Gmail ^[1] Labs has been introducing features left and right, and this time they have come up with a really useful functionality that will allow you to send and receive SMS text messages from within your Gmail account in Chat.

To activate the chat feature go to Settings > Labs and activate text messaging in chat.

Once you have activate the SMS feature you can send a SMS to any of your contacts by clicking on the options in a chat window.

Once you click on the send SMS option you will see a new option pop-up where you can enter the phone number where you want to send the SMS message to.

I tested out the service and received a SMS on my cellphone, you basically receive two SMS message the first time, the first telling you about the service and the second that contains the actual message.

This is a real great feature to contact people when they are not online, however this service is only available in US right now.

Note: Regular SMS rates may apply from your carrier.