While the integration of Google Voice and Gmail creates a nice synergy between the two services, there is still quite a lot of room for improvement.
The service, announced at a press conference Wednesday morning, essentially allows users to place voice calls via Gmail to phones anywhere in the world. Calls to both landlines and mobile phones within the U.S. are free; Google charges a small fee to dial numbers in other parts of the world, depending on the region and whether it's a landline or a cell phone.

As the synergy suggests, those users with Google Voice can take advantage of Google voice features within the Gmail context, such as the ability to record phone calls, listen to users leaving a voice mail and then join a call, or have incoming calls "ring" both a separate phone as well as the browser.

Unfortunately, I'm in the somewhat unique position of using the same number for home and business calls. (I'm a Vonage subscriber, and have been for a number of years.) Since hundreds of contacts already have my number, and since Google doesn't allow numbers to be ported to the service, I'm effectively blocked from adopting it. In other words, I wasn't able to test using Google Voice.

Chances are that you'll receive an invitation to use the service in the next few days, at least if you're in the U.S. Overseas users will eventually receive Google Voice via Gmail, but Google executives could not give a comprehensive timeline on Wednesday.

When you do, you'll be asked to download a small client (for either Windows, the Macintosh, or Linux) which will add the option of software-based echo cancellation and other magic, using technology developed by Global IP Solutions and Vidyo, as well as Google itself.

As the slideshow indicates, using Google Voice is relatively simple; under the left nav bar, click the "call phone" option somewhat hidden beneath your name and status. This brings up a small dialer to the left, with a drop-down flag menu. Click it, and a list of prefixes by country appears.

Above the dialing box is a number: your dialing credits. By default, Google provides users with ten cents, enough to call the Louvre in Paris for five minutes, at 2 cents per minute. (A drop-down box to the right of the credits allows users to view Google's rates for landline and mobile phones, and to buy credits in $10 increments.)

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