The Gmail app is also taking calls now because Google wants it to do everything

Google is announcing even more Workspace features today, as part of an increased rate of changes to the company’s office and communications software suite over the past year. Today’s announcement is a bit of a milestone, however. While there are still a few small updates to come, the biggest change is that Gmail is undergoing a revamp that reveals its true nature to Google: the central hub for every Google communications app.

To begin with, Google adds the ability to “call” another Google user with Google Meet, but in the Gmail mobile app, not in the Meet app. When the feature is deployed and activated, your Gmail app will be able to be called up like any other VOIP app (in addition to being able to join Google Meet meetings). Google says the standalone Meet app will have the same ability to make calls, not just create group meetings, at some point in the future.

The fact that Gmail was the first place Google thought about putting its calling feature reveals how important Gmail has become to the bigger changes happening within Google Workspace. Google has not hesitated to take advantage of the popularity of Gmail to promote the adoption of its other services.

Now, Gmail is essentially Google’s equivalent to Microsoft’s Outlook. It is a hub for several services. Outlook is Microsoft’s hub for email, calendar, and contacts; Gmail is Google’s hub for emails, one-on-one chats, group chats, video conferences, and now calls. The email part of Gmail is just one tab in a group of four, next to Chat, Spaces, and Meet.

“Spaces” is Google’s new image of “Rooms,” a Slack-like product that offers group chats. With the name change, Google makes it easier to find spaces within an organization by making them discoverable for search (optional) and finally adding full support for spun messages. As with other group chat apps, chats will appear in an additional column on the right side. (For those who matter, this means that a Spaces user can have up to five different columns of information on their screen at a time.)

Google says users will be able to hide tabs they don’t use, as before, and the redesign is rolling out to enterprise users first, starting today. After that, it will start showing up in Gmail for regular consumers.

As for smaller updates, Google Calendar will now allow you to respond to a meeting invitation with an indication of your location. Google will finally launch the so-called “companion mode” feature in November. It’s the system that lets you log into a meeting on your laptop alongside the main room AV system, which is muted by default so there’s no awkward audio feedback loop.

Image: Google

Finally, Google is extending the “Series One” range of hardware compatible with Google Meet. Unlike “Made by Google” hardware like the Pixel, Series One devices are made by other companies to resemble Google’s design aesthetics and work primarily with software from Google.

For me, the most interesting device is the Series One Desk 27. It’s a touchscreen designed primarily to serve as a Google Meet video conferencing station, but it also has a simple USB-C port and can double as a monitor. external for a laptop. When you log in, you can also use its sound bar and 5 mega-pixel camera with the video conferencing app of your choice. Google says it has an Edge TPU (a custom Google processor) to listen to Hey Google commands, but otherwise it uses a standard Intel chip for its main functions.

It is certainly a device intended more for corporate spaces than for consumer homes and has a corresponding price: $ 1,999.

Image: Google

There’s also the Series One Panel 65, a TV that’s also capable of taking stylus input and functioning much like Google’s own Jamboard. Google says both will run on Chrome OS and are “all-in-one meeting devices,” but beyond that we don’t have a ton of specs. The devices are manufactured by Avocor, which manufactures many other custom meeting devices. It will be launched in 2022. Prices are not yet available.

Google is working with Cisco to ensure that hardware designed for Google Meet will be able to connect to Webex meetings and hardware designed for Webex will be able to connect to Google Meet. As for Zoom, there is “nothing to announce”.

There has been more work in Google Workspace over the past year than there appears to have been in previous years, with the vast majority focusing on communication. This is great news for businesses and consumers alike who use all of Workspace’s different applications. But for those of us who just want Gmail to remain an email app, it will be increasingly difficult to keep it that way.