Google adds phone calling to Google Hangouts

INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS FIRM Google has added phone calling to its Google+ social networking service and will let people make calls from its Hangouts section.

The company announced the update in a Google+ update, of course, by Jarkko Oikarinen, the inventor of Internet Relay Chat no less.

"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," said Oikarinen.

"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. (Helpful for party lines and conference calls alike.) This new feature is initially available inside Hangouts with extras, and we currently support calls to the US and Canada (for free, in fact)."

Making a call is fairly easy, if you're in the US or Canada, and all users need to do is click invite at the top of the Hangouts with Extras window, click a phone tab, enter the phone number they want to call, and click call now. Which is pretty much like any other phone works.

We have asked Google whether it will roll out the feature to UK users and will update when we get a response. µ