Wouldn’t it be nice if you could call people directly on their phones while using a computer? Absolutely. This is what Google has set out to offer with the latest feature it has introduced to users of its popular e-mail service, Gmail. Now, Gmail users in the U.S. and Canada have the option to call people directly on their cellphones while using a computer. And while this type of service isn’t exactly new, there’s a twist to the story: Google will be offering phone calls from Gmail in the U.S. and Canada completely free of charge.

Oh yes, U.S. and Canada-based Gmail users can use Gmail to call other people’s cellphones for free, at least until the end of the year 2010. Meanwhile, Gmail users from outside of these two countries will be able to enjoy this new feature for as little as $0.02 per minute. A complete list of international calling rates can be found here: http://www.google.com/chat/voice/.

According to a post on the official Gmail blog, internal testing has shown this new feature to be useful in a lot of situations, ranging from making a quick call to a restaurant to placing a call when you’re in an area with bad reception. I can imagine some uses for this new feature myself. In fact, as a quick glance at the international calling rates shows that Gmail call rates are even cheaper than the rates from local telcos, I can already see myself using this. This just might prove useful for the upcoming holidays.

Update: Jessica Dolcourt wrote a quick review of the new Gmail calling feature for CNet’s Webware blog, and she says that overall, she was pleased with the call quality. “Calls were loud and mostly clear, however, there were a few moments of garbled voices on multiple calls. There was also sometimes a persistent high buzz that was noticeable, but that did not distract from the meat of the call. The experience was about on par for VoIP calls, which are known to break up due to variable conditions with the callers’ hardware, strength of Internet connection, and the telecommunications channels that process the voice data.”

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Nokia Series 40 phones (like the upcoming Nokia C3) typically don’t come with great mobile Web browsers like their Series 60 counterparts. Sure, there’s always been Opera Mini, but being a third-party offering, I’d imagine Nokia might have some qualms with it. Turns out, things aren’t going to be like this forever. Nokia has just released the Ovi Browser for Series 40 phones in beta on Nokia Beta Labs, and users of a plethora of Series 40 handsets will be able to try it out and see what’s good or bad about it.

Nokia highlights its key features as including fast page load times, three view modes (full page, zoomed-in and column view), snap to text during scrolling, speed scrolling using numeric keypad, one click jump to login and search and page segmentation to simplify navigation. From the looks of it, I don’t think it will be that much better than the already existing offering from Opera meantioned earlier. But since it’s still in beta, who knows what might change. Continue reading to see a video about the Nokia Ovi Browser for Series 40 phones.
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If you were shocked when you first learned that Nokia had developed a full QWERTY keyboard-equipped Series 40 featurephone for the masses in the form of the Nokia C3, then I wouldn’t be surprised to learn if you find this next bit of news somewhat hard to believe. Right after the Nokia C3′s official launch day here in the Philippines, where its suggested retail price is 7,250 Pesos, it’s going to be sold with a 1,000 Peso discount that will bring its price down to just 6,250 Pesos.
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