Google Meet to Get Background Blur, Captioning, and Low-Light Mode

[MacRumors]

Google Meet will soon allow users to add images or a blur effect to backgrounds on video calls, reports 9to5Google.

In addition, Google told The Verge that it is working on several other features that should make Meet more competitive against rival videoconferencing platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

These new options include real-time captioning, a low-light mode, hand-raising, and a tile view of up to 49 other people on a video call.

No release date for the upcoming features has been given, but Google is understood to be previewing some of them to education and enterprise customers.

Google made its premium Meet service free to use in April, and the company followed that up by announcing Meet integration for Gmail on iOS and Android.

Anyone interested in using Google Meet can download the Hangouts Meet iOS app from the App Store or head to meet.google.com to use the web browser version.

Article Link: Google Meet to Get Background Blur, Captioning, and Low-Light Mode

 

[-DMN-]

Don’t know who I trust less 🤔
Google or
Zoom???

 

[biziclop]

Something tells me that the people on the image have absolutely nothing to do with each other in real life.

 

[japanime]

Cool! I'm gonna make a Google Meet background image of Sundar Pichai looking over my shoulder.

 

[iDento]

First column from the right, 3rd row, this guy knows google is watching him.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Paragraph 4 needs fixing: “No release date for the upcoming features has been given, but Microsoft is understood to be previewing some of them to education and enterprise customers.”

It should be Google, not Microsoft.

 

[Westside guy]

Don’t know who I trust less 🤔
Google or
Zoom???

Well, at least you can assume Zoom will still be offering their videoconference product a few years down the road. Google will probably have killed Meet off by then and cycled through a couple replacements.

 

[ian87w]

So it takes a Zoom for Google to move their lazy bums to improve Hangout Meet. Seriously, these improvements are long overdue, and during the start of the epidemic, Google did nothing. It's not until everybody is on Zoom that they now work on this.

 

[goobot]

Google’s latest me too product that will probably have 5 rebrands. At least this is something they will be more likely to be successful at.

 

[makitango]

I hope they don‘t overcomplicate this and keep it as simple to use as it is right now.

 

[Wanted797]

I love how everyone has perfect head height photos.

Yeah like anyone’s webcam is positioned like that.

 

[lexvo]

Are we talking about the background blur where you hair becomes half invisible?

 

[japanime]

Google’s latest me too product that will probably have 5 rebrands.

Coming soon: Google Bunch.

​

 

[cfdlab]

First they should improve audio/video quality. It is terrible compared to zoom.

 

[-DMN-]

Well, at least you can assume Zoom will still be offering their videoconference product a few years down the road. Google will probably have killed Meet off by then and cycled through a couple replacements.

This is true!

 

[heikkipekka]

I love how everyone has perfect head height photos.

Yeah like anyone’s webcam is positioned like that.

Yap, those guys are captured with proper cameras, not laptop webcams.

 

[JosephAW]

Nobody is wearing a mask.

 

[now i see it]

Yet another Google service to be canceled in the future

 

[I7guy]

That would be impressive if Google can do that real time on IOS. Apple are you listening? Maybe IOS 14?

 

[norbinhouston]

Apple already blurs group meeting by spec'ing such crappy low res FaceTime cameras on Macs. Thanks Tim Crook.

 

[caliguy]

Something tells me that the people on the image have absolutely nothing to do with each other in real life.

The person in the preview box on the top right is the same person as the 'Bradley' box Also, it says there's only 7 attendees.

 

[sirozha]

Google Meet allowed my son to learn remotely for 10 weeks once the schools closed down. The school went from never using the platform to 100% live online lessons in one day. Google Classroom was amazing. All the misdirected hate should be addressed to Apple, which has nothing to offer at all.

Google is improving Google Meet while Apple is not even working on creating an educational platform that’s suitable for remote learning.

Schools will be closed the next school year. My son’s school will be using Google Classroom. If they bring these new features (especially raising hands) by the beginning of the school year, this will make Google Classroom even more awesome.

 

[chucker23n1]

Apple already blurs group meeting by spec'ing such crappy low res FaceTime cameras on Macs. Thanks Tim Crook.

For whatever it's worth, the camera on my late-2013 Mac shows so much detail of my room, I prefer to blur things.

Maybe your camera is embarrassed by all the laundry on the floor?

 

[MacPoulet]

It’s about time. Even Microsoft Teams has these features.

 

[MisterSavage]

So it takes a Zoom for Google to move their lazy bums to improve Hangout Meet. Seriously, these improvements are long overdue, and during the start of the epidemic, Google did nothing. It's not until everybody is on Zoom that they now work on this.

What's so strange is that Google Hangout had this functionality a long time ago. For the "professional" Meet I can obviously see why you wouldn't want/need the face effects but having a virtual background is so nice.

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