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Gmail with a lot of extra controls. There are now sections for “Mail”, “Chat”, “Rooms” and “Meet”.
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The new mobile app, complete with all those new tabs.
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Gmail points out messages you ignore.
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The “Chat” tab uses the dual-pane layout.
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Video chat gets a view in image.
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All the old panels on the right are still here, so it’s like any GSuite app on a single page.
Last month, Google announced a major overhaul of Gmail that would see it merge with two of Google’s newer communication apps, Google Meet and Google Chat. Both apps are upstarts that take over established competitors in areas that Google has long ignored. Meet is Google’s Zoom video conferencing competitor, and Google Chat is Slack’s competitor. Google announced today that the merger is starting to roll out to GSuite customers.
On the desktop interface, the new version of Gmail keeps all the Gmail commands and features you expect, just adding a million other controls to the top and bottom of the email app. The sidebar now has sections for Google Chat people and chat rooms, along with meetings you have scheduled in Google Meet. Gmail’s message area gets a split-screen interface that can now do things like show a Google Chat chat room or even open a Google Doc directly in Gmail.
On mobile, the Gmail app gets a new tab bar at the bottom of the app, allowing you to switch between Mail, Chat, Rooms, and Meet.
The merger is fully optional, and in GSuite the change will only appear for organizations that have the “Chat Preferences” option enabled. Google’s rollout strategy means that a feature will never be available to everyone at once, and this is doubly true for GSuite, which has two rollout tracks:
- Rapid Release Domains: Gradually launch to users (up to 15 days for full feature visibility) starting on August 12, 2020
- Domains for scheduled release: Gradually launches to users (up to 15 days for full feature visibility) starting on September 1st, 2020
For now, the release is for the Gmail web app and the Android app. Google says to “stay tuned” to the GSuite blog for updates on the timing of the iOS app.
For regular consumer Google Accounts, they will not see the merger on desktop. Google said it was “actively considering how and when to bring this experience to consumers who may want it.”
Ron Amadeo
On mobile, there’s a bit of a fusion for consumers, and that’s with Gmail and Google Meet. That change also began to roll out this week. The consumer Gmail app has taken the GSuite four-button tab bar and cut it down to two buttons: Mail and Meet, which basically makes it a great banner ad for Google Meet. Again, this is optional, although it is enabled by default. You can turn it off by going to Settings-> [Your email address] and selecting “Show the Measure tab for video bubbles.” If you have multiple accounts in Gmail, you will need to do this for each account.
Building Meet and Chat in Gmail is basically Google’s re-launching the old Google Buzz strategy of “Changing our new product in Gmail.” Again, Google’s concerns were Facebook and Twitter instead of Zoom and Slack, but it’s the same basic plan. People spend a lot of time in Gmail, and Google hopes they can do their work chat and video conferencing in the same app. For GSuite users, the scenario that you pay for GSuite anyway, is that you can also stop paying for Slack and Zoom.
Image list by Google
