Google Meet Customer Review

Google Meet is extremely user-friendly -- it's very easy to join or start a meeting. Meet's security is fantastic and it does have all the essential privacy features (muting or removing a participant), but they could be a little more apparent.

The video and audio quality, even in large groups, has always performed well for me. Meet is definitely working to accommodate larger groups now, which I think is great. I mean when do you realistically need more than 250 people in the same video conference call anyway?

Meet is supported on all operating systems and devices, so that's a no brainer. Meet also integrates with almost any major third-party, online tool that you utilize in your office (i.e. Slack, email, calendar, etc.).

Where Meet heavily looses points for me is its screen sharing features and any added features. Comparable competitors blow Google Meet out of the water in these two areas. Meet doesn't allow two-way screen sharing, formally presenting is a bit of a challenge, and there's no way to annotate while someone is screen sharing. Anything added, either fun or not, such as changing your background or adding a reaction is non-existent at the moment for Meet.

Of all video conferencing tools that I've utilized, I think that Google Meet has the most user friendly screen sharing interface. You can select a single window, great for demonstrations or presentations, or select your entire desktop to share. 

Thankfully, you can share or present via tablet or mobile just as simply as you would via a desktop or laptop. 

Unfortunately, Google Meet does not currently offer an annotating feature, such as white boarding, for screen sharing. I wouldn't be surprise if this feature is on the horizon given the current necessity for collaboration while working remote. 

Also a bummer, Google Meet only allows for one individual to be the "presenter" at one point in time. More than one individual can share their screen in a meeting, but only one of those screens will be the presenting screen. The host or admin can control which screen is the presenting screen. So unfortunately, two-way screen sharing is not an easy achievement on Meet. 

Keep in mind, that while screen sharing, your video is still visible to participants it's just not as forward facing so formal presentations are still very much possible, just maybe not as glamorous as they may be on similar tools. There's also an option to only join to present. This is great, but requires additional windows in order to accommodate and is a bit less user friendly.

You can easily record a meeting in Meet, which is really nice since this feature is not typically offered by similar tools.

Google Meet is compatible with devices, web browsers, and operating systems across the board. From Microsoft to Apple, iOS to Android, Firefox to Safari and everything in between Meet covers the bases. 

What I really love about Google Meet is that regardless of how  or what you're using the platform on, the interface and usability of it is still very simplistic and easy. You don't have to worry about trying to explain to someone how to mute their mic, "well, I'm on my laptop and this is how I did it."

Meet is definitely working to up its support and flexibility with larger groups, which I think is great. Previously, when Meet was still under Google Hangouts, the maximum number of participants at the GSuite Basic level was 50. Now, Meet accommodates up to 100 participants in one meeting when you have the GSuite Basic package and all the way up to 250 participants if you're using GSuite Enterprise.

With this upgrade, I would argue, Meet is more user friendly for educators and trainers since it's quick to mute another individual and is really simple to use (i.e. no download required if you're using a computer). You also have the ability to change to a "grid" or "thumbnail" view so you can see the video of all participants as once. 

If you're operating on a free Gmail account, you can still have up to 15 participants in a meeting together. However, this will be via Google Hangouts still. Meet will only be offered to GSuite subscribers, which begins at only $6/month per user. As a free option though, 15 participants is truly not a bad gig. 

As for reliability and quality with larger groups, Google is definitely improving in this realm. I remember using Meet (formerly Hangouts at the time) in college over the summer and it would have some difficulty with more than roughly 7 meeting participants, just cutting in and out with fuzzing video. However, I was recently on a call with the maximum of 15 participants and it wasn't as bad. I still think they have room to grow, but it was nice to see improvement.

Meet is obviously the incomparable winner for GSuite integration. You can schedule a meeting from Meet, add the contacts you need to via your saved contacts or their email address, and it will automatically populate to your calendar and shows the other meetings already on your calendar to eliminate scheduling conflicts. 

Slack and anything GSuite is also a very seamless integration, from Drive to Meet, it's all compatible, comprehensive, and easy to use. 

You can also integrate Google Meet with Outlook, with relative ease, so there's truly no excuse on not being able to incorporate Google Meet into your work's virtual products. 

Google Meet does contain necessary features to ensure privacy and control over your video conferencing call. Like most sophisticated video conferencing tools, they offer the ability to turn off your video stream, mute your mic, remove a participant, mute a participant, admit an unfamiliar participant requesting to join, and so on.

The only negative comment that I can make about Google Meet's privacy or administrative controls is that they could be more obvious and user friendly. They're kind of tucked away, which I suppose is smart so that you don't accidentally mute or remove someone else in your meeting, but also make it difficult to easily and quickly take action if something inappropriate were to occur. Considering I've never had an issue with anything like that occurring in my Google Meet conferences, I never really thought about it. However, considering it's a hot button topic with all the issues that Zoom is facing, I do think Meet could be improved a bit just to make it a bit more front-facing. 

Thankfully, Google works really hard to ensure that any troubleshooting questions are well documented, step by step instructions in order to resolve the issue and get your back in your meeting. You can find the answer and quick resolution to almost any question or issue related to Meet, here.

Obviously Google is a very large corporation, so if you're actually having a technical issue that needs to be routed to support, you're going to have a more difficult time in doing so. Since Meet is a GSuite product, you will need to contact either sales or support, depending on your issue. They do at least offer a phone number that you can call and connect with. 

Google Meet is great for simplicity and straight forward use, but don't get excited about anything extra because currently it's not really offered for Meet. There's no "change your background" to something fun or funny. You can send messages or chats while in a meeting. 

I've utilized other tools that allow you to react to a presentation or meeting with various emojis, such as virtually "raising your hand" if you have a questions or "clapping" when the presentation is over. However, as mentioned, Google Meet doesn't currently offer these features and I would say it more focused on feasibility right now. 

I have never once had a security concern with Google Meet. Google Meet video conference or meeting IDs are 10 characters long, making it difficult to "figure out" or hack a meeting at random. Google Meet limits external participants from entering more than 15 minutes in advance to avoid a brute force, bombing-style incident. 

Meet's privacy and data sharing policy is the same as all Google products. For the most part, Google puts on a great front that they value your trust especially in the information that you provide them and I personally see no actions from Google's end that prove otherwise. You can check out the full policy, here. 

Meet complies with Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) security standards for Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP). Meet also encrypts all data in transit by default between the client and Google for video meetings. 

Google Meet third-party integrations are typically not largely required as most users already have a Gmail account, so no additional integration is required. If an integration, such as Slack, minimal access such as your workplace, online calendar is necessary. 

Compared to other services, I think that Google Meet has excellent audio and video quality. There's very few instances where the audio doesn't seem to sync well with the video. Like any video streaming service, there's times with pixelated video or unclear audio usually due to poor wifi or service. However, I can't say I've encountered many times when Google Meets has completely cut out or froze requiring a restart or rejoin of the meeting. Google Meets does offer high definition resolution (720p), with the proper system compatibility (quad-core CPU laptop or higher) of course.