Why a dedicated Zoom device makes sense

At the beginning of the week, Microsoft announced something that, at first glance, sounds great, until you start to break it down.

A dedicated video device for Teams meetings, a whopping 85 inches for display in a conference room or hospital hallway, so large that everyone could see and be seen.

We would no longer have to play with the laptop or the phone. Just gather in front of the TV and click on the touch screen.

But at a price of $ 21,999, God, that’s just a little north of our budgets, don’t you think?

Then you must love Amazon’s response, which came later in the week. A dedicated 10-inch unit, for $ 250, the Echo Show 10, which lets you go through Alexa to connect to direct calls from Zoom, Skype, or Alexa to Alexa.

Once again, without playing the violin. This time, just use Alexa, your Zoom calendar, and voice computing to get connected.

Or better yet, connect a webcam to the TV via the $ 119 Fire TV Cube device and shoot it on the big screen TV of your choice. Maybe not 85 inches, but many of us have a good 50 to 60 inches or more in the living room. If not, Best Buy will be happy to sell you a 50-inch TCL, Samsung, or Amazon-branded Toshiba TV in the $ 300 range.

Amazon solutions are listed as coming soon, but if you have a video chat device on the Facebook Portal, you can use the dedicated drive to connect to Zoom now. The update began rolling out on Friday.

Portals start at $ 129 and are available in three sizes: with 8, 10, or 15.6-inch screens. An edition that connects to the television, Portal TV, does not support Zoom calling.

Smart displays were originally marketed as places for video chat first, then they used the video display to search YouTube for recipes, operate their smart home, and best of all, as inexpensive, easy-to-assemble digital photo frames.

Those features are still strong, but add the dedicated Zoom device, and kids who are stuck at home taking classes on their laptops can have a unit that only shows the teacher and lessons. This would leave students’ hands freer for school work and note-taking on the laptop.

For those who are taking meetings all day, the same problem applies. Isn’t it hard to take notes when your laptop screen is full of speaker video windows? Also, this way, you won’t have to worry about the webcam location. After all, it’s better to be at eye level, which most people ignore, and not have the webcam staring at their chin and nose. That requires stacking the laptop on top of a pile of books, which gives it a better look, but makes it really difficult to type.

Therefore, the smart speaker or student would have to constantly move the books. That dedicated device on the desk would solve the problem, living on top of the books that could stay there and not have to move them.

Meanwhile, that’s not all folks. On Wednesday, Google is holding its annual Fall Hardware Product Event, where it is expected to introduce a new top-of-the-line smartphone, the Pixel 5, an updated streaming device, Chromecast, and a new version of the video display unit. Nest Home Hub.

Last year’s Nest didn’t work with Zoom or initially Google’s Meet, the video chat service that Google heavily promotes as a Zoom alternative. (It does now, but the setup is very complicated. You ask Google to schedule a meeting, then you must click the touch screen to confirm. Google generates a code to send to your guests, which it sends to your phone, via from the Assistant application. You open your phone, copy the invitation and send a text message or email with the invitation. Got it?)

Meanwhile, Google has already said that it will start accepting calls from Zoom on Nest Hubs before the end of the year, so expect more action and hopefully improved usability.

Finally, we start this issue talking about that crazy Microsoft TV / PC.

What if you want to put Zoom calls on your TV now, without having to wait for Amazon’s Fire TV Cube update?

TVs with built-in webcams are rare, and besides, how would you connect to Zoom without a computer?

Exactly.

To install Zoom on the TV, all you need is a laptop, an HDMI cable, an adapter to connect it to your laptop and webcam, and you’re in business.

Connect the HDMI cable from the TV to the laptop, plug in the webcam and place it right (so you don’t look up) change the HDMI settings on the TV to bring the laptop in and you have a Zoom call on the big screen. You will only need to operate it from your laptop. Without spending $ 21,199!

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