Since sometimes reading "lol" doesn't deliver the same punch as actually hearing your friend laugh at your jokes, you can now use voice and video capabilities in your Gmail chat. From within Gmail, you can have an actual conversation with someone (seriously, out loud), or even chat face to face over video. See how it works:
Here's what you'll need to get started:
- Download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in, quit all open browser windows, and install the plug-in.
- Sign in to Gmail.
- In the Chat section of your Gmail, select the contact you want to call. If they have a camera icon next to their name, you can make a voice or video call to them; just click Video & more.
If your friend doesn't have a camera next to their name in your chat list, you can invite them to download the Gmail voice and video chat plug-in from the Video & more menu in a chat window. Even if your friend doesn't have a video camera, you can still have a voice chat or a 1-way video chat.
If you don't have a camera yet and want to get one, here are some cameras that we know work well with voice and video chat:
- For Windows desktops: Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000, Logitech QuickCam Communicate MP
- For Windows laptops: Logitech QuickCam Pro for Notebooks
- For Mac: Logitech QuickCam Vision Pro for Mac