The Google Voice team continued its feature roll-out cycle last night by adding the ability for users to receive text messages by e-mail.
Now when you enable SMS-to-e-mail forwarding in the application, Google Voice will send you an e-mail alert every time you receive a new SMS on your Voice number. You can then reply to the SMS messages from e-mail.
To enable it, go to your Google Voice account online, click settings, and then voicemail & SMS. You’ll see an option for SMS Forwarding. Check the box:
Voice sms forwarding.png
This is a great unified messaging play. Users will now receive their SMS, e-mail and voicemail alerts right from their e-mail inbox, making them actionable.
Moreover, users can save on SMS costs by turning off the SMS notification to their phone in Google Voice and accessing their SMS by e-mail. Read more about this feature on TechMeme here.
The more features Google Voice gets working together front to back, the richer the experience for users. Now if only Google Voice will integrate Google Talk and video chat, offering a Skype-like PC calling service.
Then Google needn’t feel bad about whiffing on Skype, though those 481 million users would have been nice for an Internet company hungry for more eyeballs.