Google Jamboard is one of the most effective digital whiteboard solutions that has empowered many worldwide to collaborate and indulge in remote work with a ton of flexibility. The term “Jamboard” is not only a computer program but a 55-inch device with a 4K resolution screen and snappy, responsive display. There is a stylus to accommodate the whole Jamboard experience, so everything comes across as high-quality.
Jamboard is great for virtual meetings and remote collaboration, but there are a few factors that you have to know before diving into this service. That is because being aware of both sides of the story will help you realize the strengths and weaknesses of Jamboard, so you can utilize the Jamboard app accordingly and avoid diving into the apparent pitfalls. Let’s get started with the guide with no further ado.
How to use Google Jamboard for virtual meetings
Google Jamboard features a pretty easy-to-follow user interface where even the beginner can readily adapt to the system and engage in productive meetings. There’s the 55-inch 4K Jamboard device, and then there’s the software itself—both of which amount to remote and in-house collaboration for various spaces across the globe. The best part is that you do not need the $4,999 Jamboard device to use the app.
The Jamboard software is a standalone program, and you can get started with it right now by heading over to the official app on the web. Once you’re there, you’ll find out how painless it is to create a new jam session from scratch and begin conducting virtual meetings from within it on the fly. That is to say, Jamboard features in-built integration with Google Meet, allowing you to start or join a meeting with just a few clicks.
For more details on using this digital whiteboard service effectively, we highly recommend checking out the ultimate Google Jamboard guide. The write-up details everything you need to know for a fantastic Jamboard user experience. With no further ado, let us understand the major pros and cons surrounding the software and the 4K screen device.
The pros and cons of using Jamboard for conference calls
With all of the above being said and done, that still isn’t all there is to this digital whiteboard service. Although it boasts an extended feature set and additional benefits, such as a user-friendly interface, remote collaboration, automatic saving, and others, there are, on the contrary, some downsides associated with Google Jamboard as well. Let’s explore the pros and cons of using this product so potential users can be wary of the fundamentals ahead of time.
The pros
Here is a collection of all the advantages that Jamboard exhibits for its users daily.
Fast, fluid, and responsive
The Jamboard device and the application share one thing in common—the service’s user interface is quite fast and fluid. When Google first announced and released Jamboard, it suffered from several issues relating to responsiveness. All that, however, was ironed out in due time, and the version of Jamboard that stands before us today has been fairly refined.
Thanks to its snappy interface, users can indulge in remote collaboration without breaking a sweat now, utilizing the full extent of Jamboard. If you’ve got the 55-inch Jamboard device, you’ll discover that the stylus that comes with it has been curated to near perfection offering great workability and fluidity as part of its functional mechanism. In virtual meetings where you’re showing and presenting, your sketches and drawings will be made easier to deal with.
Allows users to work with up to 20 frames at once
Each Jamboard session is called a jam, and every jam consists of a frame. Think of a frame as a page. Pages can be increased in number in apps like Google Docs, and so is the case with Jamboard. Each frame is a whole blank canvas that lets you write, draw, and create, but when it boils down to productivity, there are options brought forth by Jamboard to help you out in that regard as well.
It’s possible to work on up to 20 frames in a Jamboard session. In large-scale meetings where you’re hosting quite a few people, you can split individuals into groups, provide them with a task and frame, and let them get to work in a flash. This is one of the major benefits of Jamboard in the context of virtual meetings. You don’t have to keep erasing the contents of the same frame that way and remain flexible with your Jamboard session.
Great for remote collaboration
Google Jamboard is perfect in one sense of virtual meetings that it lets people collaborate and join in on the session at hand from anywhere around the world, no matter if the meeting was held in the USA and you’re all the way across the globe in Sri Lanka. Moreover, Jamboard arrives equipped with the tools to let aspiring users exhibit swift convenience during their working operation.
You’ll find Google Calendar, Google Meet, and even Google Calendar integrated with Jamboard. Calendar comes associated with Meet, while Drive lets you fetch images and data in no more than a moment’s time. Other than that, Jamboard even has Google Images on standby right within its user interface, allowing you to search for any image on the web and pull it into your jam session quite effortlessly.
All of these nifty little additions to the whole Jamboard experience make the application quite desirable in the grand scheme of things. But we’re not done yet with the number of benefits it brings to the table as a whole.
Numerous advantages of being cloud-based
Google Jamboard is thoroughly based on the cloud, and there is a number of advantages that come in the wake of that happening. For starters, Jamboard features automatic saving, so there’s an almost zero percent chance of you losing your work or saved progress. With each stroke of the stylus, key input, or anything else that you place on the screen, the software stores it right away, so you can continue right where you left off the next time you fire up Jamboard.
In addition to that, thanks to Jamboard being a cloud-first program, it ensures the carry-over of your saved documents and progresses across any device you log into your Google account. That means no need to download your documents manually and upload them to other laptops or phones when you have to. All you have to do is simply use the same Google account, and that’ll get the job done. Talk about a plug-and-play functionality here.
Last but not least, and this is more of a general benefit rather than something specific to Jamboard, cloud functionality poses strong security measures for your overall experience. Google’s line-up of desktop productivity software are all cloud-first and thereby offer quality assurance and privacy protection. The same feats carry over to Jamboard as well, where all of these advantages are springing up due to the cloud-oriented nature of the program at hand.
Intuitive software design
Google Jamboard boasts admirable capability when it comes down to its design and added functionality. It sports different features to help users collaborate, such as “Sticky note,” “Laser,” and even “Text Box,” which was not present in the program at the time of its initial release. With the combined effect of all of these tools, users can feel the freedom to present and work remotely however they want while staying within the overall depth of Jamboard.
In educational settings where kids are just beginning to learn the ins and outs, the facilitating drawing tools of Jamboard help provide the extra boost for enhanced learning. The Cloud AI functionality, in particular, is something that transforms unclear and blurry handwriting into pristine text automatically in the blink of an eye. Then, there’s the inclusion of stickers, sticky notes, and images to help create even more relevance for presentations.
In the context of virtual meetings, Jamboard makes it generally preferable for people to interact with each other in all the different ways the program makes the concept possible. You can employ features such as zooming in and zooming out with gestures of your finger or the convenience of the stylus—whatever feels more suitable.
Incredibly easy to use
One of the best parts about Google Jamboard is that it’s really easy to use. If you look at some of the competitor programs of the software in question, such as Microsoft Surface Hub, Jamboard does not warrant any prior tutorial or anything similar. You just access it from the web or by using the 55-inch device itself and just run with the digital whiteboard like you’ve been using it forever.
One reason that Jamboard has been built in this manner is its limited functionality, which is somewhat of a con that we’ll talk about in the section ahead. However, with all of the tools that the product has been assembled with, it’s easy to see that the service makes great use of them. The feature icons are dispersed across the user interface of the application in an approachable manner, with their sizes being easy to spot as well.
It won’t take long for anyone, whether they’re a beginner or an expert, to start bringing the best out of Jamboard as soon as they get started with it. The option to share the jam with your peers and friends is the same as the rest of Google’s mainline productivity apps, so there is indeed uniformity on that front. Simply sign in with your Google account, and Jamboard will automatically recognize you and your work and will take measures to accommodate you accordingly.
The cons
Now that we’re done with the upside to using the service, let’s take a look at some of the most substantial disadvantages of the Google Jamboard service.
The 55-inch Jamboard device is overly expensive
Although the Google Jamboard application is free-to-use, the 55-inch device that comes with its own range of specifications and features definitely isn’t. As a matter of fact, the whole Jamboard unit costs about $4,999 per piece, so this is quite the expense. Moreover, you will also have to pay a handling fee of $600 as well. Both of these will be one-time and won’t have to be paid annually or anything of the like.
The pricing is fairly steep, especially for large-scale businesses that are looking to get digital whiteboard solutions such as this in bulk. That is also the reason developers recommend individuals not to purchase a product like Jamboard for their own use. The service is entirely intended for fairly sizable groups to pick up, especially for the purpose of virtual meetings.
However, if you feel as if Jamboard is a little too much for you, you will likely have to skip purchasing it. With that said, it’s not like the competition is any cheaper. The Microsoft Surface Hub 2S costs somewhere around $9,000, a massive bump up from the price mark of Jamboard.
The use of the stylus is a must
The Jamboard device ships with 2 styluses, a wall mount, and a single eraser. If you’re not using the included stylus, you can employ the delicacy of your finger to get around the interface of the Jamboard app on the device and navigate the system. However, if both of those options are not available and you’re simply trying to use the Jamboard app on the device on your own, you’re likely to have a tough time trying to present in a virtual meeting with just your mouse or trackpad.
After all, it can be rather difficult to use those peripherals for the purpose of sketching, illustrating, and drawing without relying on a stylus or a touch-enabled display. While the stylus itself is high-quality and comes with a number of interesting features, there’s no doubting the fact that the Jamboard device is fairly expensive to get. Therefore, if you’re an individual who has to get a virtual whiteboard solution, consider Jamboard, but only if you have a touch-enabled PC or laptop.
The font type and size cannot be freely changed
In Jamboard, you don’t get enough freedom to change the font size at will. Instead, there’s a drop-down menu that lets you choose the size of the font you’re using from pre-determined options, such as Display, Title, Subtitle, Normal, and Caption. Outside of these variants, you cannot really adjust the font size. For people who want an even larger text or perhaps something that is even smaller, Jambaord won’t be doing the job for you.
Furthermore, there are no other options whatsoever when it comes down to choosing the font size. You’re stuck with the default one in Jamboard, which, on the other hand, does look fairly up to the mark. Nevertheless, those who like to switch up things with the font type in their documents should know that Jamboard won’t be accommodating them in any manner. You can change the color, though, by choosing from the six available options.
The “Sticky note” feature could use some improvement
Over time, many users have come forward with the “Sticky note” functionality not performing as it should. Several have complained that its text is not properly configured and sports a text type that appears randomly in size sometimes. What the developers could do to make “Sticky note” appeal to most of Jamboard’s user base is make it more accessible to people all over the world.
In virtual meetings, you could be running the risk of incorrectly placing the “Sticky note.” This issue can be a real bother when it repeats itself more than once. However, it is worth noting that the chances of the Sticky note malfunctioning are still quite low, so you should be able to get through most virtual meet-ups just fine.
Conclusion
Google Jamboard was first announced by its developers in 2016. Ever since then, both the software and the application have been receiving constant updates and feedback from the side of fans and users, so the product that you can visualize today is the result of hard work over all those years. However, given the pricing of the 55-inch Jamboard device, some people may have reservations regarding the pricing of the service.
That is why we’ve detailed this article on the pros and cons of Jamboard in the context of virtual meetings, so aspiring users who are looking to switch to this technology can already realize ahead of time whether Jamboard is for them or not. The list of advantages and disadvantages, along with their descriptions, should help clear the air. Do let us know in the comments section whether the pros outweighed the cons for you. We would love to read your feedback!
