Gmail changes with the inclusion of mini video calls used in the app's chat

Google has a complicated relationship with messaging apps. Ha created and destroyed more than any other company its size in its brief history. Currently it only has one relevant one, Google Chat, integrated into Gmail, although it is not a widely used function in Europe.

However, there are situations, particularly at work, in which Google Chat works like Slackas an internal chat system with which to collaborate with colleagues. However, until now, if you needed to create a video call, you had to do it in Meet, which required another tab in the browser or another app.

This is what Google wanted to solve by launching the groupings, which allow you to create video calls in Google Chat. Once this video or audio call has been created, It is possible to maintain the use of chat or continue to use Gmail.

This new function opens a small window in which our interlocutors appear, and you can change its size or move itin case it would be more convenient to place it in another part of the interface. This way we can speak directly and avoid long conversations in the chat.

This is exactly what Google wants to avoid, the wasting time explaining something in text when it could be easier to make a quick call and talk to the other person, or even share our screen with them and show them what we are working on or what we want them to do. And all without having to schedule a video call or create a link in Meet and share it.

Para poder activarla sólo hay que pulsar en el icono del vídeo en la esquina superior derecha del chat y pulsar en Empezar un huddle. Eso sí, cada integrante del chat deberá aceptar la invitación, para que no aparezca sin avisar la cámara en la interfaz de cada interlocutor. Por supuesto, podremos silenciar el micrófono, o apagar la cámara, como se haría en cualquier llamada de Meet ya que es la misma tecnología la que se usará aquí. Esta función empezará a llegar a todos los usuarios en las próximas semanas. Es de esperar que a finales de este año esté activa en todos los dominios de Google WorkSpace y es de esperar que también integrada en Gmail.