Google Send to Phone Extension

Last week, Google released a Firefox extension that makes it easy for users to select text on a web page and send it to a mobile phone as SMS message(s). Sending messages via the Google Send to Phone extension is free, and many phone plans also allow subscribers to receive messages for free.

I ran a few tests, and it seems to work well. You highlight the text you want to send, then click on a phone icon (installed by the extension) in the upper right hand corner of the menu bar. The phone icons opens up a browser window where the text can be modified and where you enter the phone # and carrier.

It works well, and I now use it frequently. It will be great when they have integrated it with the AutoLink capability built into the Google Firefox Toolbar which I will write about some other time.

There is a company called Vazu that built similar functionality. They are still around, but their business model is made more difficult by Google's move.

Some Nits:
- A right click option to send would be nice and more intuitive for many users
- Remembering phone #'s and carriers would be nice. Not requiring the carrier would be even better.
- The biggest improvement could be made by counting the characters that are about to be sent. Messages larger than a single SMS message are broken up into multiple messages, but it would be nice to know when you are going over the limit. The problem with multiple SMS messages is that they do not arrive in order (not Google's fault), and it makes them hard to read as a continuous message on the phone.
- There's a checkbox for not resizing the window which could be removed.