With the surge of usage of video conferencing services in the last few months, Google has worked on not only consolidating their video and chat services under Google Meet but also quickly released some high-demand features from users who have been more enamored by competitors such as Zoom and Blue Jeans. Google released the latest features in their Google Meet updates –

Tiled layout / Grid view for larger groups

The new Google tiled layout lets users see up to 16 participants at once (previously, tiled layouts only enabled you to see four people at a time). Google noted that more updates are coming for larger meetings and support across more devices.

*If you are looking to have grid view for groups larger than 16 people today, we recommend checking out a 3rd party Chrome Plugin available here.

Higher-quality video content with audio

Google Meet users now have the option to present a Chrome tab (instead of just presenting their window or entire screen). If you need to share high-quality video with audio content in meetings, select this option for the best experience for remote viewers.

Low-light mode

Meet can now automatically adjust your video to make you more visible to other participants in less than optimal lighting conditions. This feature is currently just available to mobile users.

This isn’t to the level of the Zoom Touch Up My Appearance feature which retouches your video display with a soft focus. This can help smooth out the skin tone on your face, to present a more polished looking appearance when you display your video to others.

Noise cancellation – Can you hear me now?

To help limit interruptions to your meeting, Meet can now intelligently filter out background distractions—like your dog barking or keystrokes as you take meeting notes. Noise cancellation will begin rolling out to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers starting with web users and later to mobile users.

We anticipate Google to continue to build on Meet rapidly and continuously release new features to maintain and gain competitive market share as businesses and users plan to interact in more remote settings going into the future.