The new Google Meet features that will crush Zoom

David Moore
  • 7 min read

Google Meet is all about connecting people. Now, with new features, advanced AI, and innovative hardware, people are able to come together in a more succinct, secure way. These upgrades reinforce Google’s integrated system. You don’t need several different applications to be productive with everything in one place: G Suite does it all.

Here’s Wursta’s quick Meet tips, updates about enterprise features, and a summary of the Series One conference room equipment.

Quick Tips

If you’re still working from home, you’ve become a pro at using Google Meet to connect with coworkers. The new background blur feature is one you should be excited about. When turned on, you will be the focus of the meeting and blur everything in the background, reducing visual distractions and clutter. This paired with the noise-canceling feature launched in June creates an enterprise meeting experience. Fewer distractions will help reduce meeting fatigue since meetings will be more focused and productive.

Meetings are now clear and focused, so it’s time to get to work. Integrating Jamboard with Meet allows you to brainstorm virtually with Google’s interactive whiteboard. And with the new tiled view, you can see up to 49 people on your screen during a meeting. Update this in your settings the next time you’re in a meeting.

Advanced Google Meet Update

Businesses and organizations with the Enterprise edition of G Suite are able to use Google Meet to its full capacity. Here are the features associated with advanced Google Meet:

  • Large meetings, up to 250 participants per call
  • Live streaming within your domain, up to 100K viewers
  • Recording meetings to Google Drive

As a reminder, if you are not an Enterprise customer (G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofit) you will lose advanced Google Meet features that were offered through September 30. If you’d like to upgrade, make sure to reach out to your account manager before the end of the month.

Google Meet Hardware Series Summary

With some teams returning to the office and some still working remote, it’s important that everyone can still connect in a safe, productive environment. The Google Meet hardware Series One announcement on September 15, 2020 unveiled high-quality equipment every meeting room needs to connect to its virtual workforce.

Google partnered with Lenovo to spearhead these products. As Joseph Migori of Lenovo, General Manager, World Wide Smart Collaboration Business Group, said during the launch, this initiative’s main goal is to bring “smarter collaboration technology to all.”

TJ Varghese, Group Product Manager, Google Meet Hardware, explained all of the features and functions this technology has to offer. His main driver for this initiative is that this hardware will “help people feel like their working together, not just meeting together.”

The Series One meeting room kits come in a variety of sizes to fit different sized teams and spaces. Each includes state of the art Smart Cameras, Smart Audio Bar speakers, and computing and control systems. The kits come in two color options: Charcoal and Chalk.

  • Smart Camera: The smart camera uses powerful Google AI to frame participants so everyone is visible and distractions are minimal.
  • Speaker: The speaker system uses Google’s proprietary, multi-channel noise-canceling technology, TrueVoice®. This allows human voices to be crystal clear and other unwanted background noise to be canceled out.
  • Control system: The Series One kits offer a couple of options for computing and controlling devices. The Meet Compute system is simple but powerful, ready to handle all the demands of continuous video conferencing. The touch control device is simple to use, with only a single ethernet cable needed. It also is voice-activated and can start a meeting with a coworker simply saying “Hey Google, join the meeting.”

By collaborating easily with G Suite, the Series One hardware system and new updates to Meet will connect coworkers seamlessly, as if you were meeting in person.

If you’re interested in ordering Google Meet Series One hardware or learning more about how to optimize Google Meet for your team, let’s connect.