Google Inc. has rolled out an update to its Gmail service today, which now allows users to make and receive multiple voice calls simultaneously. The new feature works for video, voice and phone, but only limits to two calls to physical phones at a time.
“If you’re in a call and make a second one, your first call will be put on hold while you talk on your new call. You can switch between calls by pressing the ‘Resume’ button on the call you want to talk on, which will automatically put the previous call on hold,” said Google Software Engineer Richard Dunn in Gmail’s official blog post.
He also said that users can receive incoming calls while they are in another call.
“You’ll receive a notification of the incoming call and can choose to accept it or not. If you take the new call, the previous call will be put on hold,” he said.
A call can be put on hold by pressing the ‘Hold’ button and starts again by pressing the ‘Resume’ button.
“The new service isn’t a party-line; instead, if a new call comes in while you’re already talking to somebody, you can place the first person on hold and answer it. Similarly, if you’re on a call you can put that on hold and dial a second person,” Dunn added.
Tech website Mashable noted that Gmail users in the United States and Canada will enjoy calling via Google’s mail service for free through 2011.
In order to make voice and video calls via Gmail, users need to download and install Google’s voice and video plugin, which is available in your Gmail account.
