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Recently expanded its range immersive backgrounds for Google Meet calls, which add minute animated details to backgrounds like an apartment and a cafe, Google now thinks it has something better.
The new “dynamic experiences” were announced (opens in new tab) in the Google Workspace Weekly recap updates for February 17, 2023, consisting of two new 360-degree wallpapers – a beach and a temple – using your phone’s gyroscope and the power of artificial intelligence to seamlessly move the wallpaper the way you do.
The new additions are now available for use with video conferencing calls on Android and iOS devices for all Google Workspace and Personal accounts, though Google points out that admins have the option (and, let’s face it, sworn duty) to turn off whimsical backgrounds at work (opens in new tab).
Analysis: Not this again
Let’s get it out of the way: the backgrounds are well done, in that they’re high fidelity and the moving transitions are seamless.
The problem is that they’re so obviously static images that they look even more devoid of personality than the “immersive backgrounds” already available, or, God forbid, the actual real world you live in.
Tech Radar Pro covers this stuff a lotand my opinion, in any case, is always very reliable: please don’t force me to smile at the whimsy of the template, for I would rather be displayed.
You shouldn’t be so ashamed of your office or bedroom background unless you have a shrine to Harry Potter. We all know you’re not sunbathing on the beach, but locked up in your semi-detached house wondering where it all went wrong and if they’re coming back. It’s okay, we’re all here for you.
You have to think of the progress we’d make if tech companies took the developers who are working on this stuff and they gave something of literally some value to Google Meet, or life itself, to go on with.