of course.
Phone calls are also only available with Hangouts with Extras, which is still somewhat in a testing phase. The section includes some interesting additions to Hangouts, such as collaboration on documents, and will get more in the future.
Even as Google is adding more features to Google+, it's bringing more of Google+ to the rest of its sites. For example, Google Chat across all of its sites now includes the people from your Circles.