Google is refreshing its Meat user interface for desktop and laptop users next month. New meats for the web interface include improvements to video feeds, how you view or current meetings, and navigation bars. While some of Google’s changes are playing catch-ups introduced in Zoom or Microsoft teams, they are a much-needed addition.
If you are fed up of seeing your face during a call, you may soon reduce or completely hide it. New options may include the ability to place your video feed in a tile in the meeting grid of participants, or a floating picture, which can be resized.
If you’re busy submitting, Google is also improving how content is pinned and unpinned. You will soon be able to unpin a presentation tile, and it is the same size as other participants, so you can see more people on the call or find out if people were affected by your slick slide infection. In the coming months, participants at Google Meet will be allowed to pin multiple video feeds during a call.
One of the most useful changes is the improvement in the lower bar of meetings to keep all controls in one place. This means that the chat, attachment, and list of participants are all down so there is more room for people to see and whatever is being presented during the call. Google is also removing the last call button from the camera and microphone buttons so that you don’t accidentally skip a call instead of mute.
With these UI improvements, Google is rolling out its low-light mode from Meat to mobile to the web version. If you are in a dark room, this feature will automatically adjust your webcam video. It will also adjust your video if you have too much light blasting out of a window on a sunny day. This light adjustment feature will be available to all meat users on the web in the coming weeks.
Google Workspace (Paid) customers will also get a new AutoZoom feature at Google Meet in the coming months. If you move around then this AI-powered feature will follow you and position you in front of your camera. Google is also adding video background replacements for Meat in the coming weeks, allowing you to choose between the classroom, the party, and the forest to change your background. More video backgrounds will also be available in the future.
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