The New Google Contacts Integrates Voice And Brings In Voice SMS And Calls

originally appeared on makeuseof.com:

Google is giving Contacts a makeover. Google Voice Contacts is being integrated into Contacts for a more seamless user experience. Very soon you will be able to use Google Contacts alone to place calls and send voice SMS. The thought behind the new layout appears to be an attempt at unification of the multiple points for managing your Google Contacts.

Google has many different products and some like Gmail, Google Chat, Google Voice, and Google+ can be used to add and remove contacts. A common interface for managing all of that makes sense.

Google says that the feature is being rolled out gradually, but you can try out it out at  google.com/contacts. The Google Support page also lists the simple steps to access the Call and SMS buttons for the person you want to get through to. For a particular contact, simply hover over the phone number field on their contact card and then select either the phone icon or the SMS icon.