Google Workspace

Cloud Next is Google Cloud’s annual conference for enterprise customers and developers, and this year’s virtual edition is kicking off later today at 9 a.m. PT. Google Workspace announcements at Cloud Next ‘21 are primarily centered on security.

At Cloud Next ’21, Google announced “Work Safer” as a one-stop offering for small businesses, enterprises, and public sector institutions looking to equip and protect employees amid hybrid work. 

Following the big Android app update that brought a Material You redesign and new widgets, Google Calendar is adding a nifty shortcut on the web to create meeting notes.

The Gmail side panel today provides quick access to Calendar, Keep, and Tasks. Google is now bringing Contacts to the sidebar for Workspace and personal customers using Gmail. 

Compared to the last design language revamp, Google’s rollout of Material You is happening at a much faster pace. That Material You app update blitz comes amid a barrage of Pixel 6 advertising and that’s no coincidence. It’s the sign of a well-under-way vision at Google that has been sorely missing.

Compared to other redesigns, Material You for Google Calendar is very straightforward, but the widgets do benefit from one handy tweak.

Google Workspace was announced at the start of October as a rebrand of G Suite and revamped approach to office-less productivity. As part of these changes, all of Google’s Workspace apps are seeing new icons, with the rollout now underway.

On Chromebooks, you can access most Google services with either the website or the Android app. Google today updated Gmail for Android on Chrome OS with the latest Material You redesign, but more importantly the latest app icon.

Over a one-month period that ended in late November, Google rolled out updated logos for the vast majority of Workspace apps. Google Tasks was left off the list, but that’s now being rectified with a new icon.

The most full-featured Gmail experience is still found on the web, but the mobile apps continue to pick up more and more capabilities. Gmail for Android is now gaining “improved search” through a set of filters. 

In announcing that Keep is getting a Material You redesign, Google yesterday failed to mention that new widgets were also inbound. We’ve since enabled them, and they’re absolutely fantastic. 

Last week, Google announced that Material You is actively rolling out to the key Workspace apps on Android, including Drive. The Google Drive redesign also brings along new widgets including a quirky and large X-shaped one.

After debuting Material You revamps for other Workspace apps earlier this month, Google is today announcing that Google Keep is next in line for the update.

While text chatting with classic Hangouts is still possible today, Google has killed most of the legacy service’s video calling features. Google will soon restore a familiar capability that lets you make direct calls using Meet without having to generate a link ahead of time.

Google wants to build tools for the future of (hybrid) work with Workspace. To that end, Google Workspace is acquiring the team behind Playspace.

Google continues to add more features to Chat as it becomes available for more and more people ahead of the classic Hangouts depreciation. The Google Chat web app is now integrating Tenor GIF search.

To help employees better manage their day, Google Calendar is introducing new “Time Insights” that let paid Workspace users see “how [their] time is spent across meetings and collaborators.”