What you need to know
- Google is rolling out a bunch of new Workspace updates.
- Spaces are now live for all users.
- You will soon be able to "ring" other users with Google Meet inside the Gmail app.
Google has announced new Workspace updates that aim to help hybrid work a lot easier. Spaces, which is a rebranding of Google's Slack competitor "Rooms," is now live for all Workspace users.
Spaces make it possible for teams to easily "share ideas, collaborate on documents, and manage tasks from a single place." They offer deep integration with Workspace tools such as Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Tasks. Google says Spaces will become even more useful in the coming months with a more flexible UI, discoverable spaces, enhanced search options, in-line topic threading, and new content moderation tools.
To help make meetings more spontaneous, Google is rolling out the ability to "ring" members of your team from a one-to-one chat within the Gmail app on the best Android phones.
You'll no longer have to generate a meeting URL before starting a one-to-one call. When you ring someone, a call chip will be sent to your chat on their PC, making it possible to answer from any device.
Google also wants to bring collaboration equity in hybrid meetings with a new Companion mode in Google Meet. It enables users to host or join a meeting from within a conference room using a laptop, while continuing to leverage the in-room audio and video "without any awkward audio feedback." The feature will begin rolling out to Workspace customers in November.
Google has also rolled out new additions to its Series One range of meeting hardware. The Series One Desk 27 is a new all-in-one 27" device, while the Series One Board 65 is an all-one-one 65" 4K device that can turn "any room or space into a video collaboration hub." Both devices run Chrome OS and come with the Jamboard app built-in.
Lastly, Google has launched its first "Designed for Google Meet" product with the Razy Rally Pro which is a smartphone stand, charging dock, and speaker combination device to help bring the office to your smartphone.
