Video conferencing apps have been all the rage since the beginning of the pandemic, bringing people together from around the globe in ways that allow us to continue creating connections and maintaining relationships. Perhaps the biggest winner of these video conferencing tools has been Zoom, the go-to for many people, with the app becoming synonymous with video calls in the same way that Skype once was.
The popularity of Zoom is largely due to the seamless experience it provides to people and the accessibility of the app. Despite Zoom’s popularity, several other great video conferencing tools have surged in popularity during the pandemic, one of the most popular being Google Meet, Google Workspace’s video conferencing app. Meet recently received several significant upgrades which have improved its overall usability, leading to Google’s video calling app growing in popularity.
Recent updates to Google Meet focus on improving the user experience
Google Meet has turned a corner with recent upgrades, now offering people a far superior experience that has made the app a real contender in the video conferencing space. One of the biggest issues with Meet was the user interface, which has been completely revamped to offer a more seamless experience for people. Recent updates have seen Meet receive a new UI on desktops and laptops, with new user features, which include improvements to video feeds, viewing and presenting experiences, the app’s bottom bar, and other visual updates.
Some of the most significant changes to Google Meet include the ability to resize, reposition and hide video feeds and a self-view position that maximizes the amount of video feeds at eye level. It also gives you the ability to see what you’re presenting to other people, automatic light adjustment and new video background replacement tools, and options to unpin the content you and other people are sharing so you can put more emphasis on certain video feeds.
Other significant improvements ensure that the names of participants are always visible no matter how large your meetings get, creating more vertical space by positioning dial-in codes, participant lists, chat, and attachments in the app’s always visible bottom bar, where you’ll be able to easily hover over controls. The new UI has also moved the leave call button away from microphone and camera control buttons, ensuring that awkward accidental hang-ups are a thing of the past.
Finally, a number of visual upgrades have also been introduced, including blue highlights for people who are speaking, subdued mute indicators to minimize distractions, and a new tile feature to help you keep track of who’s in a call even when there are too many participants to show in a traditional grid. These new updates are a welcome addition to Google Meet, significantly improving the user experience and making it a more than a worthwhile challenger to apps like Zoom. Anyone who attempted using Meet at the start of the pandemic and abandoned it should return to check it out again.
Why Google Meet is a worthy challenger to Zoom
Meet offers a secure premium video meeting experience at no cost, available to everybody with a Google account. The app is available on all devices, backed up by Google’s impressive security infrastructure and encrypted in transit to keep you and your colleagues secure.
The app ensures that all people, regardless of internet speed, can meet clearly and reliably, offering intelligent accessibility features to ensure that everybody can get in on calls. Whether you’re looking to stay connected with colleagues, share presentations with clients and partners, live stream sales meetings to thousands of attendees, or host large workplace meetings to kick off a project, Google Meet lets you do it all.
If your organization is looking for a secure and reliable office suite with high-quality video conferencing, real-time collaboration, and seamless communication, the team at UpCurve Cloud can get you started. We are a Google Cloud Premier Partner with an experienced team of Google certified deployment engineers, consultants and trainers dedicated to seeing your business thrive. Make a seamless transition to the cloud today by scheduling a consultation with UpCurve Cloud.
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